LAS VEGAS — When you hear San Diego State coach Brian Dutcher and his players talk about “having an NBA mentality,” that doesn’t mean they have the green light to launch 3-pointers from beyond the longer, pro arc.
It’s code for not wanting to turn a particularly tough, wrenching loss into two.
Said Dutcher following the wrenching 70-69 loss Wednesday night at Grand Canyon: “I told them, ‘You can be mad we didn’t win tonight, but you have to have an NBA mentality. We’re playing on the road on Saturday, and we can’t sit here and dwell on this.’
“We have to fix what we can fix and move on to the next one.”
They’re really good at it, too, going 40-6 following a loss over the last seven seasons and only twice dropping back-to-back games during the regular season.
Many of those instances, though, came after road losses with the next game in the friendly confines of Viejas Arena. What complicates this week is that both games are on the road against upper-tier Mountain West opponents.
They have never won in three trips to GCU Arena, and now they head to Las Vegas to face UNLV in a nationally-televised afternoon game (1 p.m., CBS) at the Thomas & Mack Center, where they have historically had success but lost their last two.
And the Rebels, after some early struggles, are suddenly figuring some things out, evidenced by a 10-point win at Utah State on Tuesday in a game they were projected to lose by 16. They’ve won three straight and are one of five two-loss teams stalking SDSU (13-5, 7-1) as the conference race nears its midpoint.
And the Aztecs are smarting from a game they could have, would have, should have won at Grand Canyon, up one with 7.7 seconds left and BJ Davis, their best free-throw shooter, at the line for a 1-and-1. He missed, and official Jeffrey Anderson whistled a controversial foul that sent Antelopes guard Makiah Williams to the line with 1.8 seconds left.
There will be a mental component, then, to digesting that loss and moving on to the next item on the Mountain West menu.
Out with an injury, San Diego State's Magoon Gwath smiles before San Diego State's Jan. 21, 2026 game against Grand Canyon at GCU Arena in Phoenix. (Darryl Webb, for The San Diego Union-Tribune)
Out with an injury, San Diego State’s Magoon Gwath smiles before San Diego State’s Jan. 21, 2026 game against Grand Canyon at GCU Arena in Phoenix. (Darryl Webb, for The San Diego Union-Tribune)
There also will be a tactical one. The Aztecs will play again without 7-foot starting forward Magoon Gwath, who is sidelined with what Dutcher has called a hip injury for probably another week, if not longer.
Senior transfer Jeremiah Oden started in Gwath’s place Wednesday, but his recent form has fallen off a proverbial cliff. Over his past five games, he has seven total points on 2 of 14 shooting. On the season, he’s averaging 7.1 points and shooting 51% at home versus 3.0 and 29.6% on the road.
Against Grand Canyon, Dutcher went with Tae Simmons for much of the game, starting the 6-6 freshman in the second half and playing him down the stretch when the Aztecs came from 12 points down to take the lead in the final minute on his tip-in.
The Aztecs were plus-17 points in Simmons’ 20½ minutes on the floor. The other bigs were all in negative numbers: Oden (minus-12), Miles Heide (minus-12) and Pharaoh Compton (minus-1).
San Diego State's Tae Simmons celebrates during the Aztecs' Jan. 21, 2026 game against Grand Canyon at GCU Arena in Phoenix. (Darryl Webb, for The San Diego Union-Tribune)
San Diego State’s Tae Simmons celebrates during the Aztecs’ Jan. 21, 2026 game against Grand Canyon at GCU Arena in Phoenix. (Darryl Webb, for The San Diego Union-Tribune)
Simmons, of course, is not your prototypical center, but Dutcher partnered him with four guards nonetheless in a new definition of “going small.” At times Wednesday, Simmons was covering Grand Canyon’s 7-1 center or his 7-1 backup.
“They went small in the first half, and that lineup was really good for them,” Grand Canyon coach Bryce Drew said. “They saved it and they went (small) late. That lineup was really good for them again.”
In the first half, it was by necessity, with Gwath sidelined, with Oden slumping, with Heide and Compton in foul trouble. In the second half, it was by design.
Dutcher and his staff might have stumbled on something.
They didn’t get crushed in the paint or on the boards, allowing them to reap the benefits of smaller, quicker, more skilled players at the offensive end. Simmons finished with eight points and nine rebounds, three of them on the offensive glass.
“Obviously, we can space the floor,” Dutcher said. “We’ve got shooters everywhere, where you can extend the defense and try to get downhill (on dribble drives), which we did.”
Added Miles Byrd: “It gives the team a different look. Obviously, we’ve got great bigs, but at the same time the four-guard lineup allows us to go a little bit faster.”
The question now becomes whether it will work against a long, athletic, talented UNLV team that goes 6-8, 6-9 and 7-0 across its front line and had a 40-31 edge on the boards against a Utah State team that ranks among the national leaders in rebound rates.
Either way, look for Simmons’ role to grow.
“One thing Dutch says is, you can’t teach rebounding,” Byrd said. “That’s kind of a skill, and I think Tae is one of the most skilled people in that aspect in the whole, entire league — his nose for the ball, his physicality at such a young age, his athleticism.
“When Tae is able to get extended minutes and get a little more comfortable on the court, he’s always great for us. I told him when he got to the locker room, ‘I’m proud of you. I think you played amazing.’ Hopefully, he can continue to be like that.”
SDSU (13-5, 7-1) at UNLV (10-8, 5-2)
When: 1 p.m. Saturday
Where: Thomas & Mack Center, Las Vegas
TV: CBS
Radio: 760-AM