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Three thoughts on San Diego State’s 75-60 win against Colorado State on Tuesday night at Viejas Arena:
1. Soaring Byrd
There were 13 NBA scouts at Viejas Arena, representing nearly half the league’s teams. Lawrence Frank, the president of basketball operations for the Los Angeles Clippers, was among them.
They were there to see Colorado senior Nique Clifford, wanting to assess him against SDSU’s vaunted defense and not wanting to fly to Fort Collins, Colo., to do so.
They were also there to see Miles Byrd.
Clifford entered the night as the Mountain West’s top NBA prospect, a 6-foot-6 wing who ranked fourth in the conference with 16.9 points per game and 9.9 rebounds per game and ninth with 3.7 assists per game. Byrd might have finished the night with that distinction.
SDSU’s 6-7 sophomore wing had a career-high 25 points (on 8-of-15 shooting), six rebounds, one turnover and seven steals. He also covered Clifford, who finished with 11 points on 5-of-16 shooting. Clifford added six rebounds, six turnovers and no steals.
Tuesday, Byrd became one of three Division I players in the past 16 seasons to record at least 25 points, five 3-pointers, six rebounds and seven steals in a game, and the first player in Mountain West history with that line. He also vaulted to the top of the Kenpom power ratings for the Mountain West, ahead of New Mexico’s Donovan Dent, Clifford, Utah State’s Mason Falslev and the preseason player of the year, Tyson Degenhart of Boise State.
NBA scouts have quietly been following Byrd all season. Some 2025 mock drafts have him as an early-to-mid second-round pick. Bleacher Report had him at No. 30 earlier this week. Sports Illustrated’s online draft website devoted a story to Byrd, writing: “A well-rounded guard with good positional size, Byrd’s two-way upside continues to attract attention as the season progresses.”
Another draftnik assessed: “The 6-7 redshirt sophomore is The Monster in Waiting, ready to make a play on the ball at all times. They can try to scheme around it, but his ability to make plays on the ball is a frightening, looming inevitability. Plus, he’s shown a valuable offensive skill set. His size, well-roundedness, and production have planted him firmly into the 2025 NBA Draft conversation.”
Byrd’s scoring average has climbed to 14.2 points per game. It’s 15.3 if you throw out the Gonzaga game, when he tried to play on a gimpy ankle and didn’t score.
“Anybody who watches him play would say he plays unafraid,” SDSU coach Brian Dutcher said. “Some of those shots he pulls up on the fast break from NBA range and beyond, he is unafraid. And when they go in, we’re really good. He was making them again today. … He was sensational.”
2. New faces
The coaches walked on the floor before tip-off and looked at the officiating crew of Mike Pearson, Rob Kueneman and Galen Davis.
Who?
It was the first time any of them had worked a game in Viejas Arena. Only Kueneman had worked an SDSU game, in 2022 at UNLV, over a 10-year career as a Division I official.
We knew this was coming. The Western Basketball Officiating Consortium disintegrated when the Pac-12 did, with the WCC, Big West, Big Sky and WAC joining the Big 12’s consortium for assignments and the Mountain West being absorbed by the College Officiating Consortium that serves the Big Ten and three smaller Midwest leagues.
The majority of the officials who live in the West went to the Big 12 consortium. The COO suddenly had to service the Mountain West plus Big Ten newcomers UCLA, USC, Oregon and Washington from a pool of officials based in the Midwest.
The logistics are challenging. That’s why you keep seeing the same faces on Aztecs games. They’ve already had Randy Richardson six times, Michael Irving five times, Mike Reed three times in the past month, and Nate Harris twice in less than two weeks.
It was a matter of time before a crew from the Midwest shipped west. Pearson, Kueneman and Davis almost exclusively work the Horizon, Summit and MAC. None was selected for the NCAA Tournament last season. Dave Smith, the Mountain West’s director of men’s basketball officials, was sitting courtside at Viejas Arena to evaluate them.
“You don’t have an opinion formed on them,” Dutcher said. “Guys you’ve had in the past, you know this guy is never going to call anything and this guy is going to call this. You get a book written on them in your own mind of what they call and what they don’t call. These guys I haven’t had much, I wasn’t sure what they would and wouldn’t call.”
Dutcher was particularly animated after a few particularly questionable calls.
“I try not to yell and be too much of a worry to them, but at times I want to express my opinion and let them know I thought they missed a call or two,” he said. “That’s just human nature. You’re going to miss some. It’s a hard game to officiate. I’m not overly mad. I’m just letting them know, ‘Hey, I thought you missed that.’”
Dutcher laughed, noting Saturday’s all-fans giveaway.
“Someone told me after the game: If they work Saturday, I could give them all a Brian Dutcher bobblehead and maybe start off on a better note with them,” he said.
3. Buzzer-beaters
While the Aztecs were taking care of business, New Mexico was sweating out another Mountain West barn burner.
The Lobos had already won one, when Nelly Junior Joseph collected a loose ball in the lane and hoisted a jumper that beat the buzzer for an 82-81 overtime win against Nevada on Jan. 3. This time, they were on the receiving end of Latrell Davis’ bank shot with 2.2 seconds left that gave San Jose State a 71-70 victory.
The Kenpom metric keeps a statistic for “close games,” which it considers within four points or overtime. The Mountain West currently ranks 11th out of 31 Division I conferences at 26.5%, or nine of 34 games so far. Last season, it was eighth.
In last-second game winners, though, it might be first. There have already been four, two involving New Mexico and two involving Utah State.
Tucker Anderson’s 3-pointer from the right wing with 6.8 seconds left gave the Aggies a 67-66 win over SDSU at Viejas Arena last month. Last weekend, Utah State’s Ian Martinez had a 3-point attempt with seven seconds left hit every part of the rim and dropped for an 81-79 comeback win against Boise State.
“It’s buzzer-beaters,” Dutcher said. “Utah State hits a 3 against us late, they hit a 3 against Boise State, and they’re undefeated. New Mexico hits a buzzer-beater against Nevada at home in order to win a game, and (Tuesday night) the tables got turned. San Jose State hit a basket at the end.
“It’s a tough conference. It goes down to one possession, one basket, and that basket can make a huge difference in the way this conference will end up finishing.”
Here’s what he’s talking about. The top of the conference standings currently looks like this:
- Utah State 6-1
- New Mexico 6-1
- Boise State 5-2
- SDSU 4-2
Now, say neither of Utah State’s last-second winners go in and Joseph’s jumper against Nevada falls short. The standings would look like this:
- Boise State 6-1
- SDSU 5-1
- New Mexico 5-2
- Utah State 4-3
Originally Published:
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