3 thoughts on SDSU’s 77-66 win vs. Utah Valley … coach’s challenges, disappearing stars and a healing campus

Three thoughts on San Diego State’s 77-66 win against Utah Valley at Viejas Arena on Wednesday night:

1. Swirling fingers

Coach Brian Dutcher was in mid-thought during his postgame news conference when he blurted out:

“How about Coach Dutcher? 2-0 on the challenges today, huh? I won two today. That’s unbelievable.”

In an effort to speed up college games, the endless march to the video monitor by officials has largely been eradicated. Instead, coaches get one challenge per game and, if they win that, a second one.

Both of SDSU’s challenges came at critical junctures in the second half and with the Aztecs clinging to modest leads. The Aztecs scored on the ensuring possession both times.

The first was a block call on Taj DeGourville that official Michael Irving, on the baseline a few feet from the play, deemed a charge by Utah Valley’s Trevan Leonhardt — only for trail official Kelly Pfiefer, who was on the opposite side of the court, to run across the lane, pointing to the restricted arc. After a brief discussion, Irving changed his call to a block.

SDSU has graduate assistants sitting behind the bench monitoring replays to help determine whether a challenge is warranted (it costs you a timeout if you lose). The plan is for them to have access to multiple replay angles, but Wednesday night they had only the raw game feed that had an obstructed view of DeGourville’s feet.

The Viejas Arena video board showed a better angle that indicated DeGourville was outside the restricted arc and thus in legal position to draw a charge. Dutcher caught a quick glance at it and went with his gut to challenge.

The second one came with 4:41 left, after Pfeifer gave Utah Valley the ball on an out-of-bounds play under the basket. Immediately, three Aztecs players swirled their index fingers in the air, the universal gesture for a video challenge.

Dutcher turned to his staff behind the bench as they furiously scrolled through replays. While he waited, he sent one sub to the scorer’s table, then another.

“I don’t even know if I wanted subs in,” Dutcher said, “but I’m trying to delay the start of the game so I can get the GAs to look on the iPad to see what really happened. I never got a response, and I figured I’d challenge it anyway.”

Another win. Video showed a Utah Valley player poking out the ball from Jeremiah Oden’s hands under the basket.

Pfeifer likely blew another call in the first half when Utah Valley’s Tyler Hendricks threw a lob to rolling post Isaac Hawkins that … went in the basket. Except Hawkins jumped for it and grabbed the rim as the ball went through, which constitutes offensive goaltending.

Basket interference is reviewable, and Dutcher instantly swirled his finger for a replay. But, Dutcher said he was told, it’s only reviewable if the officials call goaltending and is not if they call nothing. Making matters worse, the officials initially gave the Wolverines two points but reviewed the play at the next media timeout and determined Hendricks was behind the 3-point line when he released the pass.

“So not only did I not get to challenge it,” Dutcher said, “they went back and looked at it and gave them a 3. That was a double loss for Coach Dutcher.”

2. The bench

Perhaps the most promising part about Wednesday’s win against a Kenpom top-100 opponent is that the Aztecs did it despite minimal contributions from their three preseason all-conference players.

Leading scorer Reese Dixon-Waters had a goose egg for the game’s first 33 minutes before making a big 3-pointer and two clutch layups in crunch time. Miles Byrd had two IV bags before tip-off after sitting out Tuesday’s practice with the flu, which was two more than he had points in 20 minutes. Magoon Gwath had seven points and five points, but looked a step slow all night and was benched for the final 8:42.

It’s been an up-and-down start to the season for all three.

Entering Wednesday night, Dixon-Waters was averaging 18.5 points and shooting 71.4% in SDSU wins … and 11.0 points while shooting 31.3% in losses. He’s missed several practices due to illness and sat out the season opener with a corneal abrasion in his eye.

Byrd has been the opposite, averaging 14.0 points per game in losses and 6.0 points per game in wins. He missed a couple weeks of practice and an exhibition game with an abdominal strain, then had a hip issue, then a bulky wrap on a sprained finger on his shooting hand for several games, then the flu.

Gwath returned seven months after knee surgery and had 20 points, seven rebounds, two steals and three blocks in his debut against Troy on Nov. 18. In the four games since: 6.8 points, 3.8 rebounds and 1.25 blocks per game.

Complicating things was his own bout with the flu plus a tweaked ankle following three games in three days at the Players Era Festival in Las Vegas.

“That all slows down the recovery,” Dutcher said. “You lose a couple pounds, you lose a step conditioning-wise. And he’s on the fight to get back. I told him that when he came back: ‘As ready as you think in your mind you are, it’s going to take a while physically to get back to where you want to get. Just know that and know that I believe in what you’re doing, and we will get you there over time.’

“He’ll get there, but he’s not there yet. So our bench is critically important.”

Dutcher is thankful for a deep roster. The bench scored 59 points on Wednesday, the most since 60 against NAIA Saint Katherine in 2013 and quite possibly the most in school history against Division I opposition.

Relying on your reserves for 77% of your offense, though, is probably not sustainable over the long term.

3. A healing campus

Attendance at Utah Valley home games is down 25% this season despite another good Wolverines team, but third-year coach Todd Phillips gets it.

Their campus and community has been through a lot.

Utah Valley is where Turning Point USA founder Charlie Kirk was assassinated Sept. 10 while speaking to an overflow crowd at an outdoor amphitheater, closing the university for a week and casting a cloud of anxiety over what statistically had been one of the safest campuses in America.

“I think (athletics) is a good connector, if that’s the correct word,” Phillips said after Wednesday’s game at Viejas Arena. “You know, it shows people they can be back on campus. I think that really helps the campus to heal, coming out to games and watching us play.

“I’ve talked to a lot of people who are like, ‘Hey, I’m a little nervous to come,’ and I’m like, ‘Hey, security’s great, the energy’s great in the game, come to a game.’ I think that really helps them feel like the campus is getting back to normal.”

The shooting rocked what has become Utah’s largest university, with 50,000 students in the heavily Mormon city of Orem, just three miles from BYU at the foot of the Wasatch Mountains. The UCCU Center, where the Wolverines play home games, was the site of a mass vigil for Kirk a week later.

“Luckily, we had really good leadership from our athletic department, getting people counseling and meeting and talking,” Phillips said. “We shut down the school for about a week. We got off campus so the guys could practice. I don’t know if it was what you’d call practice, but we got in the gym and kind of got back to some normalcy.

“Once we got going, I think most of the guys were pretty good. We had a couple of kids who were really close to it, so they were shook pretty good.”

Union-Tribune reporter Kirk Kenney contributed to this story.