San Diego State ran out of gas against Grand Canyon yet again, not being able to earn a win against GCU this season

Steve Fisher Court – Viejas Arena 

The San Diego State Aztecs sought revenge on Tuesday night as they hosted Grand Canyon University, with a history of beating the Aztecs regardless of location. Instead of earning the sweet feeling of victory, the Aztecs showcased one of their worst offensive performances of the season.

Many factors did not go the Aztecs’ way, and the Lopes scored 44 second-half points to win by double digits.

“Well, we became the last Mountain West team to lose a conference game at home,” head coach Brian Dutcher said postgame. “It was costly. It hurts losing at home, but we are not the only ones who has had that happen to us. It’s how we respond to it that is important. Now we have to find a way to regroup and put this behind us immediately. The top of this league is super competitive.”

“Grand Canyon is a good team,” Dutcher continued. “Everybody that has listened to me talk about them, I talked about it before the game. They are third in the conference in defense, and defense wins. That is how we win. They are 3rd in defense and held us to 35.5% shooting. They are very good at three-point defense. We didn’t have a second scorer that had an exceptional game today.”

BJ Davis started the scoring with a midrange floater. After two buckets in a row from GCU, Davis hit another mid-ranger, but this time in fadeaway fashion.

After 3.5 minutes had gone by, Magoon Gwath checked into the contest. The referees let the game flow without a single foul called until 4:18 went off the clock. Big man Efe Demirel hit a shot plus the foul to give the Lopes a 6-4 advantage early on. He would miss the free throw as SDSU aimed to get back in control.

The Aztecs had a very rough start to the game offensively. They could not get a shot to fall at all, starting 3-13 from the field. The scoring drought reached over three minutes, but Pharaoh Compton was able to connect in the paint. GCU led only 11-8 after eight minutes.

Grand Canyon really picked up the pace at this point. They stormed out to a 21-12 lead and had most of the momentum. However, they would only score eight points the rest of the first half. Miles Heide helped quiet the run with huge buckets in the paint. He dunked it on one possession and followed it up with a three-point play on the next to cut the deficit to six.

The fans started to get very loud at Viejas.

With under eight minutes to go, Miles Byrd had a beautiful block that was called goaltending. Brian Dutcher was livid and called for a review. SDSU won the challenge and got the ball back down eight. This is when they needed to earn the momentum back. Boy … did they.

Byrd trimmed the deficit down to five with a massive triple. He needed that shot to fall badly. Fans were standing at Viejas. After forcing another turnover, SDSU had a chance to cut it within three. A few possessions later, Davis went 1-2 from the line. GCU led 23-19 with six minutes to go in the first half.

As SDSU did to start, GCU did to finish the half. The Lopes could not get a shot to fall in almost five straight minutes as all their points came from the free-throw line. The Aztecs’ defense stepped up big time, forcing GCU to commit five turnovers and see their field goal percentage drop to 41%. Nana Owusu-Anane would then hit his second three-pointer of the game to end GCU’s skid seconds later.

Tae Simmons scored four points and went 2-2 from the line to tie the game at 29. GCU’s 9-point lead was no more.

Seconds later, the freshman introduced himself to the world with a monster poster job from an alley-oop finish. Taj DeGourville had a sweet assist on the jam, which is not shocking at all.

ON. HIS. HEAD. @Aztec_MBB fans are going BALLISTIC 🤯🤯 pic.twitter.com/C2qed3muJy

— CBS Sports College Basketball 🏀 (@CBSSportsCBB) February 18, 2026

I promise you, I have never heard this arena so loud in my life at this moment. SDSU propelled from down nine to take a four-point lead at the break. GCU had another scoring drought reach three minutes while the Scarlet & Black ended the half on a 14-3 run. Heide and Simmons were huge factors in bringing the momentum back the Aztecs’ way.

Grand Canyon scored four quick points out of the gates until Byrd swished home another deep ball. GCU made sure that SDSU would not increase the lead at all. GCU retook the lead and started to gain momentum early in the half. Davis picked up his third foul of the game and had to take a seat with 16:32 remaining in the game.

GCU was 5-10 from beyond the arc to this point. The team shoots an average of 30% from deep, but has excelled in this game. The Lopes needed that to continue in order for them to hold on for an upset win.

Lopes’ defensive wizard, Nana Owusu-Anane, picked up his third foul with 15 minutes to go in the game. That was big for SDSU. On the following possession, center Efe Demirel picked up his third foul as Byrd converted an and-one finish in the paint. GCU led 43-41.

SDSU then, once again, had a very rough stretch offensively. The team was trying to do too much, and they were out of sync. GCU went back up seven points. Nwosu-Anane picked up his fourth foul, putting SDSU in the bonus with every foul from here on out. The issue was that the Aztecs could not get them to foul out. The aggression halted after Nwuso-Anane picked up foul No. 4.

Grand Canyon was playing electric on both ends of the floor. The only way SDSU was going to come out on top was if they started hitting some clutch shots. The Lopes increased their lead to 12 as they began to run away with it. SDSU was shooting 35% to this point and was being outrebounded 15-8 in the second half.

“Nobody shoots well against them from three,” Dutcher said postgame. “They have size and extra defenders in the paint. They are super physical on the ball. That was the most physical team we played.”

The clutch shots never fell. The Lopes commanded the end of the game by forcing SDSU to shoot below 40% from the field. Davis had one of his worst games of the season, going 2-9 from the field and committing two turnovers and four fouls.

The Aztecs lost their second home game of the season and now force a must-win against Utah State at home later this month in order to secure the top seed in the conference. This team is certainly on the outside looking in at the moment.

“Gotta give credit to GCU for making things tough,” Miles Byrd said postgame. “I think they took us out of our flow. All of us rushed our shots, and obviously, we gotta take care of the ball.”

Byrd finished with a team-high 18 points and was the only Aztec to score in double figures in this game. Gwath, Reese Dixon-Waters, and Davis ended a combined 6-27 from the field.

Chris Spiering

Chris is a graduate of the University of San Diego. He is the former Sports Editor for the USDVista newspaper. Chris has covered the San Diego Loyal, and now covers San Diego State Men’s Basketball. He also contributes regularly about the Padres. Chris is an athlete and is a huge fan of San Diego sports.