Miles Byrd wins 2025-26 Mountain West Defensive Player of the Year
Credit: Don De Mars/EVT Sports
Miles Byrd wins MWC Defensive Player of the Year after being named preseason MWC Player of the Year
Defense wins championships, and the San Diego State Aztecs contain the best defensive player in the conference. Byrd wins the honor as DPOY due to his relentless effort on the defensive end with abilities to guard any player, steal any pass, and block any shot that comes his way. As a 6-foot-7 guard/wing, his rebounding is elite as well.
The junior becomes the fifth straight Aztec to win the award and the ninth total in MWC history.
Byrd’s defensive statistics were similar to last season, but he didn’t quite reach the 2.0 steal threshold again (three rebounds shy), as he did one season ago. Byrd blocked 1.2 shots and had 1.9 steals while grabbing 4.5 rebounds per game.
Bl🚫cked by @_mbyrd21!
📺: @CBS pic.twitter.com/AG1gDEMPqw
— San Diego State Men’s Basketball (@Aztec_MBB) January 31, 2026
Many expected the junior to take a big leap offensively. That wasn’t the case, though he ended with a career high from the field at 40.0% shooting and three-point range at 33%. Byrd just wasn’t able to match or surpass his 12.3 points per game from a season ago, averaging only 10.6 this season. A majority of that is because of the return of senior Reese Dixon-Waters and BJ Davis’ scoring off the bench. The Aztecs lost some games they should not have, but that trio kept them in every single game this season, outside of the obvious ones against Michigan and Arizona.
A 20-10 record is still something to be proud of, even though the Aztecs did not live up to the early-season expectations of winning the conference regular season. A big reason the Aztecs even got to 20 wins is because of Byrd’s ability to defend at a very high level and earn extra possessions offensively.
There goes @_mbyrd21!
📺 @FS1 pic.twitter.com/P1vbykdlU2
— San Diego State Men’s Basketball (@Aztec_MBB) February 26, 2026
A handful of other names in the Mountain West had great defensive seasons that should not go unnoticed. Nevada forward Elijah Price could have easily won this award with a phenomenal year on the defensive end, ending with 1.2 steals and 1.7 blocks per game. UNLV freshman Tyrin Jones, who torched SDSU twice this season, ended with 1.0 steals and a conference-leading 2.0 blocks per game. Utah State’s Mason Falslev, who won the 2025-26 Mountain West Player of the Year, averaged 1.9 steals per game along with his teammate Drake Allen. Nana Owusu-Anane played very well defensively at 1.4 steals and 0.8 blocks per game.
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.