SDSU Aztecs couldn’t keep up with North Carolina’s offense in do-or-die First Four game in Dayton, Ohio

The San Diego State Aztecs and North Carolina Tar Heels met for the First Four of the 2025 NCAA Tournament. This game was over midway through the first half. As gut wrenching of a loss this was to the Aztecs, North Carolina proved to the world that they are legit with a masterclass performance on offense. UNC won by 27 but led by as much as 38.

San Diego State only led for 25 seconds before the Tar Heels pulled away and never turned back.

The Aztecs started the game playing well on defense but sloppy on offense. Nick Boyd and BJ Davis were the only two to hit a jump shot as they began 2-7 from the field. SDSU stole the ball four times but only had one bucket off those turnovers. UNC led 10-6 after four and a half minutes after starting 2-2 from deep.

BJ Davis opens up the scoring in our second game #MarchMadness @Aztec_MBB pic.twitter.com/s1oJkRii7V

— NCAA March Madness (@MarchMadnessMBB) March 19, 2025

UNC turned it over to more times but the Aztecs were not capitalizing on it. They could not create a good look.

Miles Heide grabbed a crucial offensive rebound and bucket to stop the Tar Heels 8-0 run. He then had a huge stop on the defensive end that led to Boyd’s second triple.

Unfortunately for the Aztecs, North Carolina kept their shooting up with a 4-4 start from beyond the arc. After a timeout, Seth Trimble scored four straight points off free throws to extend their lead to 20-11.

San Diego State had a a major uphill climb.

The early game jitters latest over ten minutes. SDSU was fumbling catches and losing the ball when driving to the basket. They looked all out of sorts. You could tell they were very nervous.

The Tar Heels started to run away with the game halfway through the first half. Their lead extended to 16 and could not miss from deep. SDSU began 2-10 from three-point range and shot 26.3% from the floor. Magoon Gwath was the only one to really play well with eight points but was 3-6 from the free throw line.

North Carolina ended the half with a buzzer-beating three to put a cherry on top of their performance. Not many schools have been able to score 47 points in the first half against the Brian Dutcher-led Aztecs.

North Carolina led 47-23. The Aztecs needed a miracle, but that did not happen.

When SDSU needed a strong second half, they started the first three minutes without a point. The Tar Heels kept their foot on the gas peda,l and the Aztecs looked very bad offensively. Nothing was falling.

After about four minutes, the offense finally started to look fluid. Boyd hit floaters, Miles Byrd finally scored from the free throw line, and Jared Coleman-Jones hit a tough triple. However, they couldn’t trim the deficit as the Tar Heels were playing very well.

North Carolina deserves credit for taking the noise to heart and playing the best game of their season. They move on to take on 6-seeded Ole Miss on Friday for the First Round of the NCAA Tournament.

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.