San Diego State came into Saturday’s contest against UNLV off a brutal loss to Grand Canyon.

Dating back to 2018, the Aztecs are 12-5 against UNLV. Although over the previous two matchups, the Rebels had been victorious, winning both of last year’s matchups during conference play. The Rebels are under new leadership with first-year head coach Josh Pastner at the helm.

Coach Brian Dutcher was looking to return the favor with a victory at the Thomas and Mack Center. A win wouldn’t really improve the Aztecs’ resume, but a loss would certainly diminish the hopes of an at-large bid. Elzie Harrington came into the contest questionable (undisclosed).

San Diego State won 82-71 thanks to a massive performance from Miles Byrd, Reese Dixon-Waters, and Taj DeGourville. Byrd would finish with 23 points, five assists, and four steals in the contest. Dixon-Waters shot poorly, 3-of-11 from the field, but had 13 points along with seven rebounds. Degourville finished with 13 points and three assists.

Byrd spoke on his 5-of-5 shooting performance from deep. “I mean, 0-for-6 the game before, so I was able to get a good shooting day in; I think I did a better job of taking good ones. It’s finding the balance between the good ones and the bad ones.”

The opening start to the game was extremely undisciplined for the Aztecs.

San Diego State missed open looks and could not convert, leading to a 6-4 Rebels lead at the first media timeout. The Aztecs did not make a shot until Harrington hit a mid-range shot off an offensive rebound.

UNLV came out of the break with a quick three on a skip pass to the corner. The three-point shot gave them a five-point lead before the Aztecs made a basket. By the under-12-minute timeout, the two teams were tied at 11. Both SDSU and UNLV were struggling to find quality looks on offense; both defenses came to play.

Dixon-Waters made his presence known on the offensive end of the floor.

Even though Dixon-Waters and Byrd hit a pair of shots from beyond the arc, the Rebels were not missing from long range. UNLV, up to this point, had six three-pointers. Just as many as GCU had versus the Aztecs in Wednesday’s contest. San Diego State retook the lead with just under four minutes to play, 29-28.

On a fadeaway jumper, Dixon-Waters implemented himself into the 1,000-point club for his college career. A great feat for the veteran from Long Beach, who was having himself a game.

Welcome to the 1,000 point club, Reese‼️#GoAztecs pic.twitter.com/gHtvYllTRv

— San Diego State Men’s Basketball (@Aztec_MBB) January 24, 2026

“Just so much more maturity, he is a veteran guard who plays the right way. If he gets rolling, he is really hard to guard, but he defends at a high level; his defense stays strong no matter how the offense is going,” Dutcher said, speaking on Dixon-Waters, his accomplishment, and what he has meant to the program.

At the break, it was San Diego State leading 39-34. The Aztecs were led by Byrd and Dixon-Waters in the contest. Dixon-Waters with 10 points and five rebounds, along with a pair of makes from deep. Byrd led the Aztecs in scoring with 11, along with three steals and two assists in the game at this point.

The Aztecs did a better job towards the end of the game in attacking the Rebels and drawing contact to get to the charity stripe. If SDSU was going to maintain the lead, they had to limit the Rebels from deep and continue playing defense without fouling. BJ Davis and Pharaoh Compton were in foul trouble with two fouls each at this point.

The second half opened with five quick Byrd points to further his total to 16 on the day.

The Rebels would then respond with a 6-0 run over two minutes to cut the lead to two points. Dutcher called a timeout in hopes of limiting the momentum UNLV was gaining. Davis, up to this point, was really struggling to find any good looks against the Rebels.

Step-back so smooth#GoAztecs pic.twitter.com/d0nyZPg9zv

— San Diego State Men’s Basketball (@Aztec_MBB) January 24, 2026

DeGourville was having himself quite the second half. The Las Vegas native was showing out in his hometown. Up to this point in the second half alone, DeGourville scored seven points, while tacking on an assist and shooting efficiently. On the backs of the sophomore from Las Vegas, the Aztecs had a 10-point lead with all the momentum.

Dutcher spoke to DeGourville play over the last couple of weeks. “Taj has played great; he has fought his way to the other side. We put him in a tough position by starting him at the point. Then we decided to change it and have him come off the bench, to play more two guard, and it’s proven to be good for him.”

The Aztecs were simply running the Rebels off the court in this one. The lead grew to 13 with less than four minutes to go. Byrd had four fouls, but it simply did not matter because the captain recorded 23 points along with four steals. San Diego State was playing team basketball for the majority of the second half, and it helped propel the Aztecs to a big lead.

Byrd from DEEP 😲

He’s 5-5 from behind the arc#GoAztecs pic.twitter.com/rXXBHJVQ1R

— San Diego State Men’s Basketball (@Aztec_MBB) January 24, 2026

“We kinda been in this position before multiple times this year; we just talked about needing to be mature and not let any slippage happen. I think it’s showing our maturity as the season has gone on, sometimes it went our way, others it didn’t. The past few times we were able to battle back and finish games,” Byrd stated, talking about the dominant second half from the team.

Towards the end of the gam,e with the Aztecs winning all but locked up, a flagrant foul was assessed to Howie Fleming Jr of UNLV. During the inbound, Fleming Jr. put his elbow up around the neck area and shoved DeGourville. Coach Pastner was trying all he could to develop a press to help bring the Rebels back. Alas, the Aztecs came out victorious in this one. The Aztecs go to 14-5 on the year and 8-1 in conference play.

Dutcher had this to say in his opening statement about the game. “Both teams were tough offensively; we shot an incredible percentage, and so did they in the second half. You look at the numbers, we won the foul line, 22-of-26, and they missed 10 free throws. To our credit, we made our free throws, and that was the difference in the game.”

The Aztecs’ next contest will be against Colorado State on Wednesday at 7:30 PM on FS1.

Bryant Thursby

Bryant is an Assistant Coach at Heritage High School. He is a big-time SDSU fanatic and a Padres fan.