You heard about it from practice reports leaking out about a San Diego State team that can actually, um, you know, score. From snippets of interviews with new head coach Brian Dutcher. From the 98 points in a closed-door scrimmage against USC, which is ranked 10th in the preseason Associated Press poll.

And now, for the first time, actual proof.

A year ago in a preseason exhibition against Division II UC San Diego at Viejas Arena, the Aztecs scored 76. They had that Thursday night in the same venue against the same opponent with 7½ minutes to go. Final score: 98-79.

Ninety-eight.


The ball moved quicker across midcourt, passes snapped around the perimeter, 3-pointers went in, mid-range jumpers went in, layups went in, turnovers were down, shooting efficiency (60.7 percent) was up. With five minutes to go, they had 84 points – they scored more than that only twice in 33 games last season.

The night’s biggest disappointment might have been that the Aztecs had the ball with 10 seconds left and a chance to drop a hundy … and ran out the clock to a smattering of playful boos.

“We’ve been working on it a lot,” said senior Trey Kell, who had 14 points, seven rebounds and seven assists, “just focusing on running our sets right, getting our spacing right. With our talent this year, we’ve got a lot of players who can attack the basket and make the right play. With all that combined, it’s going to be really hard to guard us.

“Plus right now, we’re all making shots.”


Against USC, they had 98 points and only six turnovers. Against UCSD, they had 98 points and only six turnovers.

“Offense,” Kell said, “isn’t a problem.”

There are still things to clean up before the Nov. 10 opener against NAIA San Diego Christian and, more importantly, the Div. I opener on Nov. 14 at Arizona State. The 33-33 rebounding stalemate against a Div. II team won’t sit well in film sessions.

And put it this way: Figure they might do a few defensive close-out drills in upcoming practices.


The only reason this game was close for much of the first half and was still a nine-point margin with seven minutes to go was a UCSD team that reached the Sweet 16 of the last two Div. II NCAA Tournaments has a bunch of guys, big and small, who can shoot 3s. And did. The Tritons made 15 treys, five more than any Div. I opponent managed against the Aztecs all of last season.

“You can hear it from the crowd, you can see their frustration as 3 after 3 kept going in,” Kell said. “No team is where they want to be at the beginning of the season, and that includes us. But we’ll be ready.”

Dutcher, with former boss Steve Fisher sitting in a tabled section directly behind the Aztecs bench, switched his starting lineup from the USC scrimmage, starting 6-foot-9 Max Montana (formerly Hoetzel) instead of 6-3 guard Jeremy Hemsley.

“It was more just I wanted to see a different group out there,” Dutcher said. “I’ll decide moving forward what I want to do game to game … This might be a rotating lineup all year, based on who we play and what the opposing team puts out there.”


Montana made five 3s off the bench against USC but was 0 of 2 behind the arc as a starter (although the Aztecs were plus-20 points with him on the floor), and it wasn’t until Dutcher returned to the three-guard look with Devin Watson, Trey Kell and Hemsley that the Aztecs shook the pesky Tritons. The smaller lineup was more effective guarding the perimeter and helped trigger an 11-0 run that erased a 29-25 deficit.

By halftime it was 49-38. Midway through the second half the Aztecs had their largest lead at 70-50.

Ten Aztecs played between 13 and 26 minutes, and six scored in double figures. Redshirt freshman Jalen McDaniels had 10 points and eight rebounds in 21 minutes. True freshman Matt Mitchell had 13 points on 5 of 9 shooting (3 of 3 behind the arc), two assists and two steals in 22 minutes.

With no true post presence (6-7, 265-pound center Chris Hansen is out for the season after shoulder surgery), the Tritons went to a five-out offense with perimeter marksmen at every position. Their starting “front line” – Scott Everman, Eric Patton and Christian Oshita – made nine 3s between them and scored 14, 14 and 16 points.


UCSD head coach Eric Olen wasn’t at the game after his wife gave birth to a daughter earlier in the day, and lead assistant Clint Allard ran the team instead.

“Some things are more important than basketball, and this is one of them,” Dutcher said. “Congratulations, Coach. Your team played well without you. I hate to say that, but they played well.”

Notes

The announced attendance was 10,581 in 12,414-seat Viejas Arena. Only a handful of single-seat season tickets remain, but not all the 2,500 student tickets were picked up and/or used … The Aztecs players all stood shoulder to shoulder for the national anthem but did not link arms, as they did last season … A moment of silence was observed before tipoff for former SDSU athletic director Fred Miller, who passed away last month and was instrumental in convincing the Associated Students to build what is now called Viejas Arena …

The final score in last year’s exhibition between these same teams: 76-63, SDSU … The only scholarship players who didn’t get in were junior Montaque Gill-Caesar and Adam Seiko. Both have missed a stretch of recent practices due to a variety of ailments. Gill-Caesar was just cleared from concussion protocol … SDSU’s switching man-to-man defense created some interesting matchups against the smaller Tritons. Several times, 6-10 Malik Pope found himself covering 5-10 (maybe) UCSD guard Anthony Ballestero.


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mark.zeigler@sduniontribune.com; Twitter: @sdutzeigler