The San Diego State men’s basketball team held its first intrasquad scrimmage Saturday morning at Viejas Arena, and it was about what you’d expect with four freshmen on the floor and without four banged-up veterans.
There were some flashes of dazzling potential. There were also shouts from the coaches of “next play” — which is code for “you screwed up, but put it in the rearview mirror and focus on what’s through the front windshield.”
“I thought it was fairly productive considering we’re minus four players,” coach Brian Dutcher said. “Everybody out there did some things well, everybody was productive. Now we just have to do it at a more consistent level. But I thought it was pretty good for our first scrimmage.”
Florida Atlantic transfer Nick Boyd is still a couple weeks from live action, but he got good news Friday in the form of a positive scan on his left foot and clearance to begin aggressive rehab (he spent most of the scrimmage running stairs at Viejas Arena and then did agility drills afterward). Middle Tennessee transfer Jared Coleman-Jones is out another week with a shoulder injury. USD transfer Wayne McKinney III (hamstring) and returning sophomore Miles Heide (knee) could be back sooner.
“We’re a long way from the season,” said Dutcher, whose team opens Nov. 6 against UC San Diego. “I want to have them healthy and not panic because they’re not practicing. It’s a long year.”
That allowed the four freshmen ample minutes, and two showed what all the recruiting hype was about. Forward Pharaoh Compton had 15 points and eight rebounds — both game highs — to lead his squad to a 36-28 win in the 20-minute scrimmage. Guard Taj DeGourville, his close friend from Las Vegas, had 11 points while running the point for the other team without Boyd and McKinney available.
The 6-foot-8 Compton ran the floor, grabbed six offensive boards, scored inside and got to the line (going 7 of 10). He has struggled at times during practice grasping SDSU’s sophisticated defensive schemes and getting to the right spots on offense, but put him on a basketball floor with refs and a scoreboard, and the natural instincts take over.
“The ball finds him, and he finds the ball,” Dutcher said. “He finishes around the basket. He made some free throws. Pharaoh was very productive today. Obviously, he’s got to grow defensively and grow with this understanding, but for a freshman that was a pretty good scrimmage.”
Added Compton: “It felt good to get up and down and go through the sets and plays. Just being active was my main thing, and I think I did a good job of that.”
The scrimmage opened with a pull-up jumper by Miles Byrd, who finished with 14 points and had a pair of 3-pointers with a more aggressive offensive repertoire than the 6-7 redshirt sophomore showed last season. He and DeGourville combined for all but three of their team’s 28 points.
For the winning group, Reese Waters had nine points, sealing the scrimmage with a clutch three-point play off a jumper in the lane. Sophomore BJ Davis added eight.
“I liked the fact that Byrd and Reese scored the ball pretty well,” Dutcher said. “Those are two guys we’re going to rely on for offense, and they both made hard shots and they both made open shots.”
Redshirt freshman Magoon Gwath, the versatile 7-footer who impressed in practice over the final two months of last season after ankle surgery, did little for the scrimmage’s first six minutes. Then came a dominant stretch at both ends of the floor that included a rebound to start the break and a tip-dunk to end it, followed immediately by a midcourt steal, drive and Euro step to draw two free throws.
The day’s final segment was 10 minutes between the available scholarship players and the walk-ons plus Aguek Arop, the popular forward from the 2022-23 Final Four team who has since joined Dutcher’s staff as the director of player development.
The regulars won only 18-14 thanks to 10 points from Arop, a performance that included a 3, a sneaky put-back, a fallaway jumper, two steals and smothering defense.
“AG’s still one of the best players on the floor,” Dutcher said. “It helps out in practice when he can get out there. He was in at the end of the Final Four game, so, yeah, he’s a good player.”
There are 31 days before season opener. Some key dates before then:
Oct. 17: Mountain West media day and release of the preseason conference poll.
Oct. 20: Closed-door scrimmage at UCLA.
Oct. 30: Exhibition game against Division II Cal State San Marcos at Viejas Arena.
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