LOGAN, Utah – Three thoughts on San Diego State’s 79-71 loss at Utah State on Saturday night:
1. Life without Goon
Now what?
There are long-term and short-term answers to SDSU’s future without Magoon Gwath.
The first, we won’t know until Monday, when the team gets results from an MRI scan on his right knee that will determine whether it’s merely a hyperextension or something worse that requires surgery. The second, we already know — coach Brian Dutcher said his 7-foot starting forward won’t be available for Tuesday night’s showdown at Viejas Arena against first-place New Mexico.
“Hopefully, we’ll get some really good news and we’ll find a way to get him back this season,” Dutcher said Saturday night. “But I don’t see any way it could be Tuesday.”
The team chartered home immediately after the game to maximize its prep time for a team that handed the Aztecs their most lopsided loss of the season, 62-48 on Jan. 11. And they’ll need it, suddenly having to retool their defense without one of the nation’s best shot blockers and their offense without a 7-footer who can score at all three levels.
Utah State exploited the former, attacking the rim knowing Gwath wasn’t there to protect it. The Aggies elicited fouls instead of rejections and made 11 more free throws than the Aztecs – and won by eight.
On offense, the Aztecs have several options. They could start Miles Heide at the 5 and move Jared Coleman-Jones, who has 3-point range, to the 4. They could go small, inserting 6-foot guard Wayne McKinney III and having 6-7 Miles Byrd shift to the 4. Or they could start 6-6 freshman Taj DeGourville at the 4.
Either of the small-ball options, though, require practice time, teaching Byrd and DeGourville more set plays at the 4.
“Because we’re so deep at the position, we haven’t had to play them there,” Dutcher said. “We have some stuff we can run, but we can’t run the whole playbook. There was some stuff I would have liked to run (Saturday), but when we go small, they don’t know all those plays from the power forward position.”
They have two days.
“We’ve got to find a way,” Dutcher said. “Yeah, I’m upset. I want to win every game. But we have to go back and get ready to play Tuesday. We have to put this one behind us immediately. We can’t let this affect our preparation.
“We have a huge game on Tuesday. We can’t sit here and cry about tonight.”
2. Travel or foul?
Both games against Utah State involved a controversial call in the closing minutes that fouled out a key Aztecs player. Both times they were leading, then were outscored by a combined 20-3.
On Dec. 28 at Viejas Arena, it was a blocking foul on Byrd with 1:29 left. Saturday at the Dee Glen Smith Spectrum, it was official Verne Harris whistling BJ Davis for fouling Utah State guard Ian Martinez as he attempted a 3-pointer from the left wing with 2:57 left and the Aztecs up one.
“The ref made the call,” said Davis, whose team was plus-26 points in his 21 minutes on the floor. “You know, they’re human. They’re not going to make every call perfect. I don’t think I fouled him. The ref thought otherwise, so that’s just the way it went.”
There are two components to this.
The first is whether Martinez traveled first, taking several steps after catching the on the break and before launching the shot.
“Let’s watch the steps,” the CBS Sports Network commentators said, viewing a replay. “Oh yeah, that’s a travel.”
The second question is whether Davis’ reputation preceded him. He has had issues all season fouling 3-point shooters, so much, perhaps, that officials might subconsciously anticipate the call whenever they see him closing out.
“Definitely,” Davis said. “It’s a game within the game, so I’ve got to do a better job of kind of knowing that and not really putting my team in those positions. … It’s tough, man. I just hope that people will see what’s going on. That’s all I can hope for at this point.”
Davis walked to the bench as the Utah State students chanted, “Left, right, left right,” with each step. Then he stopped and the student section went silent, as coaches showed him a replay on a tablet computer.
He shook his head and sat down.
“SIT DOWN,” the students screamed in unison.
3. The police chief
The game’s other controversial moment came in the opening minutes. Gwath had crumpled to the floor under the basket, and the play wasn’t blown dead as Nick Boyd raced to the other end with the ball. Or after the Aggies raced back the other way, ending with Martinez dunking over Davis and both nearly landing on Gwath.
And it wasn’t like the officials didn’t know Gwath was there. Larry Scirotto was standing just feet away, staring at him as SDSU athletic trainer Sergio Ibarra rushed to his player in distress.
“I obviously was not happy with that,” said Dutcher, who was irate at the time, “but what can I do?”
Local talk radio host Chris Ello, a longtime high school basketball official in San Diego, unloaded on the three-man officiating crew over the incident, posting on social media: “(They) embarrassed all of us who officiate….NO excuse will do.”
Scirotto is not new to controversy. He is no longer Pittsburgh’s police chief because of it.
Scirotto was police chief in Fort Lauderdale, Fla., when a longtime city auditor investigated whether he was double-dipping on company time to moonlight as a college basketball referee, saying he possibly committed “criminal violations.” Scirotto called it a “hit piece.”
The auditor was fired for, he said the mayor alleged, conducting a “rogue investigation.” A few weeks later, Scirotto was ousted as well for unrelated reasons after less than a year on the job.
He was hired in May 2023 for the same job in Pittsburgh and initially said he would stop officiating. He worked only once last season, a late February game at Montana, after officiating 71 games in 2022-23.
But a Pittsburgh TV station noticed he quietly worked a preseason exhibition in Michigan in October, and soon another outlet was reporting about the Fort Lauderdale audit. Pittsburgh’s mayor itted he agreed to allow Scirotto to resume officiating up to 60 games per year — at an estimated $3,000-plus per game — while collecting his $187,000 salary as police chief, minus a $20,000 pay cut the following year to for a deputy covering for him while traveling.
“I have two ions in law enforcement and officiating that I love doing,” Scirotto told KDKA-TV in mid-October. “And they’ve always co-existed with each other. And I don’t think it’s fair for someone to arbitrarily make me decide between the two.”
But the pressure continued to mount, and a week later he retired as Pittsburgh’s police chief, effective Nov. 1. Three days later, he officiated his first game of this season at Penn State. Saturday was his 56th overall game and fourth with SDSU (the Aztecs are 2-2).
“I want to let you know that I have not given in to the opinions of a few individuals or the public’s perception,” Scirotto said in a letter to the Pittsburgh Bureau of Police. “Instead, I am making this decision to prioritize the integrity and focus of our department. Optics matter, and my retirement is the right course for all of us.”
