SAN DIEGO — The San Diego State University Aztecs fought until the very end, but came up just short of a NCAA men’s national title.

However, the loss to UConn didn’t stop SDSU’s players and coaches from speaking out on the historic season they put together this year.

Aztecs senior Keshad Johnson says it was a dream situation.

“To make it this far, this is a lot of people’s dreams, I experience things like that I actually dreamed of, like I actually walked on the Final Four court in a stadium…,” Johnson said. “I really feel like a winner, despite the defeat, I feel like a winner believe it or not.”

SDSU head coach Brian Dutcher praised his players for being about the “right things.”

“We’re about good people that are good students that play really good basketball, and you could feel good about that as a fan and as a citizen of San Diego,” Dutcher said.

Dutcher thanked San Diegans for embracing the team throughout the tournament.

“The city embraces us. San Diego is America’s Finest City, the people there they support us, not just when we win, they support us all the time,” he said.

Former San Diego State coach Steve Fisher also had some words for Dutcher and his group after the team’s loss.

“He just congratulated me on a really good year and how proud he is of this group and of the job that our coaches did, and so am I,” Dutcher said on what Fisher told him. “Obviously only one team gets to win it all and there were 68 the start of this journey and we came up a game short, so proud of the effort, proud of the kids and to have a taste of it. We want to come back.”