Nov. 21, 2003
SAN DIEGO - San Diego State Postgame Quotes
Head Coach Steve Fisher
On tonight's game:
"Hopefully, we will shoot better in Maui. 38% usually doesn't win. I think our defensive effort was the reason we won. Especially in the first half I thought that we were very smart and forced them out of anything they were trying to do offensively. That is what we were hoping to do and we did it. So from that standpoint I was pleased."
On SDSU's defensive scheme:
"I am old school. I don't want to give up too many easy baskets. So we are going to trap some, but to be honest, I don't know how much more we will trap. We do have a zone press that will create some trapping."
Player Quotes
Wesley Stokes, Jr., Guard
On SDSU's slow start:
"When you open up yourfirst game the whole team is a little excited. We wanted to go out there and make a good impression in the first four minutes. In the first game, it is hard to knock down the first shot, just like it was for us tonight when we went the first three minutes without making a shot. But after we got settled down and we got into the flow, everything started coming easy. We started moving the ball, getting good screens, and knocking down some shots. But we are still expecting to get a lot better."
On SDSU's defense:
"We are starting to pride ourselves on defense. In practice we get after one another and go really hard. It doesn't matter if you are a big man or a little man. It is something coach has really made an emphasis on."
On the pressure applied by the guards:
"We have tremendous guards. We are very quick. We are very smart, and once we get the press the way we really want it, I think you will see a lot more trapping."
On the effort during the game:
"I am very impressed with the way the team came out and played defense from the start. In the second half, it seemed we eased up a little bit. We need to come out and play 40 minutes hard, instead of just playing 28. We need to come out and play a full game, just like we started."
Marcus Slaughter, Fr., Forward
On the hot start from the field:
"Wesley gave me my first pass and after I made my first pass I said, "Man, I think I am hot." Then everytime I got open the team gave me the ball and I shot it and it went it. Sometimes it is the way it goes."
On his outside shooting:
"In high school, they had me in the post because I was the tallest player. But since I was young I was a guard so I was playing outside, and inside and could always shoot and dribble. This is my game. I am an inside-outside player."