Feb. 27, 2005
SAN DIEGO STATE-UNM POSTGAME QUOTES
Head Coach Steve Fisher
On The Game:
"I thought the first half we played fairly efficiently even though they shot 50 percent. I thought the shots they took were contested. They had seven turnovers. Then, in the second half, they made I believe their first five shots and we didn't guard the way you have to guard to stay in the game against a team that is very good. At one point in early January, they were probably leading the nation in field-goal percentage. We've got to do a better job of contesting shots and making it harder for them to get easy looks. And we struggled doing that."
"They are a very good team but we have to guard better.
On Slaughter Injury:
"We need our best players out there. Marcus had our first 11 points in the first five minutes. So yes, it affects you. But then someone else has to step up and make a play and we didn't have enough of that. We needed Slaughter in there."
SDSU sophomore forward Marcus Slaughter
On injury:
"On the first play of the second half, I slammed my toe into (Danny) Granger and went down. It's what I call turf toe. It's something I've never had before and I found that I couldn't go or run after trying to return to the game."
On the Lobos:
"They are a good team. They've won a bunch of games and we've got a lot of good teams in the conference. We need to develop our chemistry because we have a lot of freshmen on the team. The season isn't over. They'll be plenty of time to grow."
On The Season:
"I'm not happy that the season is coming to an end. We still have a chance to win in the tournamnt and everyone wants a schace to win in the tournament because everyone gets tired of losing. We just have to find a way to win."
SDSU sophomore guard Brandon Heath
On the loss:
"New Mexico got hot and got a lot of tough shots off. We need to step up our defense and that's something that was missing tonight. Offensively, we need to play ttogetrher and take better shots. As a team, we should know how to come from behind."
"Every time we lose it's disappointing. We should have beaten Wyoming and UNLV. We can't let it get us down. We still have Air Force, Utah and the tournament to focus on. We have to get the positive energy going."
New Mexico Head Coach Ritchie McKay
On the game:
"We are used to playing with big leads when we play in Albuquerque and I think our guys were a little uncomfortable playing in a close game like tonight. I thought we had a much better effort and were much more aggressive in the second half."
"It is an excellent win for our guys and I'm really proud of our effort. You don't see many teams win on the road this time of year."