Feb. 11, 2006
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SAN DIEGO -
SDSU Postgame Quotes in PDF Format
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San Diego State Head Coach Steve Fisher
On the overall game:
"We fought hard, played when we had to but just wasn't able to to make all the right plays. We missed back to back three's, whereas they hit theirs. As I said before, this is a league where, if you play well, you can win at home or away. Utah just played better, and I tip my hat to them."
On the second conference loss:
"How would you feel if you won eight straight games and then lose this one - you would not feel good about yourself; and we should feel good about ourselves. There are all those should've, would've, could haves, but right now we need to come back, practice and win the next game."
On Utah's rebounding advantage:
"We got hurt on the glass, where we normally do that to other people. We had them in the critical stages of the game and allowed them to get second chance points which either gave them the lead or allowed them to shoot the three and make it. He (Markson) is a hard guy to guard for anybody and we didn't do a good job in preventing him from scoring. What also hurt us today, was Marcus being pulled away on the drive, giving him bad angles to try and get rebounds."
On the pace of the game:
"It's hard to run when you are tenaciously battling the guard and, again, credit to Utah for spreading us out and presenting a match up problem."
On the "big game":
"The game you're looking down the barrel at is the big game, but the big game is always your next one. Today was the big game, and we weren't able to get it done. This was a huge game for both teams, and now we have to bring it to UNLV next week. We have to be prepared, display what we normally display by playing tough and smart."
SDSU Junior Guard Brandon Heath
On the game:
"We didn't do enough to get the win. In order for us to win games like that, we got to be better on defense and rebounding the basketball. That's the bottom line.
"We didn't get to run the way we wanted to, but at the same time, there's times when you got to execute your offense in the half court. We have to get better at that as a team. Most importantly, we can't let this loss turn into two losses or three losses."
SDSU Junior Forward Mohamed Abukar
On the game:
"We have to win games like these. Great teams can't afford to slip up. We didn't have the right kind of focus that we needed. We had them on the ropes, but we didn't capitalize when we should have."
"If this game can't motivate a player to want to win the next one, there's something wrong with that player."
Utah Head Coach Ray Giacoletti
On beating the conference leader:
"They made their run and most teams including us, earlier would have folded. They were up by one point, our guys hung in there, it's not perfect on the road - it's never perfect on the road - but we just found a way. We had an adjustment at the end, we decided on not giving up or fouling on the three. They scored a layup at the end, but it's better than them scoring the three."
On defending Marcus Slaughter:
"Marcus Slaughter, I'm not just saying this, might be as good as an offensive rebounder in my 21 years of doing this. He's really difficult to box out, he's going to push you to the line and that's how you want to teach offensive rebounding. (Utah's) Shaun Green did a tremendous job today; the previous debate over that past couple of days was to send two back or three back (to get rebounds). (Bryant) Markson went back and got seven offensive rebounds."
On SDSU Coach Steve Fisher:
"Coach Fisher has done an unbelievable job with the way he's got his team playing right now; I tip my hat off to him."