Feb. 14, 2006
SAN DIEGO - San Diego State Weekly Basketball News Conference
Cox Arena at Aztec Bowl
February 14, 2006
San Diego State Head Coach Steve Fisher
On Kyle Spain:
"Kyle Spain's suspension will end effective Saturday - three weeks, five games. He will not play against (UNLV); he will be in uniform on Saturday against TCU. He will be in uniform with an opportunity to play."
On Utah game:
"We missed an opportunity at home against Utah. We are one game ahead of the team we play on Thursday and it should be a game of that magnitude for both of us. It's a game that both of us will be prepared for and if we play well like we have been, we will have an opportunity to win it and we're looking forward to it."
On Spain being an integral part of the offense:
"Kyle is a very good player. He is a young freshman, but he is a very good player. He brings ingredients that we need and a measure of toughness. He has size that creates problems for the opponent and he is somebody that will do what he did before he was not allowed to play. He will provide a good positive lift for us - I'm confident of that."
On the effects of the Spain suspension on the rest of the team:
"We've been almost three weeks into this. I've said this before, like any family - and this is our family - you deal with issues that you have, you do what you think is the right thing, you handle it in a fashion that you think is appropriate, and you move on. We're all less than perfect and we've all done things that somebody has had to say `Hey, that's not right,' whether it's a mom or dad or a coach. Then you deal with it and move on, and that's what we've done."
On how the team will respond after the loss to Utah:
"Well I'd hope that they are a little bit angry and determined to take it out on the next team that we play, which happens to be a very good (UNLV) team. Probably from both sides there would be no added incentive needed to get motivated to play. The game will be on national TV, a game that will be extremely significant to the outcome of this conference race. We've got to play better. We've got to be able to make plays at the right time to win. When your league is as balanced as our is, it can be a play here or a play there or a lucky bounce, and we've had our share of them. Now we've created opportunities so when those lucky bounces occur you can win with them. And then you have to make shots. (Utah's) Shaun Green made one basket the whole game. It was at a huge stage late in the game, clear up to a second left on the shot clock, and he makes the (3-pointer). When you have people that do that, you have a chance to win. We had three 3-pointers. Three times we came down with a one-point lead hoping to get a little more expansion and we weren't able to make a basket. Consequently, it was a game, afterwards, you micromanage and look at a thousand different things when you lose and say `Boy if only here or only there.' When Trimaine (Davis) tipped it in and made the free throw against Wyoming we were on the bus so fast eating pizza and getting ready for the next game we didn't dwell on things we didn't do quite so well."
On UNLV:
"UNLV is very athletic. They are quick, they push the ball as well as anybody in our league. We like to think we run fairly effectively. They run, (after) makes or misses. If you don't guard them, their guards will shoot the three. (Louis) Amundson, (Dustin) Villepigue, and (Wendell) White do a nice job of running and beating your (big men) down the floor. All that being said, they are a good team and a difficult team to play."
On the history of playing poorly in Las Vegas:
"We've played very well against (UNLV) - home and away. We beat (UNLV) last year in Vegas, we beat (UNLV) when we won the conference championship and when we've gone in there and played the last few years, the history has shown that even when we didn't win we've had great opportunities to win and that's all you can ask. I think our kids will feel good about going into their place and playing them with the feeling that I have just said - knowing that the last time we went in there we did win"
On the team's performance vs. Utah:
"We played hard. Now did we play as well as we have during the eight-game win streak? Maybe in spots, but we played hard. Utah is a team that, especially when playing with a lead, they control the pace of the game and they did that. We weren't able to gain control of the game from a tempo standpoint. We had 28 possessions each half - 56 (total) possessions. A normal game for us is approaching 70-75 possessions. So that is a significant number when you look at how the game was played. That was controlled by Utah. They came down, they ran clock, and they did things to make us guard. They shot the ball several times with one, two, five seconds on the shot clock and they controlled the flow of the game and that is to their credit. They hurt us in rebounding, we all know that. They had 16 offensive rebounds - seven by (Bryant) Markson. They had 16 points from offensive rebounds and that was a huge piece to the game. We weren't good enough and we didn't do a good enough job of limiting them to one shot at the basket."
On the added pressure as a result of receiving top-25 votes:
"I don't think so. Everybody likes to win, and likes to see their name in the paper and they like good things said about them. It's harder when you don't win - to sit there and say we didn't do this or we didn't do that and answer these kinds of questions. Eight wins in a row was the longest that SDSU has had in a long time. It's also longer than most teams in the United States have had this year. If we look back I bet there aren't too many teams that have had eight-game win streaks during the season. Eventually, unless you are UCLA in the good old days, that ends. And it ended for us, and unfortunately for us it ended at home. Now our goal is to start another eight- or nine-game winning streak. I don't think that our kids have been affected from the standpoint of not practicing hard, not competing hard as a result of people telling them in class or people walking off campus telling them how good they are. I don't think that's had an impact."
San Diego State Guard Brandon Heath
On getting outrebounded by Utah:
"It's all about rebounding in practice right now. That's going to be the emphasis for Thursday's game as well, because we know they have athletes too. They're athletic and they go to the offensive glass hard. For us to win, that's one thing we have to do, rebound the ball well."
On playing well at UNLV last year:
"It's a new season and different teams. I don't think about it too much, (I'm) just thinking about the game on Thursday, letting the game come to me, playing team ball, having fun and taking care of business."
San Diego State Forward Mohamed Abukar
On the return of Kyle Spain:
"We had just heard about (Spain returning), but we've been anticipating and expecting it. We've been waiting for him to come back and we tried to hold it down for him while he's been gone. That will be a huge boost for us when he gets back."
On getting distracted by the winning streak:
"(I would hope we weren't) distracted by winning and the (top-25) votes. As far as giving us an incentive, we're coming in with more of a chip on our shoulder. The (loss on Saturday), it definitely was a wake up call. We can be beat; we can be beat by anybody. We're going to come in on Thursday with the most focus and the most energy we've had to this point."