March 3, 2007
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SAN DIEGO -
TCU-San Diego State Postgame Quotes in PDF Format
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San Diego State Head Coach Steve Fisher
On the game:
"I'm proud of the fact we found a way to win in a game where we couldn't make a basket -- and the longer it went, the harder it became. I've done this long enough to know that if you have a good team you can play less than your `A' game, you can still win. And we've got a good team."
"I'm pleased the seniors went out on a win, but I'm like a lot of fans -- it wish it would have been by 20 points. I'm thrilled we got ourselves a victory."
On the seniors, Mohamed Abukar and Brandon Heath:
"I said the other that when Mohamed became eligble in December of last year, if he would have been a stock, and you bought in to him, you'd be a wealthy person because he has done nothing but help us do this. He's been invaluable. He was the missing piece to take us from being a good team to a really good team. He took us from being a competitive team to winning the conference for us."
"Brandon is the face of the program. He's opened doors everywhere, especially in the city of Los Angeles for me becuase of his performance on the court and off the court. If there ever was a guy the president should take in and say `be like this guy,' it would be Brandon Heath."
"They'll (Abukar and Heath) be missed but not ever forgotten."
On the Mountain West Tournament:
"I'm not worried about what happened today, I'm worried about what we're going to do on Monday to get ready for Thursday. I'm hopeful that we'll make shots. I do believe that we have a good team and we'll find a way to win."
San Diego State forward Mohamed Abukar
On the game:
"A win is a win. If we would have lost this game, we'd be all sick right now. I'm glad we won. We didn't play as well as we should have, but that is a testament to us. We didn't play well at all, but still found a way to pull it out and win the game. It could've been a lot better, but in the end, a win is a win. ... We're not going to stress over this game. We had great shots; they just didn't fall."
On the team's defense:
"Our defense was good in spurts and in spurts it wasn't. We definitely struggled in the first half (defensively), but we made adjustments when we needed to and found a way to pull it out."
San Diego State guard Brandon Heath
On the team's shooting woes:
"We had some great looks today, but we just couldn't knock them down. That's basketball. Sometimes (your shots) go in, sometimes they don't. We'll take those looks on any given night. If we get those looks in the (MWC) tournament, I have confidence that we'll knock them down."
On the pregame ceremonies:
"It was very emotional for me. I've been here the longest. My time here has been great. I couldn't have picked a better place than San Diego State. I enjoyed every bit of it. It went by so fast, but I'm happy with every decision that I made."
TCU Head Coach Neil Dougherty
On the game:
"We played a pretty good game today. We didn't play as well we wanted to. We had opportunities to steal it at the end and just didn't get it done."
On how the team responded to what he said to them at the half:
"I thought they responded well. I was upset with Neil (Dougherty) turning the ball over as the half closed. I was upset with Femi (Ibikunle), who got poked in the eye and just let the ball go instead of holding onto it. I was upset with Blake Adams for just not playing hard at all. Those are our three seniors, so I jumped our seniors. I got on them in a way that I probably haven't ever. I do think they responded in the second half. You saw the game, we were where we needed to be, and we just didn't finish the job."
On Brent Hackett's shoulder injury:
"Brent's a tough, tough kid. It's unfortunate the things that have happened to him in his career so far at TCU. I think the last time (his shoulder) came out was in this very gym, so there's no telling what was going through his head. I was surprised that he came back and wanted to go back in the game. I thought we had lost him, but he came back in and on his first look, he buries a three."
On his team's progress:
"I really had fun coaching (our) team tonight. It's just frustrating that we couldn't get the job done. This group has gone through so much. They've worked hard the last couple of weeks and have played much better basketball. I wanted to get them through the finish line and just couldn't get it done."