Dec. 4, 2007
Recap | Final Stats | Notes
SAN DIEGO -
San Diego State-UC Riverside Postgame Quotes in PDF Format
SDSU Head Coach Steve Fisher
On the low scoring game:
"When you have trouble scoring, it's not pretty. I'm sure when we go back and look at the tape we're going to say we played pretty good defense. When you hold a team, any team, under 50 points, you have a good chance to win. We had a hard time making open shots. I thought most of the shots we took were good shots that if we can't make, we won't win a lot [of games]. We defended well enough. In the second half, I thought we did a better job of rebounding misses. We got a lot of second chance opportunities going to the rim and getting the offensive rebound. [Jon] Pastorek was the first guy to start doing that. He did a great job. He got one off of a missed free throw for a basket and another one that he tipped in. When you can't make a jump shot, you have to make an easy basket. We found a way to get just enough [baskets]."
On UC Riverside:
"To their credit, we got 17 ahead and it looked like we were going to make it easy, and they didn't let it happen. They fought hard. "
On Kelvin Davis
"Kelvin made enough shots at the right times through aggressiveness to keep us going. He was attacking the rim and getting some inside shots going to the rim. We had two or three or guys playing with foul trouble midway through the first half. Kelvin is an aggressive player and we need to give him that wiggle room to play that way. He got some field goals at the right time."
On Matt Thomas and Jer'Vaughn Johnson play:
"We rewarded guys like Matt Thomas and Jer'Vaughn Johnson with how they have been practicing. There is a fine line between being the eighth guy getting 18 or 20 minutes like Jon Pastorek and being the ninth man and getting no minutes. The ninth man was the eighth man with Kyle (Spain) unable to play and they came in and did a good job. Matt did a good job of playing defense and putting pressure on the ball. It was nice to see for everyone, most importantly for them."
On the passing of former SDSU basketball coach George Ziegenfuss:
"I got to know him since I have been here. I loved him. He came to every game and sat right behind Angie, my wife. He would come over every game say hello and tell her what a great job we were doing. We had him as an honorary coach of the game last year and I am so glad we were able to do that. I think (Ziegenfuss) was a guy who if you knew him, you loved him. I didn't know him as well as many did but he was a prince of a man. He is a tremendous guy and he will be missed by all of this."
SDSU Junior Guard Kelvin Davis
On the game:
"I didn't really carry the team, I just made shots. Our defense carried us tonight. We missed some easy ones we usually make. We'll have to make those on Saturday (vs. Saint Mary's).
On his big shots:
"My teammates did a good job of help defending and getting me the ball. I just happened to knock them down. Anytime you get in a good rhythm you are going to knock down shots."
On the team's depth:
"We have four or five players who average in double-figures. Anybody can have a good night. We just have to keep playing hard and doing what we need to do to get the win. Playing without Kyle Spain is tough, too, and we had some guys in foul trouble. We just have to look at tape tomorrow, get better, and get ready for Saturday."
SDSU Junior Guard Richie Williams
On the team's offensive struggles: "We just started off slow, that's going to happen sometimes. When that stuff happens you have to hang your hat on your defense and that's what we did tonight. We came out a little flat and a little slow, but we picked it up."
On Kelvin Davis making some key shots:
"He's been making big shots all season long. We have to keep looking for him to do that the rest of the season. We need some other guys to step up, too."
UC Riverside Head Coach Jim Wooldridge
On the game:
"We had times in the second half where we could have cracked and I thought we were able to hold ourselves together. ... I was pleased with the defensive ability we were able to show. There were a lot of positives to take out of this game.
"Shooting 48 percent in the second half is a good sign because we're not going to be a high scoring team, we don't have the weapons to do that. ... There were some signs of growth, we played tougher tonight. We played against a team that's going to win a lot of games, a team that looks like they're headed for a great season. We were certainly the underdog but I thought we held our ground pretty well."