Dec. 28, 2007
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SAN DIEGO -
San Diego State-Sam Houston State Postgame Quotes in PDF Format
San Diego State Head Coach Steve Fisher
General Comments:
"Sam Houston State is a very good team. They are expertly coached and expect to win. They find ways to win and tonight at our place we found a way to win. I think that is a credit to us. It was a great win for the Aztecs. We have a lot of work to do but it was nice to do coming off a victory"
"Both teams competed as hard as any team can possibly compete and that is all you can ask. We do feel that this win will be a resume builder. This is a team that will not at all be surprised if they show up at the NCAA Tournament come March. They have had some impressive wins and to put the first loss on them tonight is significant."
On the victory:
"I was very proud of the way we competed. We missed some free-throws and some easy buckets but we never gave up. We competed extremely hard. (Sam Houston State) made some tough shots, especially in the first half. This was a good win against a quality team."
On adjustments made at halftime:
"I thought (Sam Houston State) made some tough shots in that first half. (Ryan) Bennett had a couple step-back shots. We tried to make them make tough shots and they still made us pay. I told our team that we needed to keep guarding hard and force bad shots. I also told them that we need to take better shots. I thought we shot too many threes."
On Billy White:
"Billy can do so much for us inside. He is an inside guy who get a lot of his points off his athleticism."
"Billy White did a nice job pursuing the ball and Richie (Williams) has a knack for getting to the rim. Billy followed (his drive) up and gave us a chance to go into overtime."
On the season so far:
"I know a lot of teams would take 10-3 right now. I think we have made a lot of progress from Oct. 15 to now."
On the holiday crowd:
"I tip my cap to the non-student fans. If we would have had our entire student crowd we would have had over 9,000. We got a lot of support from the community tonight and I think they got their money's worth."
Junior forward Lorrenzo Wade
On beating undefeated Sam Houston State in the last game before conference play:
"With (Sam Houston State) coming in being 10-0 and in the top 20 in RPI in the country, it was definitely a big home win for us. We tried to focus in on protecting our home court. We are going to really need that advantage going in to the Mountain West Conference. I felt like this was a good win, especially coming off the loss to Arizona, and it will send us into MWC play with a little bit of confidence."
On missing free throws down the stretch:
"Practice makes perfect, but no practice situation will resemble an overtime game. We shoot a lot of free throws in practice on a daily basis. We just have to get to the free throw line with confidence and knock them down. I missed a couple crucial free throws and I will focus in on not letting that happen again."
On the win:
"All in all I felt like this was a message in a way. We had a lot of freshman on the court and they handled the pressure really well. Billy White came through in the clutch during crunch time. We have had a tough time in close games and I am very impressed with the way we came together at the end of the game."
Freshman forward Billy White
On his basket that sent the game into overtime:
"I saw the ball in the air; I didn't really see who shot it. I just tried to crash the boards and put it in before time ran out."
Junior forward Kyle Spain
On the momentum gained in overtime:
"Getting to overtime really got us over the hump. When Richie (Williams) and Billy White put us in to overtime, we knew we had to win. After Billy White hit the last shot, our motivation grew and we had more energy."
Sam Houston State Head Coach Bob Marlin
On the game:
"San Diego State did what they needed to do late in the game. They missed some shots, but got some crucial offensive rebounds to stick back and win the game - one in regualtion and one in overtime."
On San Diego State
"They're the best team that we've played. We said that before the game, and we had them on the ropes in their gym and let them go. But they've got a fine team and they're going to have a great year."