Feb. 21, 2008
SAN DIEGO -
SDSU Men's Basketball
Weekly News Conference Quotes
Aztec Athletics Center
Head Coach Steve Fisher
On Tuesday's victory at Wyoming:
"We finally got a win; it feels good." Three losses in a row makes you worry if you'll (ever) get a win. So we feel good about ourselves. You go on the road anywhere and it's hard. Wyoming is traditionally hard on everybody at their place, and they're not the same team that we saw (in January) when we held them without a point for eight or nine minutes. They had recently beat Utah at Utah. They played BYU tight at their place. So it was a good victory for us, much needed. It will not only help us in our (conference) standing, but also mentally as we prepare for a very difficult game against BYU on Saturday."
On Saturday's game against Brigham Young:
"We're looking forward to BYU coming in. We had a very close game with them at their place. I believe they have 46 straight wins at home, second to Memphis, and it's a very difficult place to go into and win. We need to return the favor to them on Saturday. They are right now separating themselves a little bit from (the rest) of the league. We can help UNLV inch a little closer if we can get a victory on Saturday. More importantly, we can help ourselves. We're excited about the game. Hopefully it will be a big crowd, and I do believe it will be a very entertaining, hard-fought game."
On freshman guard D.J. Gay breaking out of his shooting slump:
"D.J. Gay was a prolific scorer and a high-volume shooter in high school. So when you know you're going to get 15 shots a game, you don't worry if you miss your first four or five. With him, it's been an adjustment. Even if you get five or six shots, you can't worry if you miss the last one. If you have a good look, you have to take it. He had a great game at Utah, where he made almost everything he shot. That gives you confidence for the next one. And he stepped up and made our only three-point shot of the second half in Laramie. And I do think if you ask him, he would say he's playing with confidence. That's what you have to do. So we're hopeful that will continue for the remainder of the season. He's not going to get 15 shots in any games, but hopefully he will continue to shoot with the accuracy that he's had lately."
On whether it's been difficult for a young player like Gay in his first exposure to the MWC:
"It's always hard whether you're a first-year player or a veteran senior, but in particular for a rookie who has been asked to do maybe more than he expected to be asked, both from a ball-handling standpoint, defense and all the other things that enter in. I love D.J. He's a wonderful young player who wants to get better, which is why I think you saw him fight his way out of a shooting slump into a guy who feels pretty good about himself right now. A year from now, he's someone who is going to be a lot better than he is right now."
On making any further lineup changes for the rest of the season:
"I don't know for sure what our lineup will look like. The last two games we started D.J. Gay and Matt Thomas, and we have played pretty good basketball. So I would anticipate that there's a good likelihood that we could have that again. And yet Richie Williams has been a three-year starter for us. We have to have him on the floor and playing well. Kelvin Davis has started for us. So our hope is that no matter who starts, we get productivity and then we get a spark off the bench from whoever that would be. Right now I'm not sure whether we'll go with the same lineup we've had the last couple of games or not."
On whether it's been a delicate situation starting D.J. Gay over Richie Williams recently:
"No, I don't think so. If you're a player, you control what you can control. If that means you don't start, you have to be prepared and excited to perform. I think that's what life is all about. There are no guarantees. You come to work everyday and if someone performs a little better, they're going to get that promotion and you're going to be back in that same position that you were in. That doesn't mean you can't get that next promotion though. I love Richie. He's a tremendous competitor, and we must have him playing and playing well for this team to be as could as we think we can be."
On whether he thinks the MWC is a two-bid league for the NCAA Tournament:
"I think probably it is. I think we've never had less than two since we've been in existence. If someone out of the top two right now wins the conference tournament, then maybe there's the likelihood of it being one or three teams getting in. But if the season ended right now, it would be BYU, the winner, and UNLV, who's in second place. That being said, New Mexico is playing as good of basketball as anybody in our league. They're playing terrific. So a lot can happen in these last four or five games depending on who you are."
On the significance of the regular season heading into the conference tournament:
"The regular season means a whole lot. For the tournament, it means your seeding. It means playing somebody that doesn't have the record that somebody else might have that you could be matched up against. I haven't done the homework on it, but I don't think there's been a team in the eight years of this conference who has won the (regular season) and not made the NCAA Tournament. So I think there's a pretty good likelihood that if you win the league, you're going to make the NCAA Tournament whether you win that conference tournament or not ... If you win your league, I think a league that is as good as ours is, you're deserving of an NCAA Tournament bid."