Dec. 6, 2008
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SAN DIEGO -
San Diego State-San Diego Postgame Quotes in PDF Format
San Diego State Head Coach Steve Fisher
Opening Statement:
"You love to win but you hate to see what happened tonight happen to Brandon Johnson. I don't know him except to watch him, and I love the way he plays. It's so tough when you have an injury, and a significant injury like he has, to feel quite as good as I would like to feel. Bill Grier has had way more than his share of injuries and situations (like this). It's a hard one to swallow on our side of the court too. We wish him well and hope he is ok.
"We're defending in a fashion that even if we don't play great on the other end we're going to have a chance to be in the game. In spite of their percentage of shooting I thought we did a nice job defensively. We forced 17 turnovers, many of those turnovers lead to baskets for you. We have to continue to do it that way. I told them in the locker room, especially now with Lorrenzo (Wade) coming back, you can't look at minutes, you can't look at starting, you can't look at shots. You have to look at how hard we are playing together and if you do that we have an opportunity to continue to be successful. That's the plan of attack. We have to stay with it, continue to share the ball. We're really moving the ball, we're not hanging on to the ball too long and we are getting good looks as a result of that. And a good feeling for one another as a result of that. It was a nice win for us."
On this difficult stretch of games so far:
"I feel good about what we are doing. We played hard and we played pretty effectively at Northern Colorado. We played hard and didn't make quite as many of the open shots we had, but I thought we played pretty good basketball tonight. We have to play better in both of the next two games if we want to win because both of the teams we will be playing will be very, very good. Starting at Arizona on Wednesday, they are good."
On the fans:
"Our fans have been spectacular and we had a great crowd tonight. They helped us get a victory. That's so instrumental to our success."
On San Diego's Brandon Johnson leaving the game with an achilles injury:
"Before we get into it, I just wanted to say how badly we feel about Brandon Johnson with the achilles injury. He's such a tremendous competitor and a terrific player. You just feel so bad when it happens to anybody. Our thoughts will be with him as he goes through what is next. Bill Grier and his team, he's had more than his share of injuries as he's started his second season."
On the Aztec defense:
"When we're able to stay with (our defense) we've created enough chaos out there to usually make a team have a few more turnovers than their average. I think that's significant and we did that here again tonight. I told them at halftime that I didn't feel as though we guarded as well as we have been (this season). The shots (USD) got, I felt were too many easy shots. But (Gyno) Pomare is hard to guard. He's very good. And Brandon Johnson is very good. I'm proud of the way we're defending. It's a huge piece to the success we're having. I think the kids are enjoying that too."
On having six or seven starting players:
"It really is nice. The thing that we have to do now is make sure that we maintain chemistry with adding Lorrenzo (Wade) back to the pole and what that will mean for everybody. I'm confident that it will happen. Lorrenzo is a wonderful young man, and every one else is too."
San Diego State Senior Guard Richie Williams
On if this game means something more than any other game:
"This is the best team we've played by far. It was a hard fought game that you saw and we were very fortunate to win this one."
On enjoying beating USD:
"Every win is fun. We know these guys personally it just puts a little more on it. At the end of the day, we're just happy we got the win."
On how well they are playing as a team:
"We just try to get better every game we play. We didn't do as well defensively as we'd like to , we didn't rebound. We're very happy we ran away with this one."
On USD's Brandon Johnson being sidelined and how it effected the game:
"It hurts them a lot. He's the ringleader and he gets them going. It was very unfortunate that he got hurt and I wish him well and that he gets well soon."
San Diego State Senior Forward Kyle Spain
On if playing hard defensively is signature to their game:
"I wouldn't call it signature, we still have a lot of work to do on our defensive. We didn't rebound the ball as well as we should have. Our defense isn't superb, but it's getting us victories. If we want to be a really good team, we're going to have to pick it up."
On his good play to start the season:
"I guess having to fill Lorrenzo's (Wade) shoes on the games he's been out hasw made me take more of a leadership role."
San Diego State Freshman Forward Tim Shelton
On his production in the second half:
"I just come in and try to bring energy. I try to contribute anyway I can."
San Diego Head Coach Bill Grier
On his assessment of the game and how it changed after Brandon Johnson's injury:
"We knew coming in here it was going to be a tough game, but then after losing (Brandon) Johnson... you know, right now the game is the last thing on my mind. This kid's done so much for this program and to lose him in his senior year like this is devastating."
On their weaknesses during the game:
"As far as the game, we had too many turnovers, especially in the first half. In the first half we shot 61 percent and had 12 turnovers. We felt coming into the game that turnovers were going to be the key."
On turning the ball over to the Aztecs:
"If you turn it over against them, they're going to make you pay. They run out, they make threes, they transition, and they get the crowd into it. I think that is what made the difference in the ball game."