Jan. 6, 2009
SAN DIEGO -
SDSU Basketball Weekly News Conference
Aztec Athletics Center
SDSU Head Coach Steve Fisher
On the season up to this point:
"We are where we had hoped to be and where we knew it would be a struggle to be. We lost five straight at Air Force and even though this is not the Air Force of three years ago when they were pounding everybody, this is still Air Force at Air Force. It was a really good win for us. It was the only road win in the conference. Now we come home to a, without a question, title-contending Utah team. They're as good as anybody in the league. They've got everybody back except Johnnie Bryant and they've added some pieces so this will be a very good test for us. We're excited about it. We're going to have to play and play well; I anticipate that that will happen. (Luke) Nevill is the guy who is such a hard match-up for everybody. He's 7-2 and it's very difficult to play him one-on-one. When you double-team or play a gap to help, their three-point shooters, starting with Shaun Green and (Tyler) Kepkay, they make you pay for it. This will be a good test for us. They have played the hardest non-conference schedule, which will end tonight when they play LSU at their place. Four of their five losses, one point, two point, three point, four point; probably they should have one loss as we speak. We know how good they are. This is a very good team that will be coming in here. I think it will be a very good team."
On how good the Aztecs are:
"The Aztecs, if you would ask the man on the street will probably say what I'm going to say- they've beaten the teams they should have beat. The three teams they could have beat, they didn't beat. That's who we are right now. We're going to have 15 more conference games against really good people. I do think Utah will be as good as anybody we have played to date. There are a lot of teams in our league I could say that about. I like out team; I really do like our team. We've done a really good job of offensively sharing the ball. We've guarded better than we have probably since we've been here collectively. If we keep on doing that, we're going to be a hard out too. I would hope that Utah would be saying the same things about us that we're saying about them. We're a good team."
On Lorrenzo Wade's incorporation back to the team:
"Lorrenzo played his best game this year for us at Air Force. He didn't try too hard and made plays. I think Lorrenzo is a playmaker. He's a guy that knows how to play; he sees the floor very well and when you put him in a position to make good decisions, he usually does. He did that Saturday. He made some great reads and feeds and plays and he rebounded the ball, especially at the defensive end, better than he's ever rebounded. We're going to need that from him, and then some. I think he's done a nice job of not trying too hard to jump in and stir the water. He's done a nice job. We expect a lot of him, as he does. He was a first-team all-league player a year ago."
On whether or not it has been hard for Lorrenzo Wade to come back incrementally:
"I think having missed as much time as he did, you're very anxious to get back. You're conscious of the fact that everybody talked about the chemistry that we had before he came back and how well we had been playing, how together we had been playing and how great of defense we had been playing, so you tread a little lightly at some regard. I thought that he probably tired, at times, a little too hard. That's natural. He'll probably do that again, as will others. I think he's done a nice job of accepting what I've told him is the situation, not said why am I not playing more, why am I not starting. He's done what we've asked all of them to do; when you're out there, play as hard as you can and play as smart as you can. We're going to need Lorrenzo Wade to be playing and playing at a high level if we want to accomplish what all of us want to accomplish, which is win and win big and have a chance to win a championship."
On why this team is playing so well compared to teams in the past:
"I'll first say schedule; that's helped. We've had a schedule that has been manageable. We won a tournament away from home for the first time in a long, long, long time. It was a tournament in our hearts that we felt we should have won. I do think scheduling has been part of it. We have a lot of veteran players too. If you look at our team this year and who we put on the floor last year, (there's) a lot of the same pieces with the addition of Tim Shelton. We should be a pretty good team. The nicest thing about our team this year is they really have listened and tried hard to do what we've asked them to do. That includes moving the ball and giving up the ball, but maybe most importantly is if we really want to win, we need to guard better than we've done in the past. We can't let people beat us off the bounce. We have to guard our own man better. We've got to guard collectively better, and we've done that. We really have done that.
"I'm talking about our tenure here, 10 years as we speak to date, we've guarded better. Now we'll see what that means in terms of league play. Now we're going to be playing teams that run and run well and they have multiple options offensively. We've been a hard team to score easy baskets on. If you make people take difficult shots you're going to have a chance to win if you've got pretty good talent, and we've got talent. If we can continue to guard the way we have and not give up a lot of wide open shots and not give up too many layups and second-chance points and if we do what we've done, we're what really good teams are. I believe we've made more free throws than our opponents have shot. I promise you, if we can do that in league play we'll be playing for a championship. The last thing that we've done is we've protected the ball. We have not had a lot of turnovers. You win when you get shots, even if it's a hard shot. If you get a shot every time down, you're going to have a chance to win."
On Tim Shelton's play so far this season:
"Nobody knew how much we missed Tim Shelton other than the coaches when he only played four or five games last year. We knew what added value he would be with this team. He's so smart in how he plays. He's not the fastest; he's not the tallest; he doesn't jump the highest, but he knows how to play. He will give you a workman-like effort every possession, whether he touches the ball, whether he missed a shot. He's been terrific. I will just make a statement- if we go back and look at every team in America, I would bet that he's in the top 10 in charges taken across the country, all 300 and some odd Division I teams. He's willing to do what it takes to win. A non-shot blocker, he blocked three shots against Air Force. He just does things to win. He does things that don't always show up on the stat sheet. Now rebounds do, but he does so many other things that don't show up in the stat sheet."
On feeling the pressure to win at home:
"I think if you don't feel a little stress and pressure, you're not ready to play. That can't eat you up. I'm concerned about every game and every practice. Our practice today was a C- so that concerns me. Utah has been hard for us. If you go back and look at our games with Utah, a year ago here we win but we're 13 down in the first half and I believe 11 down at half. They're a good team. If you want to win the league then you've got to find a way to win at home, not that you can't lose a home game and win the league. You're better at home. At the end of the day, most of us will have a better winning percentage at home in our league than we do on the road. So we've got one road win and we're coming back and we need to find a way to still be at the top of the Mountain (West Conference) when the dust settles on Saturday afternoon. Somebody's going to be 2-0 and we want to be one of those somebody's that's 2-0."
SDSU Senior Forward Lorrenzo Wade
On his return:
"It's been a long process. I had to get acclimated again to playing with my teammates. They (the team) did a good job of welcoming me back, but Coach (Fisher) also did a good job of easing me back into the game. I think I was averaging about 22 minutes a game coming into conference play, but he (Fisher) knows that conference play is my favorite part of the year."
On if he is on top of his game:
"I don't have a choice. We want to win this conference so I have to be at the top of my game now. I'm going to have to practice hard every day, practice like it is a game and hopefully that carries over to game day."
On how good the team can be:
"That's a trap question. Every year we get one of those questions and we say, `We can be this, or we can be that.' This year we are going to go out there and we're going to prove it. We'll let you guys take a guess about how good we are going to be this year."
On Utah:
"Utah is running really well. We just watched film on them and Luke Nevill is getting up and down the court. Their young guy, Carlon Brown that they have at the point, is very aggressive and is always on the attack. So we are definitely going to have to be prepared to get back into transition. It's going to be a game that is won on the defensive end. We know we are going to be able to get our points, but we are going to have to make stops.
SDSU Freshman Forward Tim Shelton
On what he does to make the team better:
"I just see it as playing basketball. I go out there, try and play hard and do the little things; whatever they may be. It's good to be back, I got to play in my first conference game against Air Force so now it's about getting used to those type of things. It's good to be back."
On why the team is playing at a high level on defense:
"Coaching and effort. We have a good group of guys that like each other and it helps when everyone likes each other. If you go out and you look at practice, you see how the coaches put their effort and their time towards scouting reports to make sure that we are doing exactly what we need to be doing on the defensive end. It's really just a lot of effort on both their and our end."
On Lorrenzo Wade:
"It's just nice to have him back. It seems like people forgot that he was on the team last year. I was only able to play with him for four games (last year), but it's good just to have him back. We had to ease him back in because we missed him. With the type of player he is, he is going to gradually get more minutes and he is going to make more plays. He was just two assists away from a triple-double last game; it's just productivity. It's good to have him back, it's good to have him play more minutes."
On Utah:
"We just watched film, watched the way they run and Coach was emphasizing that during practice today. He was emphasizing getting back on the defensive end. It's going to be a tough fight."