Feb. 18, 2009
SAN DIEGO -
San Diego State Weekly News Conference
Aztec Athletics Center
San Diego State Men's Basketball Head Coach Steve Fisher
On the final leg of the Mountain West Conference regular season:
"We are heading down to the final five games and it's what a lot of us expected to be there; still a host of teams capable of winning the conference championship and we're one of them I'm proud to say. We feel good about bouncing back against Wyoming. We played very good defense, did what we had to do and now we're traveling to The Pit to play the Lobos who, as everybody knows, lost at BYU after having beaten them by 20 at their place. I'm sure they'll be ready, but I'm sure we'll be ready also. We're hoping to go in and find a way to get a win. That's what you have to do now; you scout and you have everybody's game, you know what they're going to do and surprises are at a minimum anymore. So it's can you stop (Tony) Danridge from attacking the rim; can you keep them from fast-breaking; can you not have 21 turnovers, like we did in game one. I think it will be a very good game. I just finished watching again the second game when they played (UNLV) at The Pit. They had a season-high 17,155 (fans) all cheering for the Lobos and that's helpful. We have to be able to manage and control the crowd and do what we did a year ago; go in and find a way to win."
On the health of the team with having the bye week this week:
"The bye week did help us. We've been able to get folks a little better who have been on the mend. Starting with Lorrenzo (Wade), he appears to be a little bit better each day. (Ryan) Amoroso is back practicing and appears able to play, which he couldn't do last week. Tim Shelton's knee is still a bother. He played 33 minutes against Wyoming and I thought he played very effectively. The knee is sore on him; we're going to give him today off and not do anything. That is unfortunately his lot in life right now. We've got to have him ready to play in the game and do what we need to do in practice so he knows what we want and gets just enough to be game-ready, but not too much where he can't play on that knee. The bye week came at a really good time for us."
On the success SDSU has had at The Pit when other teams have not:
"I can remember a little bit about last year and if I close my eyes I can remember a little bit about the previous two. Last year, if you look at that tape, we're hopelessly beaten in the first half. We're down 16 points I think in the first half, and all of a sudden D.J. Gay makes two or three baskets in a row for us and we creep back in and we're down only eight or nine points at halftime. We felt like we were ahead. We came out in the second half and played really good basketball. You have to have a guy or two to step up and play exceptionally. Maybe sometimes play better than they have played. We've got enough of them to be able to do that. Then you have to be able to make basketball plays. Two years ago but for the grace of God we would have lost on a one-second end line inbound pass that they had pointblank and missed the layup and we beat them in overtime. Three years ago we had Brandon Heath in one of his fits of couldn't miss no matter how hard you guarded him and scored 15 points in two minutes. A variety of things can happen. We've got good enough players to win there, but a lot of people do. You've got to be able to play. Free throws are important. The first game we shot 38 free throws and I believe they shot 29 or 30. So officiating will have to do with it; getting people in foul trouble, keeping them out of foul trouble. It's not that we won't think that we can win there because we have. Kyle (Spain), Richie (Williams), Matt (Thomas) and guys who are seniors have gotten used to winning there. It's hard."
On the difficulty of travel in the MWC and if he's talked to other coaches from other conferences about it:
"The more you talk about it the more excuses you give for everybody to lead on saying, `Well you've got to do this or that, you've got to fly and then bus two hours, and the weather and the altitude.' I do know two years ago we were second-most difficult league to win in statistically. Home teams won more than anywhere in the county except the Big Ten. I have no idea where we stack this year. There have been some road wins and there has been about one road win every week. It happens. These are harder places to get to than when we traveled back in the Big West or in the Big Ten. Travel, as we all know, in today's world is hard. You get there two hours early and you've got all of this stuff. We've flown into Denver more than I have in a lifetime in one year, to go to Denver and then bus to all of these other places to get to where we want to go, which is another reason why a lot of the major conferences don't want to play people in our league. They'll come sometimes to San Diego and Las Vegas and I think Utah has attracted one or two, but you're not going to get anybody who will want to go to Wyoming, very few will venture to New Mexico, unless there is something extraordinary that is going with it because they know that those are extremely hard places, not only to play, but to get to and all of the factors. This is a good league with good teams that can win anywhere but it's excruciatingly more painful when you have to go on the road to play. It's easy to watch a game and say they're not this and they're not that, but there are so many factors that are involved in going from game to game to game. There are those that are tougher are able to cope with whatever it might be; whether it be the flu, a hurt ankle, a hurt knee, a bad call, are those that will win games. There's not that much separation. Look at (UNLV). We beat them in overtime at their place, a game that easily could have gone the other way. And then they go to New Mexico and drop an overtime game to New Mexico. So they go from two losses to four losses. You can easily do that. You can do well and lose two in a row, and if you don't play well, you're probably going to lose two in a row."
On the one game mid-week game being more difficult on the student-athletes academically:
"It's a lot harder now with nine teams and no travel partners because you don't have go play BYU Saturday, Sunday you prepare and go to play Utah on Monday; we don't have that anymore. We have every game we go and then we come home the next day; it costs you two and a half days of school. It's harder, expense wise and educationally. It's challenging. I've said this before; I do think that it's helped teams like us because you don't have to go back-to-back at those places. You have a chance to take a deep breath. I remember vividly three or four years ago we played at Colorado State on a Saturday night, triple or double overtime we lost, no legs, and played Monday at Wyoming and the second half we were climbing uphill all night and in quicksand; that's the way we looked. I think it's an advantage for us on the court, but all of the other variables not only make it more expensive and time consuming, but there are a lot of negatives to it the other way."
On if he can see the final chapter of the crazy story that the MWC race has been:
"Absolutely. I see San Diego State winning five straight, being conference champs and knowing that we're going to be in the NCAA tournament. So that's my happy ending. No, whether Richie and Lorrenzo and Kyle and the rest of them can help write that last chapter, I know exactly what the storyline that I want. That's what we're shooting for. But I'm trying to tell that to New Mexico, BYU, TCU, Colorado State and (UNLV); they've got their own plans and their own last chapter to write. It will be interesting. I'm not one of these guys who reads everything that comes out about who's where and what, but I do know that our league is getting a little more play nationally with the quality of it. It's been enhanced by teams like (UNLV) who've won at Louisville without Wink Adams and Utah winning over LSU and Gonzaga and whoever else they beat. These kinds of things are helpful for how people perceive you as a team and as a league and I think we're getting a little better love than we've gotten in years past, which will hopefully help in getting another team or two into the NCAA tournament."
SDSU Senior Lorrenzo Wade
On if there is any particular reason that SDSU has been successful at The Pit:
"I don't think there is any particular reason. I think last year we went in there and we were down at the half, we had a pretty good second half that allowed us to win the game. The year before that we went into overtime. I think they're just really hard-fought battles down there and we've been fortunate to come out on the winning end. Hopefully we can do down there and get the job done again this year."
On if there is a key to winning at The Pit:
"I think the key is you have to survive the first 10 minutes and then get your second wind and then the game becomes a little bit more even after that. They like to run a lot. They like to pick up full court with their defensive pressure. They're going to make the game really tough on us the first 10 minutes of the game. Once we settle in we should be ok."
On if the bye week helped:
"It helped us get into better shape. We've done a lot of running the last couple of days in practice. We should be prepared for the change in altitude."
On if the players have written the final chapter of the crazy story that the MWC race has been this year:
"Not yet. The Mountain West Conference has been so up and down. You think you create some distance, and then in actuality you don't. With the win last night, I believe BYU has edged us out for second place now. It's really tough. We'll have to win every game to feel secure and I guess to be able to write our own chapter."
SDSU Senior Richie Williams
On if the players have written the final chapter of the crazy story that the MWC race has been this year:
"It's a very close race. You just have to take it one game at a time. You can't worry about what other teams are doing; we have to look at ourselves first. As long as we take care of business, we'll finish out the season the way we want to.
SDSU Senior Kyle Spain
On if the bye week helped:
"It's helped, not only in the fashion to where we can get into shape, but it has allowed us to work on our game individually."