Nov. 14, 2009
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SAN DIEGO -
San Diego State-UC San Diego Postgame Quotes in PDF Format
San Diego State Head Coach Steve Fisher
Opening Statement:
"As some of you know, we put a handful of bullet points on the board and then we have keys to success. One of them today was that we wanted three runs of 8-0 or greater, one run for ourselves of at least 10-0, and we wanted no runs for UCSD of 8-0. We started the half (winning) 31-28 and we scored 16 straight points. That's what obviously put the game out of reach, a 16-0 run. We did a good job of not allowing them to get an easy basket as we scored 16 straight points and that's what basketball is about. It's about runs; extending yours and minimizing your opponents, and I thought we did that very impressively to begin the second half."
On the play of D.J. Gay:
"I would tell everybody, don't worry about point guard. We are in very capable hands. From March to October nobody in this program has worked harder than D.J. Gay, and its showing. He's extremely competitive, tough minded, smart and knows how to play. Those are all qualities you want in a player, especially your point guard. We are excited about what D.J. brings to the table as the leader of this team."
On the 11 p.m. start Monday against Saint Mary's and playing on ESPN:
"I'm excited about it, or we would not be a participant in it. Would I prefer to be playing at eight o'clock? Absolutely. Am I excited about playing? Most definitely, and our team is also. It's a very good team we are going to play. Any time you can go on the road and get a win, which is our goal, it's significant, so we'll have our hands full."
San Diego State Junior D.J. Gay
On the transition from last season to this season:
"This was a big summer for me. We lost a lot of our great players, including Richie Williams, who I learned a lot from. This summer I focused on leadership and becoming a true point guard. Last year, I was primarily on the wing and this year the ball is in my hand. That is something I had to get used to. I feel like I'm coming along pretty well and I have a great supporting cast to help me."
On facing Saint Mary's on ESPN:
"I'm anxious and excited, we all are. We have to take a step back and look at the new team they have without Patty Mills. It's going to be a good game and I'm excited about it."
San Diego State Junior Malcolm Thomas
On the contrast of the first half and second half:
"In the first half, defensively I thought I was kind of sluggish out there. In the second half, we all talked as a group and that is where I picked it up. I asked my point guard where he wanted me to be and what he wanted me to do and he told me."
On the experience of playing in Viejas Arena:
"It was a great feeling to have a lot of fans on your side. At first I was a little overwhelmed because I've never played in front of so many people before. If D.J. (Gay) wasn't on the court I don't know how I'd play because he guides me through the game."
UC San Diego Head Coach Chris Carlson
Opening Statement:
"I thought we competed for a half. I thought we did some good things. We took way too many threes and settled a lot for shots on the perimeter. We competed pretty well, but we only did that for about 28 minutes, and at this level you have to compete for 40, as the cliché goes. I was encouraged by our effort and I thought we got better today, and that's one of the things I was looking to see, whether or not we really competed and got better."
On his game plan for the second half of the game:
"Anytime you play a Steve Fisher-coached team there's going to be great adjustments in the second half. We talked about (the Aztecs) turning up the heat on us during the second half, and turning up the pressure. We wanted to try to get to the line more, but again, we settled for threes way too much in the early part of the second half. We needed to do a better job on our transition defense. We knew they were going to up the tempo and try to speed the game up and we didn't act accordingly."
On the Triton players' morale after being held scoreless in the second half until 12:25 minutes were left in the game:
"Anytime you put a lid on the basket, you know the name of the game is to put the ball in the basket and I think it's discouraging when you can't do that. I thought we fed into that by settling for deep-perimeter shots and not attacking the basket. One way to counter that is to score on the free-throw line but we didn't really do that. It's discouraging and for us it's a teaching tool and something to learn from."
On how the Aztecs were able to take the game away in the second half:
"They upped the tempo and we didn't act accordingly. We started turning the ball over a little bit. They sped the game up and we didn't react too well to that. They played with a much greater sense of urgency in the second half than we did. It's something we need to learn from."