Dec. 31, 2009
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SAN DIEGO -
San Diego State-Pomona Pitzer Postgame Quotes in PDF Format
San Diego State Head Coach Steve Fisher
Opening Statement:
"We felt coming in, that this was a game we should win given the fact that we were playing a Division III opponent. One of the things I told our team after the game was that I appreciated and our fans appreciated is the way they moved the basketball. We played very selflessly and they are to be commended on that. They did a great job of passing up an ok shot for a better shot. Given everything we wanted to get out of this game, we accomplished some things that should give us good feeling heading into league play."
On playing Pomona-Pitzer:
"We tried like crazy to get a Division I game and couldn't find one. I thought it was in our best interest to play a game and what we did was good for us and it turned out the way it unfolded was good for us."
Was it hard to get ready for this game:
"The most important thing is to come out and compete. Pomona-Pitzer looked forward to coming in here today. I told our kids that. I thought in the first half they (Pomona-Pitzer) played unafraid. Hopefully this will help them as they move into their games."
On the quality of the Mountain West Conference:
"I have not watched much. I have watched every score and we have some impressive non-conference wins. The thing that has surprised me a little bit is how well we have played despite graduating a lot of seniors as a league. I did not believe we would be as good as it appears we are, one through nine. It is going to be a battle. There will be a lot of close games played over the next couple of months to determine a champion. We talked in the lockerroom today, if we had won all of our home games (last season), we would have tied for first and would have gone to the NCAA Tournament. We are going to have a lot of close games. We need to win our share and a couple more."
On the team being ready for MWC play:
"We are ready to go play. We have everyone healthy except for Tim (Shelton), who is nursing his knee. I held him out, with intent, in the second half to make sure he will be able to give us minutes moving forward. We are relatively injury free given the state of what we do. We just now need to go out and compete. We have the ability to go eight or nine deep. When you come in, you have to perform. Brian (Carlwell) had statistically, his best night as an Aztec. He is big and he is smart. We have to help him get better. If he can play close to the way he did today, he will help us."
On how many teams the MWC can get in the NCAA Tournament:
"Who knows what will happen this year. I am hoping that some of these leagues, including the Pac-10, we can flip-flop with. Maybe they will have two or three and we will have four or five (teams). I think everyone is talking about New Mexico, BYU and UNLV, and we are talking about ourselves. We have pretty good RPIs up and down our league."
On how many teams the MWC can get in the NCAA Tournament:
"We are playing one of the best teams in America on the 5th. We are going to need all of our fans to help make this the kind of homecourt venue it has become. We will have our fans full. This is as good of basketball as you are going to see in the United States. We need basketball fans and Aztec fans here. We are not going to have 3,000 students from The Show here. The one thing that would be neat would be to have some of the old timers that were here years ago to put the banana uniform on and sit with The Show. I am hoping that we will have people fill up that section and be remindful of the fact that it is a responsibility to cheer our team."
San Diego State Junior Brian Carlwell
On playing a Division III team before conference play:
"It's college basketball. I don't think any competition is easy because you can get upset in a heartbeat. It was a great way for us to get prepared, for us to get focused, now we have to stay focused. We went up against a good opponent. They came out in the first half and they weren't scared at all. (They were) shooting threes and crashing the glass. I think it kept us humble."
On where the team is at going into conference play:
"We are doing pretty good. There is always room for improvement. There are always things we can get better at. Everybody is positive. Everybody know there is work to do, but everybody realizes that we are a very good team. As long as we keep working, everything will fall into place."
On if the team is ready for New Mexico:
"Yeah. We are going to take a day off, try to let our bodies rest up, come back (to the gym) and get back to work. I'm just hoping we can get all of our fans out here. We're really going to need the fans for this one. (New Mexico) is a good team coming in here. If we can get good fan support and good action from the players, I think it will be a good game."
San Diego State Freshman Chase Tapley
On finishing with three turnovers as a team:
"Every time we go into the locker room, Coach Fisher has a bulletpoint that says take care of the ball. We learned that from the Arizona State game with 24 turnovers. That's never going to win us the game. We just have to take care of the ball and that's what we did today. We look forward to doing that every single game."