Feb. 13, 2010
Recap | Final Stats | Notes | Photo Gallery 1 | Photo Gallery 2
SAN DIEGO -
SDSU Head Coach Steve Fisher
(with AM 600 KOGO)
On the first half:
"I'm very proud of how we competed. In the first half we gave them the minimal number of easy opportunities to score which led to just 25 first half points for them. We made it frustrating for them to get a good clean look. They had a breakaway, (Brian) Carwell made the block, and then we scored eight straight points. In that run, Tyrone (Shelley) had a missed shot, dug it back out, and then made a defensive steal at the other end. That kind of stuff wins for you. If we just focus on doing the dirty work, then the other stuff will take care of itself."
On the team's good free-throw shooting:
Sometimes the very first guy who goes to the line sets the tone all day. I think Malcolm (Thomas) was the first guy to the line, he made the first two, and then everybody started making free throws.
On the Kawhi Leonard double-double:
"He plays by never being affected by time and score. He makes plays."
On the nine team blocks, nine steals and rebounding margin of plus-nine:
"What we were able to do was alter their shots. When you block it and get it, it's like a turnover. So it was significant. And Malcolm (Thomas) is a shot blocker - he had four of them. "
On the play of Billy White:
"Billy White had the best game he's played since New Mexico. Part of it was he had a great week of practice. He was quick, and active, and going by people, doing things that you win with, which gives you a great stat line like he had tonight. The great stat line helps make us successful."
(at postgame press conference in Mezzanine Level)
Opening Statement:
"I thought we defended in a fashion that gives you a chance to win. They had 25 first half points. We did not allow them to get to the rim at will on straight line drives. We knew who they're 3-point shooters were and we contested the 3-point shots. We made it hard for them to get good, easy looks.
"It was a really nice win for us, everybody contributed. Billy White had, by far, his best game since getting hurt in our first (conference) game against New Mexico. This was a very good win against a very good team."
On limiting UNLV's Tre'Von Willis and Chace Stanback to a combined 21 points:
"Stanback is a deadly shooter from 15-18 feet, but we did a pretty good job of not letting him get a decent look. Everybody focuses on Tre'Von Willis. He's the leading scorer in the league. I told our guys we had to guard the best player in the league without fouling him. In the first half, he was 1-for-7 (from the floor), so I think we kind of set the tone in the first half."
San Diego State Junior Forward Billy White
On the big win against UNLV:
"I think we just wanted to win this game real bad. They beat us the first time at their house. Our team just wants to win; we told ourselves and our coaches that we are not going to lose anymore, especially not at home. Our goal was to not lose at home, period, but of course we got that one loss so we are going to try to keep going and just build up our resume."
On playing his hometown team:
"It means a lot to me personally. Every time I play them I try to go 100 percent. The first time I played them [this year] I was just coming back from injury and I really couldn't move. So I've been working on it since, I've worked extra hard just for this game. I'm going to try to keep working and get more wins."
On people who still doubt SDSU :
"I think they are still kind of doubting us. They might say it's luck, but I know our staff here, our school, and our whole community know that we belong with everybody else. It's not a fluke that we are beating these teams here, ranked teams. It's not a surprise to us, because we know we can hang with anybody in the country."
San Diego State Freshman Guard Chase Tapley
On the team's free-throw shooting:
"Towards the end we started making our free-throws. I know in the beginning of the year it was a big struggle for us; every day in practice we just work on it, because when the game is on the line people are going to start fouling us because they think that's a weakness. But it's not a weakness because we are all making our free-throws, and it makes the game easier towards the end."
San Diego State Freshman Forward Kawhi Leonard
On playing at Viejas Arena:
"The fans come out and they push us; they are yelling and standing up until we make our first basket. That just drives us and our effort on defense. We had focused the whole week in practice on working to get ready. We're in our hometown, and we just make shots here."
UNLV Head Coach Lon Kruger
Opening Statement
"They got a little margin in the first half. We got a little bit of a start in the second but couldn't quite get back into the lead. They played well and had a lot of fire power, but we didn't do what we needed to do to pull out a win."
On Billy White:
"He's a guy who can do a lot of things. He's long defensively and can block shots. He's good offensively and attacks the rim. He's a good all- around player and does a good job."
On the last two games:
"It's disappointing to lose two in a row. We played two tough teams and we didn't do what we needed to do to win. We have to bounce back and get that going again. We were attacking and battled. We did a good job defensively as well."
On looking ahead:
"We just have to make progress. At this point, we dropped a couple in the middle of the (season). We have to learn from that and move on."