Dec. 4, 2011
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SAN DIEGO -
SDSU-California Postgame Quotes
San Diego State Head Coach Steve Fisher
From the postgame news conference:
Opening Statement:
"It's a crazy game that we play and I remember the feeling I had after Creighton. We played every bit as hard as we did today. But today, we found a way to make one extra play, one more play and be euphoric as we raced to the locker room. This was a really great win for us and to a man, everybody that played, made plays that won for us. We'll remember the plays at the end of the game, but plays that happened early on allowed us to make those plays and make them significant enough to get a victory. This was terrific, but we expected to win. We thought we would win, we thought we were the better team and that's significant also. They put us on our heels a little bit out of the gate starting that smaller lineup and dribble-drove right past us for a 6-0 lead. Then we were able to settle in a little bit and get a little bit of a feeling that we knew what we were doing defensively. That's a good team that we beat and (Allen) Crabbe showed you why he was Mr. Basketball (out of high school) and, I believe, freshman of the year in the Pac-12 (last season). The credit goes to our players and our crowd, we had a great crowd today; biggest in numbers that we've had all season."
On the play of Garrett Green:
"Garrett was sensational, especially in the first half. You don't appreciate size and length until you don't have it. He had seven first-half rebounds, two offensive. He changed some shots inside, competed really hard and I'm very proud of how he played all game. We need him that way and he did a workman-like job. When he wasn't in there, we struggled a little bit more, although we had a hard time keeping him off the glass anyway. He did a really great job for us."
"We needed him out there. He had a pretty good mental state to where he wasn't thinking about what he just didn't do and played in the moment. You have to be able to do that and he did that tonight. He's made tremendous progress for us in self-esteem and confidence. He may not say that to you, but he feels as if he belongs out there. He feels as if he's a contributor and plays an important role in what we're doing."
On the steal and 3-and-1 fast break by Chase Tapley:
"Was that ever sensational? Chase has done a phenomenal job of anticipation, alertness, experience, and setting people up. It was almost like he baited that play to be made. He got down low, knowing that he was going to tease him with trying to throw the lob. He made a phenomenal play. Not as spectacular, but every bit as important. When he rebounded Garrett (Green's) missed shot as time was running out, rather than try to shoot it, he dribbled it back out and said, `let's see if we can run 10 seconds and you're going to foul one of us and we're going to make two free-throws.' That was a very good play, too."
From the postgame radio interview:
On the Game:
"It truly was a wonderful game to watch, and I know those cheered for either team felt that way. When you win, the feeling of adulation and excitement is beyond description. If you lose, it's a 180 and then some. We both know what it is like; we have found a way to run a lot of close games. I think that's a testament to the quality and the people being mentally strong and have play after play. It was all the guys; it wasn't just one guy that allowed us to sneak out with a victory.
On the San Diego State fans:
"It was also the phenomenal crowd we had here today. I leaned over to Mark (Fisher) and said that this is the most people we have had this season. They were good and part of this victory. We salute The Show and all of the fans we had today."
On where the team is based on who they have played:
"We absolutely are (proud). I am also realistic enough to know that if you look back at the games, and the closeness of those games. They could have gone (the other way), but they didn't. To our credit, our kid's credit, 8-2 is well deserved and very much hard-fought."
On Tim Shelton:
"He sets the bar higher for all of us. How he plays from the neck up. He made some mistakes and he knows it, but he drops them at the door and moves on to the next play like you have to be able to do. He made a play at the end of the half where he spontaneously doubled (Brandon) Smith across midcourt and we got a turnover and a basket. What had been a two-point game, so back and forth, all of a sudden you look up and we are up eight at halftime. Shelton made a couple of really important plays during that little stretch."
San Diego State Junior Guard Chase Tapley
On his thoughts on shooting the final two free throws:
"I have to make the two. I missed a couple in the first half and I had to make the final two."
On completing a tough seven-game stretch:
"We are exhausted, but very proud of our play. We exceeded a lot of people's expectations, but we expected to win all of them. We are glad with where we are at."
On the perceived expectations of the public:
"We are a lot smaller this year. People might have thought we wouldn't be able to finish a whole game and that is what we are showing people we can do. This team this year, we play hard every possession from start to finish. That is what is getting us over the top."
San Diego State Sophomore Guard Xavier Thames
On if the team used the California head coach's remarks as motivation:
"A little bit. Coach (Fisher) talked to us about it and we didn't take it really personal. It was in the back of my mind and we played hard."
On getting hit in the face:
"I got hit a couple times but it is part of the game. I am just glad we got this win."
On how many more ranked teams they can beat this season:
"As many as we can. We are going to keep playing hard, practicing hard, and do what Coach (Fisher) tells us to do."
California Head Coach Mike Montgomery
On the game:
"We made mistakes that ended up costing us. We have to learn. This was a really competitive environment. It was a tough crowd. We really had a great opportunity late, we really did. We had a two-on-one break and we turned that into two points for them which was critical. That was a huge turn around. The thing that happened late was our inability to rebound the ball. We couldn't rebound the ball; we couldn't go up and get it. We were actually playing pretty good defense. They were taking some tough shots and we couldn't come down with the ball. We ended up fouling and they made foul shots down the stretch. The other (problem) of course was in the first half we played them pretty well and then we ended up down eight on two or three mistakes right before the half. There are a lot of things that I'm pretty pleased with. This is a basketball team at San Diego State. It's a great crowd. They're 8-2. They played a really tough schedule and they've been very competitive within that schedule. I thought we had our chances and this could have been a great one for us. We have to learn from this. We have to figure out what little things we have to do."
On the second half:
"One of the things that San Diego State has been able to do is get off to great starts. They were up 17 at Arizona in the first half. We didn't want that to happen. We wanted to keep the crowd out of it if we could and play even. We did that. We played them even. I thought in many instances that we outplayed them and gave ourselves chances. We just didn't make plays when we had to make them."
California Junior Guard Justin Cobbs
On what they missed playing without Richard Solomon:
"Well, we think losing Richard takes our rebounding force away and shot blocking, but that's not the reason we lost. It's still on us. Richard is an important part of our team, but we still should have come out and done what we needed to do to get the win."
On what they did and didn't do well:
"I think we attacked them well off of the break and got a lot of layups. Defensively, we didn't rebound the ball and we didn't shoot that well. Usually we are a better shooting team than that and that's just basketball. Sometimes the ball doesn't go in and you have to go back to the defensive side. If you can't control your defense then you can't control your offense."
On missed free throws:
"That's concentration, that's my fault. Free throws are just concentration so that's all on me."
California Sophomore Guard Allen Crabbe
On what he thought about the game:
"We definitely wanted to get this win, to come in here in a tough environment and get a quality win against a good team like this. We have been on a winning streak beating goods teams lately. We definitely missed Richard a lot, he would have helped out, but we just have to learn from this and move on."
On a few plays determining the outcome of the game:
"I think basketball is all about runs and it's the little things. You can make one mistake and it can be the difference later on at the end of the game, and I guess we just came up short today."