Dec. 7, 2011
Recap | Final Stats | Final Stats (PDF) | Notes | Notes (PDF) | Quotes | Quotes (PDF)
SDSU Photo Gallery | AP Photo Gallery | Highlights | Fisher Postgame
Stephens Postgame | Tapley Postgame
SDSU-USD Postgame Quotes in PDF Format
San Diego State-USD Postgame Quotes
San Diego State Head Coach Steve Fisher
On the game:
"This was the kind of game that I expected, I'm not so sure our fans expected it, I'm not positive our players expected it, but this is what we thought we would have tonight. A highly energized opponent, a hard fought game and I'm glad that we were able to come away with a hard fought victory. Been here done that, this is what you would expect when you go six miles across town to play a team that knows you, that knows your players and vice a versa. We were far from perfect and we got outfought for sure in the first half by a well-coached USD team. At one point, we had four rebounds and they had 14, four of which were offensive. That's grit and toughness and they had more of it than we did. But we fought our way back in and we reacquired that thanks in no small part to the best game of his career from DeShawn Stephens. Alec Williams came in off the bench in the second half and had the best game of his career. We've had that, we've had players that have stepped up, made plays to allow us to find a way to be successful and it happened again tonight.
On DeShawn Stephens:
"We've got nine guys and obviously we need all nine bodies. DeShawn is such a delight to have on the team. He so much wants to please that I think at times we give him a little too much to think about and that paralyzes him a little bit with what should I do rather than what he did tonight. And that's being an athlete that plays hard and he did that by far the best he's done for us. We need him to continue to grow, to grow his confidence and his game."
Junior Forward DeShawn Stephens
On how big the basket looked considering he went 7-8:
"One of the coaches told me before the game that you can fit two basketball's at the same time in the hoop, so I guess that stuck in my mind. So pretty much get it up there, it's a big hoop."
On his spin dunk:
"Actually, that was going to be a layup, but as I was in the air, I realized how close I was to the rim so I just dunked it in."
Junior Guard Chase Tapley
On how he felt out on the court tonight:
"I just was feeling it. I remember my freshman year when I was here, I didn't really get to play that much because I got injured. So I just wanted to come in and put the ball in the rim. That's what I did and my teammates found me."
On his role as a leader in tonight's game:
"As a leader, I just had to make something happen, knock down a shot. I was willing to make a presence on the defensive end and that's what I tried to do. Keep on encouraging my team and just know we were going to get back in this game."
On whether this game was emotionally tough:
"I wouldn't say it was emotionally tough, we knew coming in that we were going to get their best shot. They're a great team, coached by a great coach. We just came out slow and we can't do that against any team. They're a D-I team. We have to come out with 110 percent each and every game and that's a lesson we learned today."