Jan. 21, 2012
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Student-Athletes News Conference
SDSU-Air Force Postgame Quotes in PDF Format
San Diego State head coach Steve Fisher
(from the postgame radio interview)
Opening statement:
"When you play a team like Air Force that is precise with what they do offensively, you have to be sound defensively. I thought that for the most part we defended effectively. Once again in the first half we gave them way too many second chances. I thought our half-court defense was as good as it has ever been."
On SDSU's defense:
"If you watch tape on (Air Force's) 17 games, they are getting 10-to-12 layups a game. Just like you saw against us, they are good at it. I thought we did a wonderful job, for the most part, playing the ball screen, floor screen, slip screen. Also we were able to get out smart and contest the threes the best we have done. They were 1-for-18 from the three-point line. It is the best we have done defending a three against them."
On the play of Chase Tapley:
"He has always been able to score the ball. He makes hard shots look easy and I have to give him more room to take hard shots, because he can make them. The pride that I take in Chase is how well he has defended. I think he is the most improved defender from a year ago and we all know he can score that ball."
On the upcoming game against Wyoming:
"We will have our hands full and we know that. We will be prepared and ready, and I know that we will play hard."
(from the postgame press conference)
Opening statement:
"Nothing comes easy and rarely does it look pretty when you play Air Force. I've been here 13 years and I know that. This was a good team we played here tonight. They're precise with their offense, they made it hard for you on defense. Probably like some of our fans, I was uptight tonight with some of the things that went on, but that's playing Air Force. We defended them at the half-court as well as we have in my 13 years. They had a couple of baskets on flares to the rim and one little back-cut, but I though, for the most part, we defended them and made them take hard shots. They were 1-for-18 from three-point range and this was a good win for us. We will be excited about it, and look forward to coming back tomorrow, getting ourselves prepped and ready for a very difficult game in Wyoming against the Cowboys, who are playing exceptionally well. Tonight I am pleased. We came in and got a victory. We're 3-0 and 17-2 and that's pretty good."
On the play of Chase Tapley:
"Chase can score the ball, he always has, always will. He makes easy shots, he makes hard shots; he makes hard shots look easy at times. What Chase has done, more than anybody on our team and, maybe had a little bit further to go, Chase has improved his defense immeasurably. He is now an asset as opposed to a liability and he's taken pride in how he guards. Chase is a good player. I know it and he knows it."
On the team's defensive rebounding:
"That's where people are going to say we've got to beat them up on the boards. We put five or six bullet points (before the game) and my very first on was rebounds. Our goal was to keep them under five offensive rebounds and they had that probably in the first 10 minutes. I thought they had more than nine, but we've got to do a better job rebounding. Too often we turn around and go to the rim and we can't rebound shoulder-to-shoulder with four guards against 6-foot-8 guys. We have to get better in that and nine is better than 21 but they had a total of nine in their last two games. We've got to do a better job rebounding the ball. I know it and our players know it."
San Diego State sophomore guard Jamaal Franklin
On playing man-to-man vs. zone:
"I would rather play against man because we're able to run. When you're not running they stop back and get into zone. When you're playing man, you have the ability to just run and make the game faster. In the zone, you have to really swing the ball and take your time."
On the Aztecs being able to adapt to different styles of teams:
"I think our team can adjust really well. We're running four guards and one big right now so when we play against smaller teams we are used to playing four guards, one big. Before the season started we were running three guards and two bigs. We're really able to play against any team that is capable of having big men or small men."
San Diego State junior guard Chase Tapley
On the difficulty of playing a team like Air Force:
"When you're a running, uptempo team like us, it's kind of frustrating guarding a team like them. They're very persistent with their offense, back-dooring, cutting, curling, and flaring. It's tough to guard and you have to maintain them for the whole 30 or even 35 seconds of the shot clock. Today, we did a bad job of defensive rebounding. They got the offensive rebound many times. We just really needed to focus on the concept of playing Air Force defense and I think we did a great job of that."
On whether man-to-man or zone is more effective:
"I think we're effective with both. We have great shooters, James (Rahon), Jamaal (Franklin), Xavier (Thames), and myself, and we have great big men who really get open in the high post. We really prefer playing against man-to-man. Our offense is really towards man-to-man, but we're great on both."
Air Force head coach Jeff Reynolds
On what the difference was in the game:
"1-of-18 from three, with 12 of them wide open. You've got to make shots. I thought their pressure bothered us a little bit, but what really hurt us tonight was not making enough shots. Eight minutes to go, we're down five and we've got the ball twice with the chance to cut it to three and it just didn't bounce our way. Give them credit, they're good."
On whether there was any SDSU player he felt was difficult to stop tonight:
"I thought (Jamaal) Franklin played very well. I thought he was good. All three of their guards are consistent with what they do."
On the environment in Viejas Arena:
"It's a great environment. As I've said since last year, I complimented the students last year. It's an environment that is as good as any place in the country. I grew up in North Carolina and have been to Chapel Hill and Duke, and what the San Diego State students do rivals any of them. I think their players feed off that, so it's a great atmosphere."
Air Force junior center Taylor Broekhuis
On team's play:
"You can't go on the road in this league and shoot 1-for-18 from the three-point line and turn the ball over as much as we did and expect to win games. They came out and executed their game plan and got us rushing around and turning the ball over and we weren't able to flow into our offense."
On why they didn't perform well:
"Part of it is us not slowing down and not playing our pace and they applied pretty good pressure and we were not able to handle it well."
On the team's poor shooting performance:
"Shots are not always going to fall, so when that happens, you need to get to the rim and make layups and draw fouls so you can get to the free-throw line. There are other ways to score other than shooting the three-ball and we just couldn't get it done tonight."
On any regrets from tonight's game:
"We left a lot of points on the floor tonight, but we have another game on Wednesday and thinking back about this one will not change the outcome so we need to move forward and hopefully get a win at TCU."