Feb. 17, 2015
Recap | Final Stats | Notes
ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. -
San Diego State Head Coach Steve Fisher
Opening remarks
"We played really, really strong-willed together and came down first possession of the game and AQ (Aqeel Quinn) hit a three. We had a spell where neither team could score a basket but our defense was rock solid. That has carried us this season and we make just enough shots to say, `you have to guard us'. We have a good team. We wholesale subbed several times out of how we were playing. I thought we needed to. When we went to the bench, we got great, great play off the guys coming in. That is what we have to do. I thought when Malik (Pope) came in and made some plays you do not teach. The one dunk he had, there was no way he could get it, and he caught it and dunked it in. We have to continue to play that way. I thought they had a stretch where they just put their head down and drove and attacked the glass and we did not rebound as well as we needed to. Overall, it was a really, really good performance in a place that is difficult to win."
On the importance and play of the bench:
"We have a team full of guys that when you bring them in you expect them to play well. That is what we have been able to do. We have been able to wear people down that don't play nine or 10 guys and (our bench) did that today. I thought Trey Kell made several plays where he was able to get a hand in and dig a ball out and kick the ball ahead for a basket. Plays that win for you. We are seeing growth in our young players and we are seeing the experience of guys like AQ, JJ (O'Brien), Skyler (Spencer) and Winston (Shepard) maintain themselves and when teams make runs on us we do not do something foolish." On the improvement of Malik Pope:
"He has mad e progress, no question about it. He has made progress in a lot of different areas. He is able to move his feet. Late in the shot clock, if we want to switch everything, several times he was able to not allow his man to drive in."
On what he told the team at halftime:
"I went in at halftime and started about a 30-second rant complaining. (Coach) Dutcher went to the team with about 3 ½ minutes to go and said, "you are where you are because you have one turnover.' We ended up with five turnovers for the half. We turned the ball over four times in the last 3 ½ minutes and they finish the half on a 5-0 run. I didn't call a time out at the end of the half because they were in man-to-man and they would have switched to a zone. I am yelling at AQ to run a play and it does not get communicated. I went through a 30-second rant about all the things we didn't do well down the stretch and then I took a deep breath had a drink of water and told them how good they played."
On what is different now from earlier in the season:
"What we are doing is generating more offense and our defense has remained very, very sound and solid. We still have to rebound better. From a guard the ball until the shot goes up, we were very, very solid. We made it hard for them to get good looks. Greenwood is a hard guy to guard and I thought we did a nice job on him."
New Mexico Head Coach Craig Neal
Opening Statement:
"They're a really good team. Steve Fisher does a really good job. I was impressed by the way they get up on you defensively. We just didn't answer the bell as far as just being able to withstand their "physicalness" and being able to make jump shots. I was really honest with the guys and like I said earlier, it's my responsibility and it's my job. Right now we haven't got it done. Here is what I told the guys and I was really honest with them because that's the only way I know how to be. I'm not going to throw anyone under the bus and don't look at me like I'm a bad guy because If you look at my starting five, there's not one of them that has ever been a go-to guy. So I've got five guys that are in the starting lineup as role players that had a chance to develop and had a great chance and opportunity, which I've given them, and they work really hard and they're trying to get better. I just told them that I think some of them didn't put the work in, we've tried to work, and we'll continue to work.
What they've got to understand is that a young group (except for Hugh Greenwood and Deshawn Delaney, who has only been here a year and a half) once you go through seven games, everyone is going to scout you. Everybody watches you. Everybody tries to figure out how to take stuff away from you. Everyone is going to try and make us make jump shots. You just can't shoot free throws the way we shoot free throws. We've got to figure out a way to make better shots. If you look at hustle plays, we had 36 rebounds and I don't think they've ever been out-rebounded by a lot of teams. We had 19 offensive rebounds, which are hustle plays. We had 10 turnovers against their press and they're really, really good. I mean really good. They're athletic, they got on top of you. We had eight blocks and seven steals. But, then you go to the thing that really matters which is making shots.
I was really candid with them and said we've ran the same offense for eight years. We won seven championships in the eight years that I've been here, so it's not the offense. It's just we need to figure out how to make shots, get guys shots, play to their strengths, and I thought to be honest with you, we had some good looks. We had some really good 15-footers. I think we got off to a bad start by taking the first quick shot and you can't do that against them. You have to change sides of the floor and be patient. I thought our guys fought and we're going to continue to fight. We've got good kids in that room. It's like I said, it's my job and we're going to keep working and keep trying to get better. We're going to keep trying to find a way to manufacture some points and we got beat by an excellent team."
On whether or not this team can compete in this league:
"We have to play as a group. We have to score as a group. If you look at our roster, this is just being honest, I mean there's a 30-second timeout in a crucial part of the game and you spend half the time trying to figure out who to go to, who's hot, and we just don't have those guys. We don't have a guy to throw it to the post. They're trying guys. It's my responsibility to try and figure out how to score. You can't shoot thirty percent and beat a team of that caliber."
On if he saw fans leaving early:
"I'm trying to coach the game. We have great fans, we had 15,000 people there. We just didn't get going and got off to a bad start and went down 13 points at half. We scored just 18 points at half and that's not going to get it done."
On getting through a five-game losing streak as a coach:
"I don't think you get over it. You just keep working harder. I'll face it. I'll get up in the morning, the sun is going to come up and I'm going to come back to work and try and make my team better. I don't have to get critiqued by everyone in town or everyone in the country; I'm my biggest critic. I'll figure it out. I've figured it out before and we've always figured it out, but we just need to come out of it. I just don't know right now how we're going to do it, but we're going to continue to try to do and continue to work hard."
New Mexico Forward Sam Logwood
On how the team is feeling:
"It's pretty tough, losing all these games lately. But you just have to regroup and just continue to try to get better and get ready for the [Mountain West] tournament."
On developing a go-to player:
"Just continue to play as a team. Play within in the offense. Just get shots, open shots, and just continue to execute and get better."
On if he can develop into the go-to player:
"I'm just playing my role right now. Just going to continue to develop and listen to coach. As the years go, I'm going to go what coach tells me to do."
On his role on the team currently:
"Just go out there and give my all, play defense, create offense a little bit and just bring energy."
On outrebounding San Diego State and the physicality:
"It was a positive of this game. We looked at that and that was a plus. There were a lot of negatives, but that was plus for us. We just got to continue to work hard and continue to get better."
On where the team is right now and if the team has lost confidence:
"None at all. We still believe. We're still trying. We're trying to fight for Hugh [Greenwood] and DeDe [Deshawn Delaney]. It's a tough season, but we're not going to give up and we have a lot of season left and the tournament, of course."
On if the team can make a tournament run:
"I personally believe and I think the team believes as well that we can turn it around and make a deep run in the tournament. We just got to get back to the way we were before. Just refocus, regroup. Just listen to coach and get better in practice."
On if the team was hesitant:
"The beginning, coach told us we were taking too many jump shots. I felt, as a team, we were more hesitant to pull the trigger for a jump shot. We had to start attacking more. That's something we can work on, look at film, see places to attack and areas we were can get into and create more offense."