Jan. 16, 2016
Recap | Final Stats | Notes | USATSI Gallery
BOISE, Idaho -
San Diego State Head Coach Steve Fisher
Overall on the game…
"Bottom line we got a win. We'll have some wonderful teaching moments in the last four minutes or whatever it was. Obviously we have to protect the ball better, can't turn it over. Winston goes back to back with 1-and-1's and misses, he's been a really clutch free throw shooter, and that's what gives people opportunities. But to our credit we found a way and had resolve, found a way get a victory that hasn't happened very often in this building for a long time."
Were you surprised that Boise State called the timeout with under 15 seconds to go in the game?
"No, they needed structure, too. They hadn't made a three until that last one. I would probably would have done the same thing."
What did you do differently defending the three against this team than what you did in past years?
"You need to have awareness. Who am I guarding? Second half we were better here last year and the game at our place we were better guarding the three. You got to run down the floor with your head up, where's Duncan, where's Webb, and where's Drmic. And you know, be alert when they do all that screening and going. We switched every ball screen and they do the screen and pop a guy out, and we said you got to be there. You got to be ready to get them, no excuses."
You said before this trip that if you came back 5-0, you would say you guys are legit. So are you legit?
"Yeah, we're a good team. No one in the league is undefeated except for us, and we're proud of that. We've had three road victories out of that, so we'll enjoy that and we'll try to build on it. When you win it grows your confidence, but this league, you know as well as I do, is so close, that if you are the least bit complacent and you're not quite ready to play as hard as you can, you're going to get beat. I knew I didn't have to say anything to get them excited to play, Winston did that for me. He says, "Hey, if you can't get yourself ready to play against a team that wacked us twice last year, then you don't belong on this team," and we were ready, and we competed hard."
San Diego State sophomore guard Trey Kell
Overall on the game…
"It was two good teams battling for first place in the conference. We both had a rough night shooting the ball, but we just tried to tough it out and luckily we did."
Normally you are lock-solid on defense when you have a lead, what happened tonight?
"There were a couple calls that were iffy that kind of went there way and we lost our composure for a little bit, we got it together and sat down on defense. Duncan hit a tough three and then we forced them to have to hit another tough three to tie the game, and luckily they missed it."
You were a calming presence out there, is that something you try to emphasize?
"We don't want to have too much emotion, especially when a bad thing happens. This place was so loud I couldn't even hear myself think, so the main thing was for everyone to stay calm, forget about the last play and let's move on to the next one."
What does this win do for you guys?
"It's a big win for us, especially with the rough start we had in the beginning of the season. We're starting to calm along right now and we're starting to become the team that we should have been from the start. So it's a big win for us and I hope we can keep it going."
San Diego State senior forward Winston Shepard
You said before this trip that if you came back 5-0, you would say you guys are legit. So are you legit?
"Even when we were 7-6, even after the tough loss at USD, I never wavered. My whole reason for coming back to school, I could have tried my luck, maybe been a second round pick and maybe try to make some money right now. But my whole reason for coming back was that this team has a chance to be special. This won't be the highlight of our season, but this is another step to where we're trying to go. We put a great emphasis on this game, a great emphasis on this week, and we showed up, we performed. We still have some things to get better at, we got to get our late game situations better. A guy like me, a senior leader who prides himself on being clutch, I got to step to the line and knock down four free throws in a row for us so that the game isn't even in the balance for us. But at the end of the day we're so happy and so blessed to get this win and head back to San Diego 5-0."
You had that stretch there in the second half where you started to build a lead, what were you able to do offensively then?
"I just told my guys to look for me. Like I said, the one thing I pride myself on is being clutch, and we have a lot of great players. I just try to catch the ball in the sweet spots and if I can get to my post game or something else easy and get to the free throw line, otherwise I'm going to find one of the other great guys on this team and get them the ball in their sweet spot. We're just playing as a team right now and I think we needed those tough times we went through, because this makes this all the more sweeter."
What were you thinking when they kept missing threes?
"To be honest with you, I didn't know they were 1-for-17 until I looked at the stat sheet, I really didn't. A lot of times you are in the game and you're so focused; I can't let Webb get one, I can't let Duncan get one, I can't let Drmic get one. They have a ton of shooters, but it just speaks to San Diego State defense, but please don't take anything away from Boise State, those guys are a great team. Love their coach, love Webb, those guys are having a great season."
Boise State head coach Leon Rice
On the game…
"You have to credit San Diego State. They came in here with a great resolve and we knew they would. We knew this would be a battle; they are one of the best defensive teams in the country as always. You don't get many open looks against this team. When you do get those open looks, you have to capitalize. Tonight against their defense, we weren't able to do that."
On the low number of assists…
"It's hard to get an assist when no one is making an outside shot. I don't think we saw the ball hit the net in any of our outside shots and that is normally where we get all of our assists."
On how the turnovers effected the game…
"Those turnovers kill you. There were a couple of possessions in the last two minutes which ended with turnovers and those were big. I give San Diego State a lot of credit; but I told our guys, this wasn't a championship game, there is still so much basketball to be played. It was a great college game. They got this one, we are going to have to continue to improve, and we have to be better by the time we play them again."
On if this is the way San Diego State likes to play…
"They have improved a lot in the last 30 days. They found the right combinations, and they found the right style for their team. Like our teams, each one is a little different and each one of theirs is a little different. You have your things that you hang your hat on, but you adjust to your personnel and they have adjusted to theirs. They are playing to their strengths right now."
On getting a decent look on the final shot…
"Yeah surprisingly after the ball was batted around a little bit. He was open for just a split second. When you play this team, you don't get many open looks at all, so when you do finally get an open look I think you feel a little rushed since you are so surprised that you are getting a good look. That makes it harder to make some of those open looks."
On Drmic playing through injuries and if his scoring output is a concern…
"Absolutely. You have one the best scorers in school history, he's frustrated but the injury is what it is. There isn't anything that we can do about it, and there isn't anything that he can do about it; so it's hard to watch. It's hard for him to play that way, and it's really hard to see him not be as quick as he was."
On how key the rebounding game was for San Diego State…
"They are terrific at it. They are big, they are strong, they are athletic and they go after them; that is a tough combination. It's what I circled and highlighted before the game, but it's one thing to talk about it, it's another thing to do something about it."
Boise State junior forward Nick Duncan
On if the run happened too late to win the game…
"I think you have an opportunity to win at any point of the game, we came back and that is definitely one of the positives to take from this game. We haven't really been playing well in the second half of the games; we obviously let the lead out a little bit, but we came back. We played some solid defense at the end and got some steals. That's a great positive for us to move forward on."
On the tough game for the Broncos...
"We were doing a little too much one on one, we had three assists the whole game and one of them was at the end of the game off a steal. Half court we didn't get any motion, no flow of the game and no assists like we normally get. It was hard with San Diego States defense, with the switching and putting themselves between us and the basket. Credit to San Diego States defense, they played really well but we should have knocked down some of those shots."
On struggling to get open looks…
"Their defense is top-notch. They were switching everything, keeping us between the basket, and stopping us from getting wide open threes. Credit to their defense, but at the same time, we did have some open looks there that we normally knock down. It just wasn't our night."
Boise State sophomore guard Chandler Hutchison
On if the length of San Diego State played an issue…
"Normally we are so unselfish with the ball that we are able to counter their length with just moving the ball and taking good shots, but it is something that we don't normally face in the Mountain West. Every game plan is going to be different, we have played them in the past and they had the same type of team; it wasn't something that we were real surprised by. We were a little bit more stagnant on offense, and with their length on defense it makes it that much easier for them to stay in front of us and guard our actions."
On Boise State's defensive effort…
"Just focusing, especially on our defensive end, because we really come into games knowing that we're going to get our good shots, and if we can limit the other team's best actions or their favorite plays, we can get stops. I thought we did a fair job defensively. They just made some plays that normally some of the guys on our team make towards the end of the game. They made those plays and that was able to put them ahead with those 10 points, and it was tough to come back."
On getting a wake-up call…
"When you look at teams all around the country, like a Michigan State who was playing so well at the start of the year, and now they've kind of struggled, you want to be playing your best basketball towards the end of the year. We were looking so well, that it almost looked like we did need a game to kind of let us look at the tape, look at ourselves, and kind of see where we've been successful in the past and try and limit the turnovers, and the time where we're being stagnant, or playing one-on-one ball. I think it's a blessing in disguise for this game because now we're refocused. We knew we weren't going to go undefeated in conference, or undefeated the rest of the year. That's ridiculous to think that way, but it's how we look at things and how we get better."