Nov. 29, 2016
SAN DIEGO -
San Diego State head coach Steve Fisher
Opening statement:
"We had a nice win in terms of the way we won last night against Savannah State. We made a point of emphasis, guard people without fouling, don't put them to the free-throw line 35 times, play for others, see if you can be a good teammate when you drive in and not have blinders on and find somebody else. Sometimes we did that to a fault a little bit last night. Jeremy (Hemsley) had nine assists and no turnovers, the best he's had since he's been here. Trey (Kell) had seven assists and one turnover. The message was clear and they delivered on that. We beat a team that allows you to score a lot points, but usually scores a lot themselves. We kept them to their season low, 67, which was good also. And now we turn out sights on our next three games and they will be, in order of importance, the next one. Loyola is good and they are better than I thought they were until I started watching tape. They went to North Carolina State and should have won the game. They got beat in a very close game. They're other loss was to Saint Joseph's another good team. This will be a good challenge for us.
"As I have watched and seen other games of Valley teams, they will be in the same ballpark as a Northern Iowa and Wichita State this year in terms of how good they can be. So we need to make sure we get ourselves ready and head in there and find a way to win. Our health is getting better, which allows us to play better. People know about Malik (Pope) so they have a little bit of a feel for what they can expect. They don't know about Max Hoetzel and they're learning. So am I. He provides a lot of things for us. He can score the ball in a variety of ways and can rebound the ball. He's a big asset to us to have him now able to play. And others are getting a little bit healthier. (Matt) Shrigley's ankle is better. I am little concerned about Valentine's (Izundu) shoulder. He jammed it in the Cal game. He is the No. 1 guy I am concerned with health wise, but we are progressing to the point where we can substitute the way we'd like to."
On the early season performance of Montaque Gill-Caesar:
"He sat out a whole year and people when they saw him play the first game he played when scored about 15-16 points, everybody got excited. He's getting his sea legs about him. I think sometimes if you take a deep breath and relax, the game will come to you rather than trying too hard. I think (Montaque) has been trying too hard offensively. He got a couple easy baskets last night and he looked better and felt better about it. I think (he) will be fine."
On what the win over California meant to the team psyche:
"I think we have a team that's had success in the past. We feel as if we're good, we expect to be good, but it was an important win for us. We were very determined going into the game. Our shootaround was game-like on that day. I told them, if you play like you did these 50 minutes, you'll have good success. The most important thing about the Cal game was that we won and beat a team that expects to be pretty good. That's the most important thing about it."
On having Malik Pope available following his injury:
"Having guys that you know are good and able to play is helpful. Malik went a long stretch with no practices and played in the Cal game with two or three practices. He had a stretch after Thanksgiving with three or four straight practices, which is helpful. I think Malik will grow with his opportunity get better on the practice floor as well as the game floor. We need him. We need what he can bring to us, without question."
On Ben Perez:
"We are contemplating, as is Ben, a potential redshirt. It has not been finalized. He has had a bad back and been unable to practice for a long stretch. He has just started to come back to practice, so now we're in the that debating stage. Should we burn a year and play him or give him the opportunity to redshirt, grow and get better?"
On Jeremy Hemsley's performance:
"Jeremy, until last night, had been scoring the ball, taking the most shots and shooting about 47 percent from the field. Last night, he was like 4-for-15, but had no turnovers and nine assists. We have made that a priority with all of them. Last year, we shot ourselves in the foot in a variety of ways, one was we had too many turnovers. We have a goal of 10 or under, but really we have a goal of 15 percent of your possessions or under, which is about 10 or 11. We're down to about 10 turnovers a game and that will win for you. So, we have been more thoughtful with decisions we have made, starting with Jeremy. Jeremy is such a wonderful, wonderful guy, who so much wants to please that a couple times last night, he could have taken one more dip with his shoulder and got a layup instead of kicking it out to someone else for an opportunity. He is a terrific young man who wants to do whatever we think, he thinks, we need to do to win."
On the importance of the game at Loyola:
"We are going to fly to Chicago on Friday after practice, get to the hotel around 8:30 and play a 3:00 game on Saturday. I have been in that gym, I don't know how they're drawing now, it's relatively small. We'll have to create energy. I'll have more people than anybody there. I've had more ticket requests than anybody and I'll take top priority on the top tickets. I think we're smart enough to know, last year, San Diego, Arkansas-Little Rock and Grand Canyon, were pivotal in us not making the NCAA tournament. We have to take care of ourselves and not ask for help. This is an important game for us and it is for them, too."