Nov. 7, 2016
Recap | Final Stats | Notes
SAN DIEGO -
Cal State San Marcos-San Diego State Postgame Quotes
SDSU Head Coach Steve Fisher
On Malik Pope sitting out:
"I'll answer your question before you ask it, I'm not sure what Malik did. He was warming up feeling good, and all of a sudden his knee started to bother him. He saw two doctors and our head trainer. I think Malik was a bit more worried more than anything, and we decided not to play him. Hopefully, it is nothing of any major significance. We aired on the side of caution for sure, so we will see. He will see the doctor again tomorrow, and we will go from there. From that stand point; I don't know a whole lot. Other than he didn't do anything, it just started to hurt him, and we decided not to play him."
On Matt Shrigley's in-game injury:
"Matt Shrigley's ankle is a pretty significant sprang. I don't know what that will mean, but he will see a doctor tomorrow, all hands on deck. People were wondering if we were going to have enough balls to play everybody, and now I almost put in Justin tonight. We have to get our guys, the walking wounded healthy, and keep the guys we have playing, playing well."
On Trey Kell's performance:
"I thought in particular Trey played like Trey is supposed to play-smart. Making everybody a little bit better, and that's what he is going to have to do for every game that we play."
On Valentine Izundu's absence:
"Valentine was not ready to go. He told me he would be ready to give some minutes on Friday. That's what we are pulling for, and that's what we are counting on. His ankle still has some significant swelling, and it is a little bit better every day. I would anticipate that he would be able to play a little bit on Friday."
On Valentine Izundu's absence:
"We would like to have a big guys like Valentine out there, and a big guy like Malik out there. Obviously, we are better when we got some size to go with the athleticism we've got. You play with who you've got. If we have to play with the lineup you saw there today, we will be hard to guard. On Trey's comment, we have not worked a lot on our zone offense. We've got better shooters, so we'll make shots. I'm not concerned to the point of, what are we going to do if people zone us? We'll make enough shots; we just need to keep working. These guys (Kell and Hemsley) are going to have to play, they're going to have to step up and say, 'I'm the leader of the pack, I've got to lead,' and all of us have got to follow. That should not add more pressure to them, but they have to perform. It might mean more minutes than it would be if we had all hands on deck. So, that means they are going to be in condition, take their breaks at TV timeout, and they are going to have to play. And I know that they will; we have all seen them do that before. So I'm not worried about these two guys."
On takeaways from the loss to USD last year:
"I didn't take very much, other than a loss. They earned the victory. The better team won that day, and we had won nine straight. They came out and played better than we did, it didn't feel good. We will be ready to go on Friday. I'm sure they will too."
Sophomore Guard Jeremy Hemsley
On defense tonight and holding CSUSM to a low shooting percentage:
"I mean, that's what we really expect to happen when we play defense, and that's something we work towards, to hold the opponent under a certain percentage. So we're pleased with how we played defense this game, but that's something we have to be consistent with in the games to come."
On if team injuries put more pressure on him and junior guard Trey Kell:
"I think we have the same amount of responsibility. Every game, and every practice starts with the backcourt, me and Trey. So I don't think guys being out puts any more than we already have on our shoulders."
Junior Guard Trey Kell
On three-point looks:
"I felt like it was just more of what the defense was giving us. I felt like there were possessions where we settled and took quick threes, but there were also possessions we executed or we ran the floor well and we happened to get a good open shot from three. Coach tells us if we have a good look, let it go, and that's what we did."
On offense:
"I feel like our main offense is ahead of our zone offense. I feel like our zone offense can for sure be as good as our main offense with the amount of scorers and shooters we have on this team, but that will just come with practice and getting to know each other a little better and watching film."
Cal State San Marcos Interim Head Coach B.J. Foster
Opening statement:
"We did some good things. We rebounded the ball pretty well, I thought the zone defense was pretty good; we probably should have started in zone against them, but I wanted to work a little on our man-to-man defense and see how we can follow the game plan. Any time you play against San Diego State, the number one field goal percentage defense last year, you have to make shots to stay in the game. When you get down, those shots become a lot tougher to make. When our starting one, two and three, who are all pretty good shooters, have the night that they did then you're just not going to recover from that. For us, we started on October 15th, so we've had a few weeks to practice with a brand new team. The chemistry is going to get better; but it was just a nice test and always a fun atmosphere (at Viejas Arena). I'm glad it's an exhibition."
On opening up play at Viejas Arena:
"A lot of (our) guys have played in really nice Division I atmospheres, but they have much bigger roles now than they used to. They were guys that came in and gave some minutes, but now they're asked to do a lot more. (Viejas Arena) is one of the best venues in the West Coast. We've played at UCLA and Cal, and I think this place is a lot tougher to play at than any of those; with the fans sitting on top of you and the great defense that (San Diego State has)."
On what Cal State San Marcos did well:
"We rebounded the ball really well. Any time you can rebound with San Diego State, who's nationally at the top every year; field goal percentage defense is fantastic at San Diego State, so when you can rebound the ball then that's an accomplishment because that's definitely a point of emphasis."
On the outlook going into the season:
"I'm optimistic about this team. We have good players and guys that can do a lot of things, so I think when we get back to playing in gyms and playing against guys our own size we'll be in good shape. It's a new group, a brand new team, a new system, new coaches, so it's going to take time to really develop and to peak, but I think the character of this group is very high and very strong and the work ethic is very good, so I'm optimistic that we're going to have a very good season."
Cal State San Marcos Junior Guard Ethan Alvano
On his role this season with Cal State San Marcos:
"Definitely a leadership role; we're a whole new team, have a bunch of new faces. So coming in as a point guard I just want to be a floor general; come in and help lead the guys in the right direction on the court."
On what CSUSM will work on going into the season:
"Our continuity on offense. We have a lot of guys who are skilled; our bigs are good, we have shooters, we have good guards. I think jelling together as a team and understanding where we're going to be on offense and figuring out those spots. I think we played defense pretty well, we still have to work on that end, but I think offensively is where we have to come together."