Nov. 20, 2007
SAN DIEGO -
SAN DIEGO STATE MEN'S BASKETBALL
NEWS CONFERENCE QUOTES
AZTEC ATHLETICS CENTER
NOVEMBER 20, 2007
Head coach Steve Fisher
Opening statement:
"I will start out by letting everyone know that Tim Shelton is going to have his knee scoped this afternoon. He sat out Saturday's game (against UCSD) with swelling in his knee and he decided to do the surgery sooner rather than later. He will be out for hopefully no more than three weeks. Tim will be missed greatly. He is a big piece of this team, so now we will have to adjust.
"Last night was a very hard-fought game (against San Diego). I have watched the tape and I am very pleased with how hard we fought. Our 19 turnovers and 14 offensive rebounds for the Toreros were two pieces that I didn't like. But we also created a lot of problems for them, forcing 25 turnovers, which led to a couple of big spurts that we had, which was the difference in the game. We have to continue to play that way and I think we will.
"This is a team that has played more pressure defense in five games than I have in five years here. Now we have to sustain it and be able to adjust to opponents when they adjust to us. It has been very helpful to us so far and hopefully it will continue that way. What the pressure defense has also done is allowed us to get some easy baskets. We are shooting a pretty high percentage from the field and a lot of those have been layups off of turnovers. When you make that layup, then you feel better about the next three-point shot, and we are shooting pretty well from the three-point range also. So, it's always fun when you win and we are hoping we can keep that up. We are looking forward to going up to Cal and seeing how we fare against a Pac-10 team."
On why he chose to go with a pressure defense:
"I felt like we had depth and sometimes the best way to manage players is to wear them out by having them play full-court defense. We (the coaching staff) told them not to be surprised if they play three or four minutes and then come out for three or four mintues. So far, they have been good at it. If you look at minutes played (against USD), (Ryan) Amoroso had 30, which was probably a few too many, and it was the most on the team. I believe we had eight guys who had 20 or more minutes, and that is moving it around pretty well. We're pretty athletic and I felt like that was the best way to get a lot of minutes for a lot of people. I wasn't sure if I had the willingness to stay with it if we gave up easy baskets, but we've been okay with it so far."
On SDSU's true freshmen:
"I can't speak enough about our three true freshmen and what they have brought to this program. Tim Shelton has matured beyond his freshman age, while D.J. Gay has stepped in and played the point with incredible poise. Billy White has also been able to blend his athleticism and channel it so that he is not trying to do too much. They have been really fun to have as the youthful part of this team."
On the team's progress so far:
"I am happy with the progress that we have made, but I know that we still have a long way to go, even in non-conference play. We will have to continue to grow and our best basketball must be down the road. Playing great in November against San Diego won't be good enough."
On how the players have responded to a new style of play:
"I think they are having fun. Sometimes we can out-think ourselves and try to get too complicated. If you give players a window of room to make decisions and not have everything programmed, then they will respond. It comes in practice and those guys practice pretty aggressively. We are continuously harping on them to guard hard, and when we do, it is effective. It is not as easy as it sounds, and sometimes how it looks, to play that way."
On this year's team attitude:
On the team's rebounding efforts:
"Rebounding is a concern of mine. We have to rebound better. I think we are big enough to rebound, but we just have to be more aggressive. We need to hit and then get, rather than just trying to go get (the rebound). We were out-rebounded last night because (USD) was a little more aggressive. Hopefully we will continue to grow in that area, but it is an issue that we are dealing with."
On junior transfer Ryan Amoroso's performance at USD:
"I think Ryan did a good job last night. (Gyno) Pomare had a career high against UNLV, so he was feeling pretty good about himself. He is long-armed and has a knack for the ball, kind of like (Marcus) Slaughter had for us, and it's tough to block his shot. If he gets the ball in the low post, he shoots it very quickly. He had some opportunities and to his credit, he made them, but I thought Ryan did a good job. We need to get him rebounding more aggressively. I thought he made some really good decisions. Ryan likes to drift out and I have to give him freedom, but I can't have our biggest guy be toeing the 3-point line all the time. He can shoot the ball from that range, so we need to have him mix it up a little bit."
Junior forward Kyle Spain
On the team's scoring distribution this season:
"We don't have any superstars on this team. We focus on team. There is no focus on I or me. Being unselfish keeps everyone happy and allows us to move forward and play well."
On playing in his hometown area against California:
"It's going to be exciting. It's going to be a challenging road game. Last night against San Diego, we had a lot of our fans there and it was more motivating than it will be at Cal, where it will be all California fans."
On the team's distribution of playing time:
"We don't have guys who come complaining to us about playing time. We concentrate on working hard in practice and playing as a team. When you do that, your time will come."
Junior forward Lorrenzo Wade
On the team's defense this season:
"It's definitely a fun style of basketball to play. It's very uptempo. We get up and pressure on the defensive end, especially full court. Billy White does a very good job in our traps and creates bad situations for our opponents that allows us to get easy opportunities to score."
On playing at California:
"It's going to be different. With (former SDSU assistant) Coach 9Gregg) Gottlieb being there I'm sure they'll know a little bit about what we want to do. Every road game is a tough game. You're going to have to make adjustments and I believe that we are a team that is ready to do that."