Feb. 22, 2017
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SAN DIEGO -
Fresno State-San Diego State Postgame Quotes
SDSU head coach Steve Fisher
Opening statement:
"No fun in our locker room, after this one. I thought Fresno State played very, very efficiently. They had a game plan that they came in with and stayed with: run clock, make us guard for 20 seconds, then look to attack off the dribble, come down, run high, low look to throw it in, and make a play off of a low post touch. That was their game plan, and they were good at it. To their credit they made some tough shots. We guarded, but didn't complete plays. We had several times where the shot clock was under five seconds and they end up driving and getting a basket, and/or tipping one in. You have to be able to make plays and we didn't make enough of them at either end. At the offensive end, we had enough good looks that we didn't make. I thought that we got anxious when we got behind. It was pretty apparent that we got anxious and tried too hard to do things too fast. When we had shots, they weren't quite on balance where they needed to be. They weren't quite as under control as they have to be, whether it be a drive or a kick for a three. The crowd helped us when we got on that 10-0 run and cut it to one. Then you have to find a way to make that next play. Instead, we fouled them and they get free throws. I think that affected us too. Rather than saying, 'we are fine, we are alright,' we were still fuzzy mentally. [Fresno State] played extremely well. I want to underline that. They came in here and they played tough. They played good basketball. They did what they needed to do, to come into our building on an important game and win. We have to make sure that all of us, and I'm a part of all of us, are able to help one another, and then [the players] have to help themselves. So, we are all in this together. It's not that they're not doing it. We're not doing it, and we've got to do it better. We now need to lick our wounds tonight, come back tomorrow and say, 'Help me coaches. Show me what I did that we talked about. So I will do what you wanted me to do,' as we prepare for a very, very good Colorado State team in their building."
On team's inconsistency this season:
"We've had a history of doing just what you said. You've got to find a way when it starts going south to ride it, and we didn't. [Fresno State] did. So often when you lose, you talk about everything bad you did. I want to go on record and say Fresno State played really, really good basketball. They've got a good team-well-coached and talented team. We do too. We've got a good team. This was a game that was important to us. It was every bit as important to us as it was to them. I made reference to a play-in game is a play-in game. We needed to find a way to be successful, and we weren't able to do it. There are a million story lines you could pick to talk about. We weren't good enough when we made the run to get ahead. We weren't quite good enough to stop them from going two or four ahead, to 10 ahead. All those things factor in, and the results were the results."
SDSU senior guard Dakarai Allen
On the loss:
"We have to give credit to them. They played really well and got a lead on us. And when we're coming back on that lead, I can't foul a three-point shooter to stop our momentum and comeback. As a veteran, I should know that and that was a game changing play."
On a message to his teammates:
"We have to learn from our mistakes and go to Colorado State and just keep fighting. That's what we're going to do every game no-matter what situation we're in, we'll keep fighting."
On tapering off in the second half:
"I missed some easy ones. Also, I was running off trying to get some ball movement, but wasn't as aggressive as I could've been in some plays. I just need to make more plays as a senior leader."
SDSU sophomore guard Jeremy Hemsley
On the second half:
"They played better than us. They did what they needed to do to win and it's obvious that their game plan was to make us guard for half the shot clock and they did a good job of that. I mean we can't really take anything away from that. They played good and they played better than us. The better team won tonight."
On the offensive trouble Fresno State gave SDSU:
"I mean, they guard hard, but a lot of that was on us too. We can't really let pressure get to us and I think we did that tonight. We let the pressure get to us and force things and turn the ball over a few times and made bad decisions, but they did a good job of pressuring. But that shouldn't really matter. We should still be able to toughen our game plan on the offensive end."
Fresno State head coach Rodney Terry
On the team's performance tonight:
"We know the recipe for winning on the road and we know the recipe for losing on the road. One thing we've tried to challenge our guys [with] the last couple days is to stay connected on the road. The times we've had success this year, we've been connected on the floor, we've been connected on the bench and everybody knows exactly what we're doing in terms of the game plan. From how we're guarding ball screens, to what we're running offensively and what we're looking on trying to get done, and I thought every guy came off the bench and really did their job and understood to stay connected over the course of 40 minutes in a tough place to play."
On game planning against SDSU head coach Steve Fisher:
"You can't 'Out-Fisher' Fisher. I've got a ton of respect for him and what he's done in his career here. [But] we were prepared for something this second time around. We've had really good schemes the last couple of ball games and our guys have really executed the schemes, so it's been really good."
On winning at Viejas Arena for the first time since 1999, and looking ahead:
"I think the biggest challenge for us right now is we've gotten into a pretty good groove again, and we've got that bye coming up on Saturday. We're not excited about it right now, but we've got to do a better job with our preparation and approach with that so that we come back. We know we're going to be in another hostile environment come Tuesday night at Boise, a team we have a lot of respect for in terms of scoring the basketball and [being] well coached. We're going to have to compete at a very high level again on the road."