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SAN DIEGO STATE UNIVERSITY BASKETBALL MEDIA CONFERENCENovember 11, 2012Steve FisherJamaal FranklinJ.J. O'BrienChase TapleySYRACUSE – 62 COACH FISHER: I know one thing. They're not going to get any shorter, and they gave us fits with ten blocked shots, and at least that many that they altered and came flying on any number of what looked like were going to be easy ones to pull off from. The effort that we had was superb, physical, and one of our points again was smart aggression. The first half, in particular, I didn't think we played with the smarts that you have to play with your aggressiveness. We had 12 turnovers in the first half, and only four in the second half to put the ball where we wanted to put it against the zone. I thought we had opportunities, and we couldn't get to them to go down. If I would say one for sure thing we probably should have taken away was from ourselves, you can't be 1 for 18 from the three‑point line. We were 1 for 4 in the first half. I think we shot four to six in the last minute and a half. If not for those four, five or six, we still took six or seven too many shots. (No Microphone) so, we got to the free‑throw line many times, and we shot 40‑some‑odd percent. We scored five points that were three. We made one three, made one other shot outside the key, and everything else was inside the red which is where we want to go but we just couldn't get it to go in. I think this will be good for us as we move forward. We didn't win, but you learn, you get better and you move forward and that's what we've been doing. JJ O'BRIEN: We've got to make shots. The guys know what the conditions are. They're there for both teams, so the weather can't be an excuse for why we missed shots. Q. Did you guys notice a difference when you were shooting in the wind direction because there were a lot more points, 63 scored that way when they were going this way on the 49. That was more open. Was the wind stronger in that direction did you guys think? CHASE TAPLEY: I don't think it was, like J.J. said, it affected both teams. Just on this side the sun glare was in your eyes a little bit, but still that's not an excuse. Just don't shoot it if the sun's in your eyes. But it just wasn't a good shooting day for us. Q. How frustrating was their size when you took the ball inside? JAMAAL FRANKLIN: They saw us, like Coach Fisher said, they are really big. But it was frustrating that we can't really score. It happens when somebody really big is in front of you, it makes it more frustrating. But we've got to worry about the next game now and move on? Q. Coach Fisher, when you have a team that has the combination of their size and ability to alter shots inside and then you have the elements kind of wreaking havoc on your jump shots, is that almost a perfect storm in the wrong direction, so to speak? Just a tough combination for you guys? COACH FISHER: I thought we did a good job. I was proud of what we did against their zone. I thought we got the ball where we wanted to get it. We did a good job of attacking, 33 free throws. Got to find a way to make them. When you don't make them, obviously it wears on you. I think we were 5 for 17 in the first half from the free‑throw line in shooting the 40s for the game. I do think the one question, the one end where we were first and they were second half, it was harder to really get a feel. That was a harder end to score at, for sure. But to Syracuse credit, it looked like I'm saying we're going to foul them and they'll miss free throws, they made some. We just‑‑ you can't be frustrated when you play, and I thought we got frustrated. Whether it was missed shots, blocked shots. We allowed that to get in the way enough to give them some baskets. I think if we're really alert, we would have saved a handful of them maybe. Q. What did you try to do with C.J. today? JAMAAL FRANKLIN: Well, with C.J., I've just got to make sure I keep him from outside the key. He's a great player. He likes to score a lot in the paint. So I just tried to make sure I wasn't letting him get to the paint? Q. Chase, what kind of adjustments were you trying to make, whether it was in terms of coping with the wind with their shooting to the left or to the right, knowing which way it might blow? CHASE TAPLEY: The adjustment that I made was just try to shoot it straightforward, not get it too much in the air so the wind won't blow it. But I just wanted to get inside the paint against inside gaps like Coach Fish said, and get my teammates open shots. They finished players and really wasn't focused on my size. Just letting the game come to me. COACH FISHER: I thought Chase early on did a great job of eyes on the rim, shoulder ball, and was able to go someplace with thoughtfulness. We talked about that at halftime. We didn't have enough production from it. But I thought he did a really good job, and their seniors that's been there before. Q. Chase and Jamaal, yesterday you guys thought it would be a memorable experience. Now you've gone through it, out on the deck of the aircraft carrier, tell me what it was like while it was going on? CHASE TAPLEY: It was a special feeling. Just being out there, seeing the sky, our family in the stands and the whole community here, it was special like Coach Fisher said. We wanted to come out with the W. Didn't happen, but we can look at this game and feel confident in how we played and how much effort we put out there, how mentally tough we were when things weren't going our way. Just had to learn from it and move on like Jamaal said. Overall, it was a special event. JAMAAL FRANKLIN: I would have to agree. It was a special moment. I would be here again, I would like to be here again. I can't take back our loss, but hopefully next time we get to play Syracuse again and be able to have a good experience. Q. Coach, with the environment today, how important was it to get out to a lead? COACH FISHER: I think that if you're a player, you know what I'm talking about when you're constantly looking up and you're behind as we were early, and you look up and you don't feel as if you've cut significantly into it. That can wear on you a little bit. Yet, we had chances. I thought when we made a couple of runs and had a little bit of momentum going, we say one more stop, one more stop. Either we couldn't make a stop, or when we did and had an opportunity, we weren't able to capitalize on it there. The most important thing, I think, for all of us, you don't play near your best if you play frustrated. You must play with great emotion and energy, but it needs to be controlled. If you play frustrated, you're just running around and you're not playing with what God gave you and that's a good brain. We've got good brain power on this team. At times today, whether it was frustration that created that or Syracuse or a combination of, we didn't do it. Q. Coach, wind, sun, everything, even moving the game from Friday to Sunday, if the phone rings again and someone asks you to do this type of game again, do you think you'd do it? COACH FISHER: I didn't hear anything other than the first word or two, but I think I know what you want me to say. This is a major event for San Diego. Great that it was on Veterans Day for San Diego State. For us to be a participant was wonderful for us and for everybody. I would hope that Syracuse would feel that same way. I think we as a program would like to give a real strong and sincere thank you to all the people that are involved from the Midway that made it happen. When we had to move the game, that didn't just happen. That took a lot of manpower and a lot of people involved. I thought that the Midway people did a great job. From our own staff, John David Wicker, this has been a 24/7 job for him in addition to all of the other duties that he's had the last few weeks and months. So I thought John David for us did a magnificent job, and the people at the Midway are to be commended. They did a sensational job for everyone. Q. Let me make sure I have it right again. Based on these conditions, if the phone rings for you to do this again, you would do it again? COACH FISHER: We'd like to do it right now again, yeah, yeah. We would love to be someone that is involved some way, somehow in honoring our veterans and surrounding this day. I thought it was good today. However, it might shake out to do something surrounding Veterans Day, we'd very much like to participate. Q. It seemed like every shot was contended. Jamaal you had a wide open breakaway, and the guy from behind, talk about the quickness. Was this one of the best defenses you guys have ever played in your college career? JAMAAL FRANKLIN: I wouldn't say that. I've played against a lot of good teams, but they're definitely up there in the Top 5 of the best defensive teams we've played. C.J. Fair is a great player, Michael Carter is a great player, Triche. They have tremendous length. So we've just got to look forward, and like I said, we have to forget about this game, move on and get ready for our next opponent. Q. Jamaal, both teams had four three pointers in the first half. They basically said they weren't going to shoot any more after that. They realized they were shooting into the wind. You took 14 in the second half. I know some of those were at the end of the game but how much of those were because you thought you could make them still, and how much was it because you were behind and needed to catch up? JAMAAL FRANKLIN: Well, when we come to that point of shooting threes, that's our game. If you look at any of our other games you're going to see us shoot threes. We can't stop something that we've been working on, and it's something that we've always been able to do just because of this one game and playing zone. We've got to continue playing our game. But like I said, we have to move on, and we've got to move on and make sure we make it in the next game. COACH FISHER: I thought on the threes, Rahon hit one early in the second half. So I think we can give him the three that he took after that. I don't know if you were here when I was talking before. We took them down the stretch out of desperation, but I thought there were probably eight or so in the middle there in that second half that we probably could have had second thoughts on. Q. J.J., you guys got 20 offensive rebounds today. Was the idea just to throw the ball up? J.J. O'BRIEN: We definitely shot it with the intention to make it, but with the conditions and everything, knowing that maybe shots were going to be affected, yeah, we definitely wanted to crash the boards. It's hard to box a man out of the zone because it's not man‑to‑man, so you don't have a specific man to box out. So we definitely wanted to try to take advantage of that and get as many offensive rebounds as we could and easy baskets as we could. But we couldn't find the basket tonight. It wasn't our night. That's our fault. But I think we did a good job of crashing. We've just got to finish next time. FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports |
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