MOUNTAIN WEST MEN'S BASKETBALL CHAMPIONSHIP

March 8, 2023

Justin Hutson

Isaiah Hill

Eduardo Andre

Thomas & Mack Center

Fresno State Bulldogs

Postgame Press Conference

THE MODERATOR: We'll go ahead and continue with Fresno State. Joining Coach Justin Hutson will be Isaiah Hill and Eduardo Andre. We'll have coach make an opening remark, and then we'll follow with questions for the student-athletes.

Again, raise your hand if you have a questions. We'll get a hand held microphone to you. Coach, go ahead.

JUSTIN HUTSON: Very tough, hard-fought game. We were down 8-9 all the way through it, it looks like, and like our team, this team this year's team has fought back, and we fought back, and we made a game of it and took the lead. Also, very similar to this year's team, we just didn't quite find a way to win it at the end. We found more of a way to lose it than a way to win it.

THE MODERATOR: Questions for the student-athletes?

Q. Isaiah, 22 points. Just did you anticipate that they were going to be really stopping Jamarl and not allowing him to take shots that you were going to have to be the guy to make those key shots?

ISAIAH HILL: I wouldn't necessarily say that. I mean, I just think I went out there and played my game to try to help my team win, and I guess they -- I guess they did a good job on Jamarl, but, I mean, I just went out there trying to win the game. That was it.

Q. How do you wrap up and describe this season, an 11-20 finish for this program?

ISAIAH HILL: That's a tough question because it feels like we should have had a better season than that with all the close games we've been in.

But, I mean, I take that upon myself as a point guard those close games. I've got to figure out a way to close those out and help my team, be in the right positions to close those games out. I mean, I put a lot of the blame on myself.

Next year hopefully everything -- I can be smarter and more mature, and those games will turn into wins.

Q. It seemed like in the second half you guys came out a little quicker, a little faster. Was that the message to the team, just go out and apply a lot of pressure?

ISAIAH HILL: Definitely. When you are down ten, you have to speed up the game a little bit because you have to come back. We definitely picked up the pressure. All the guys were playing on the string at that point in time, and we went on that run, and we were pushing the ball a little bit more and got some easy buckets.

So I thought that was good.

Q. Eduardo, 20 points, 10 rebounds. How has it been meshing into this program? It seems like obviously with Isaiah getting hurt, you stepped up and took a bigger role. How has it been just meshing and working with this team.

ISAIAH HILL: It's been real good. Coach took me in open arms and kinda been teaching me a little bit about the game, and I just feel like everything he has been teaching me, him and one of my other coaches, Titus, they helped me a lot.

I just feel like I'm getting better every game, and that's just what I'm trying to keep doing. It's easy.

THE MODERATOR: Additional questions for student-athletes? Hearing none, we'll dismiss them and continue with coach.

Questions for coach?

Q. We kept talking all season long about these games down the stretch. They're just not able to complete and finish it, but you guys are right there. What went wrong?

JUSTIN HUTSON: Three-point lead didn't generate a good shot. We got the ball with the two guys, our main guys up at the top of the floor. They trapped the ball screen. We didn't generate a good shot, and then lost Stevens in transition.

You can't do that. You can't do that. You have to be alert, and we can't lose them in transition. We have to help. We have to make them kick out, and he gets a three-point play within ten seconds going down the floor. That can't happen to us. We have to be better than that at that possession.

You know, this happened -- that's what March Madness is about. It's what happens in college basketball. Usually it falls to the guys that -- you know, my first year you had a couple of young guys that older guys that made some shots at the end of the game, and it wasn't necessarily me.

You know, and this year we've done some good things. We haven't done quite so many good things. You've got to give hats off to them. We really do. This is two games in a row where we have them beat, and we couldn't close it out and they did.

You've got to give hats off to them making a play at the end and making their plays.

But I couldn't be so much more proud of our guys because it's a ten-point game and a nine-point game, and that team is not tough to come back against, and we kept changing defense and we came back and gave ourselves a chance to win, and now we're sitting in the locker room discouraged.

Q. How do you describe this season overall? I know battling injuries it was up and down at times. How do you describe it?

JUSTIN HUTSON: Keep fighting. This was a keep-fighting season, right? Injuries from the jump. Keep fighting. Losing close games. Keep fighting. A couple big wins. Keep fighting. A couple more injuries. Keep fighting. This was the same message all year long.

You know, it's not what happens to it. It's how we're going to react to it, and we keep fighting. I told our team that's what we were. You saw it right there of us coming back at the he wanted of the game. I said, but you can also be fair to say that we haven't learned how to win at the end of the games. We work on that quite a bit.

Q. Eduardo, making a key impact in today's game. He's been important and helpful this entire season since he stepped up in Isaiah's place. How have you seen him mesh with the team and take over a new role?

JUSTIN HUTSON: We talk a lot about attitude and effort, and Eduardo has a good attitude and effort. I don't think he came out tonight. I don't remember subbing him. He probably played the whole 40 minutes against two really good players that they have and he ended up staying out of foul trouble, and he finished some good plays on us against a double-team. I just would echo what he said. He is getting better and better.

Q. Do you anticipate this team, a lot of these guys returning next year, and this staff to remain the same?

JUSTIN HUTSON: The players say they want to return. I don't have much control over the staff stuff. But, you know, they've came and talked to me a few times about having their COVID year and injury year and liking each other, everybody liking each other, and wanting to get better.

After you lose a game right now, you're just going to focus on trying to make sure they're okay right now.

Q. What are some things you like well that this team did? You guys came back from the deficit. Just what are some things you hope to implement moving forward?

JUSTIN HUTSON: Well, guys learned how to drive the bus. You know, Isaiah and Jemarl and Eduardo really had to play a bigger role this year. They were going to have the ball in their hands at the he wanted of the game.

They were going to have to make the plays. They were going to have to make the double-teams, and it was new to them. You know, Orlando did that for us last year. Throw it to him. Play the double-team.

I liked how they took on the challenge. They took the challenge, and it was some tough times where we didn't shoot the ball well, didn't make great decisions, but we got better and better and better, and, you know, you can take some positives from that.

A couple bounces go one way, a couple of free-throws maybe, a couple of less injuries, we might be sitting here different. Everybody can say that, but it doesn't make it any less true.

THE MODERATOR: That will do it. Coach, thank you.

JUSTIN HUTSON: Thank you.