MOUNTAIN WEST CONFERENCE MEN'S TOURNAMENT

March 10, 2005

Steve Fisher

Brandon Heath

Marcus Slaughter

COACH FISHER: We have continued to fight but had a hard time winning, as everybody knows. We lost six straight. And to the credit of our team, they continued to fight this in the midst of all that. When we lost we weren't quite as bad as some people said. Now that we finally got a win, I would say that it was justly deserved and well earned. And we played hard. We guarded them fairly effectively. We made it hard for them to get clean looks at three. That had been a real problem for us in the past. It was a great victory. We couldn't have won if Marcus had not been able to play. We have come back. I thought both Marcus and Brandon gave us great plays and important plays. It was a good team victory. So we're thrilled.

MARCUS SLAUGHTER: The whole year we were playing one half, twenty minutes. The second half we weren't playing as hard. The coach told us to come out and have an aggressiveness. We have got to have a complete forty-minute game. Tonight we did that. We started off strong and that carried us through the whole second half.

BRANDON HEATH: Like Marcus said, we were playing hard the first half and ten minutes in the second half. You can't do that. You have got to play forty minutes. The keys tonight was defending the rebound. Marcus gave us a lot of second-chance opportunities and things like that.

BRANDON HEATH: Our recent history had a great deal with how we ended the game. We have been in that situation sometimes. Tonight I think it showed.

MARCUS SLAUGHTER: I got hit a couple times; it started to hurt. I wanted to win so I did what I had to do to help the team win.

COACH FISHER: You have to be able to take and make shots that prevent this. I thought we had some good looks for a lot of people. Our plan was to take them off the dribble quite a bit. I thought we were very effective doing that. We did a great job rebounding the ball offensively. Everybody in the league knows Sharper is a great catch-shoot player. I thought Chris did a good job of moving the ball, not trying to say I have to get a shot because I haven't had a shot.

COACH FISHER: Winning helps you feel that you are going to win the next one. I told our team after the game. I packed enough to have three ties and three shirts in anticipation of playing games. Now we get a chance to play the second game. New Mexico is playing as good as anybody in our league and maybe better the way they have finished down the stretch. We have to do that and then some if we have an opportunity to beat them. We can. I know we can. If we can guard and rebound the way we did tonight, we will have a chance.

COACH FISHER: I hope we win tomorrow. I don't care how many turnovers we have. You have to have poise under pressure. They were coming out at us hard late in the game. We made some not-so-good diagnoses some of the times. You can't have a turnover that leads to another turnover. I thought we did a good job at that.

COACH FISHER: That comes with making plays when you have to. It doesn't matter if you are a freshman or senior, you have to find a way to make plays. You can't turn the ball over. When you do, you can't dwell on that. You have got to run back and make a stop. We had some turnovers, but so did they. What I am most proud of is that we were able to fight through the turnovers when they made a rally on us and come back to make a play to keep the lead, which is so significant.

COACH FISHER: I am sorry?

COACH FISHER: I want every call. You don't get every call. You compete. You fight for your team. You let your conscious be an advocate for the players and you find ways to play and play at whatever style and level they allow you to play at.

COACH FISHER: Thank you.