Fresno State Athletics
Fresno State vs. Hawaii -- Postgame Quotes
12/29/2004 12:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball
Dec. 29, 2004
Fresno State head coach Ray LopesGeneral comments
"I tell you what, I'm exhausted. That was a tremendous basketball game, a tremendous effort in the second half, actually the whole 40 minutes."
"Hawaii is a good basketball team. You always want to give your opponents their credit. They came out and scored 41 points in the first half and that was our biggest problem. We weren't defending and certainly not rebounding."
On coming back to win the game after trailing the majority of the contest
"We scored our share of points. We had a bad first half shooting wise and couldn't get any breaks, couldn't make any free throws. But what big heart in the second half by this group. A team that lost three in a row, hadn't played well the last three games prior to Hawaii. I'm proud of our guys because of the heart they showed in the second half. We got back to playing Bulldog basketball. We defended better, rebounded the basketball much better as they only got three offensive rebounds in the second half. We're growing. They're starting to settle in their roles."
On the crowd's energy
"Just a great, great win. I'm really proud of the crowd. They didn't give up on us. They were a big boost in the arm down the stretch and that was huge. That's huge."
On Hawaii missing the last-second shot
"We beat a good basketball team tonight. Hawaii is a good basketball team. We had the right bounce at the end. In the Oregon game they got the bounce and tonight, the same situation, last possession, and we had to defend well. We defended well enough and got a break. I'm proud of our kids and it's a good way to start WAC."
On the last possession
"In the timeout we talked about if we tied the game or had the lead, we just had to have a good defensive possession. We need to play our butts off and don't foul. It was a good defensive possession and I'm just glad we got the break."
On WAC play at home
"We talked about protecting the home court in WAC play because now everyone is playing for the same thing. Everyone is playing for a conference championship. We just talked about protecting your home court and that's how you have a chance to win. Preseason is over and this is a new season. We talked about staying focused. They (Fresno State) played hard. Even if we lost this game tonight, I was going to be proud of this team because they played hard. Everyone who played tonight, played hard. If you play hard, practice hard, at some point good things are going to happen. That's what they've been doing. Their attitude has been good. We've all been frustrated, but the attitude has been good and they've kept working hard."
On being a young team, making young mistakes and that sometimes being frustrating
"We're young. I'm not going to get frustrated anymore. I want to win so bad, we all want to win badly. No one wants to win worse than me. I told myself last night I'm not going to be frustrated because we're a young team. We're going to make mistakes. We're going to have peaks and valleys. I'm just going to stay positive, teach and coach and get these guys to understand they've got to play hard every time."
Lopes' final thoughts on the win
"That was a very intense game down the stretch. After losing three games in a row, this is a great way to get that taste out of your mouth. This group needed this. They needed a little `feel good' win. This was a `feel good' win. We're a decent team but we just got to keep our nose to the grindstone and keep working. We can never think we're better than what we are because in this conference, I don't care who you play home or away, for us every game is going to be tough. Every game is going to be a tough game. When we learn to be a better rebounding team and take better care of the ball, that's our area of improvement. We're young. This was a great win and we'll take it."
Hawaii head coach Riley Wallace
On the final minutes of the game when Fresno State made its comeback
"They started tightening up on their defense a little bit and we started looking for the jump shot instead of the hard cut to the basket which sets up our offense. We didn't turn the ball over tonight and out-rebounded them and...win or lose on the road, it's going to get down to execution on that offense. And, [it] was very, very unbalanced on the fouls, too. When they shoot two to one (31-16), you don't lose. We got to play better defense without fouling, I guess. We need to make the cuts and play solid basketball and we didn't do that."
On initiating the offense too late on the last play
"Yes, we did. We gave the scenarios (in the last timeout, before Berry's free throws). There [were] 29 seconds to go. If [the game was] tied, come down and we run it down and get a last second shot out of it and make sure they can't get down and score. Set your picks to get open but don't take that shot until we get down on the clock. If they take the lead then you have to run down and get what you can get. There was a breakdown and a lack of experience. We had too many guys who haven't been in that position so we have to put them more in that position, I guess. We practice and practice it but it doesn't always work."
