Fresno State Athletics
QUOTES: Fresno State 89, Pacific Union 46
12/27/2015 12:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball
Fresno State Head Coach, Rodney Terry
On his team's play after Christmas break…
"Coming back and having practice the day after Christmas and going as hard as we needed to go, I was pleasantly surprised. The energy and the effort we had yesterday, we went for two hours really hard. It's always a difficult time of the year to get guys refocused."
On his team thus far in the season…
"This team still has a lot of room to grow. We've tried to put a lot of emphasis on defense because defense travels. Our shots may not travel but our defense, effort, and energy can travel with us. I think we've done what we needed to do in non-conference play. I think we've put ourselves in pretty good position. We know that our league has a lot of parity from top to bottom. We aren't going to have any nights off and we need to compete at a very high level."
On starting conference play at UNLV…
"Everyone can look at their schedule and see a trip or a timing of a game and say that's a tough time for us, but you just have to embrace this time of year and be excited about it. It doesn't matter if you're at home or on the road you have to go play."
On the team last year going into conference play compared to this year…
"I would say last year we were a team that was still trying to find our identity going into conference play for a number of different reasons. We never made any excuses whether a guy was injured or not academically eligible. We kept fighting and we kept working. I think our team this year has a lot of room to get better in different areas. A year ago, we never played with our starting five until we were six or seven games into conference play. What excites me about this team, we're not a finished product, we're not even close to being a finished product. We have pieces that can compete with anyone at any given time in our league. It means a lot for the guys to develop chemistry and be able to play significant minutes in meaningful games."
On UNLV…
"They are an established program in our league. Year in and year out they're going to attract talented players to Las Vegas. They're always a difficult team to play because of that talent. I think our guys are going to be excited about it. We know we're playing a really good team and a team that has a high ceiling as well."
