Feb. 2, 2013

Recap |  Final Stats |  Notes |  AP Photos 

Postgame quotes from the No. 22/20 San DIego State-Air Force men's basketball game on Saturday at Clune Arena.

San Diego State Head Coach Steve Fisher

"The strength for us, against Air Force, should be offensive rebounds. I believe we had 17 or 16 last year and got beat by two points. That was one of the things we talked about that should be a huge plus for us. It was, but it wasn't quite enough."

"(Air Force) got the looks that they get against everybody and they made them. I think that they were seven for 10 or 12 out the gate and eight for 18 at halftime. We talked about that at halftime ... I don't think they'll shoot this well, but we've got to do a better job of closing them out. You can't close them so hard that they get by you on the dribble, because that's the next thing they look to do. But I thought we did a better job in the second half against guarding the three. They made some hard ones. (Michael) Lyons made a huge one right by our bench with no time on the clock and we were all over him as he made it. To win a game like this, you have to make plays. You have to get a lucky bounce and they had one more than we did. We still had opportunities, but we didn't get it."

"(Jamaal) Franklin's a good player. You play to your strength and make your opponent do something different to stop what they're doing and he made plays the last 10 or 12 minutes that allowed us to fight our way back in."

Air Force Head Coach Dave Pilipovich

About the Air Force players

"That just shows our cadet-athletes. They are special. We got on them from time to time at practice and sometimes after practice we may go back to the office and say we're not this and we're not that. No, we are. They're tough.....their character....... leadership. WOW! I wouldn't trade them in for anybody. That group in that locker room is something. The Academy has beaten three top 25 teams in its history and that group has done it twice within a year. That's the players."

About seeming calm at the end the of the game
"Half of me was.....trust these guys. Their practice is going to pay off. What they do for us every day is going to pay off. The other half is about those seniors. We called them in on Thursday and told them this thing is going to be over in a few weeks. Enjoy it! Yes, it's a big game, but enjoy it. If you don't enjoy this and have some fun with it you're going to regret it. Half of me was just trusting our guys and know that they knew what we need to do. The other half was that it's pretty neat for those guys."

About Kamryn Williams
"Kam Williams came in and he grabbed a few rebounds. In practice we struggle like this in practice to rebound. When we talk to them he's the guy to go get the ball. He was the guy we felt was going to be confident. He's such a great guy and works so hard. Any of those guys off the bench....we have confidence in them. Those five seniors have confidence in them. It always seems like one of them steps up."

"That (his performance) goes back to the training these cadets go through. The character, the leadership, they are on it. They are on point and they are ready to go. They believed coming in they had a chance to win the game. When you have that belief that's half the battle."

On the last possession
"We knew that Franklin was probably going to take the shot and he misses. We told our guys after the game that we could have rebounded it and not given them a second shot. When Rahon shot it I was think about the TCU game last year and I thought it was going in and we were headed for overtime. How neat was it to see the cadets run on the court when it was over? This is a pretty neat moment."

On Michael Lyons
"Mike's got the ball in the last few minutes and he's guarded by Franklin....I mean that's two of the best in the conference. It was pretty neat to watch. It was a great college game to see that. Mike was good."

On the seniors
"They have played a lot of games together. They coach each other a lot. It's neat when you go into a huddle or the locker room and they are saying the same things you would want to say."