Nov. 16, 2011
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Post-Game Quotes
UNM Head Coach Steve Alford
UNM vs. NMSU 11/16/11
Opening Statement:
“Tonight was a really poor performance for us, especially in the second half, and you have to give New Mexico State credit for that. I thought they were very physical, big and athletic and they did a lot of good things and taking us out of our offense. I think that in my tenure this is one of our worst shooting nights. Any time that happens it’s because of a really good defensive effort and they really guarded for 40 minutes; they’re going to be hard to beat if they keep playing like they did tonight. They really took a lot of things from us and it’s a learning experience for a lot of our guys.”
Talk about Drew Gordon and the night that he had
“Well a lot of our guys had really tough nights. Drew finished with two points, and again you have to give State credit because they prepared for Drew, Kendall and Phillip and they did a really good job of doing that. I think those are valuable lessons for the team. Last year Kendall had other players in front of him as far as scouting reports went and now he’s the focal point, but as I said this was a good lesson. We have to turn things around quickly because we have to travel to a Pac-12 school and play against a match-up zone, and you probably don’t want to do that after a game when you couldn’t get a shot off. I did like the way we played defense, I thought we competed, backboards weren’t bad they were pretty even, we did good things defensively but we weren’t able to shut them out or get a shot off in the second half and I thought that was the difference.”
Was that as physical an Aggie team as you’ve seen?
“They’ve always been physical but they have big bodies, big, physical bodies. Hernst Laroche is pretty much the only one that they have come in that’s shorter than 6’8”, 240 and yet I think he’s the key to the team. He makes them go; he’s a good leader and a solid point guard. I think that’s one of the concerns we had coming into the season, you lose someone like Dairese Gary and that hurts you. You have a lot of options out there at point guard, but I think it was pretty glaring tonight that we just haven’t been able to create a point guard that can control our offense and get us in the game, and that’s going to be a work in progress. We have to continue to work and find out who that is going to be.”
How much did foul trouble affect you?
“Well obviously it affects you a lot. I think State got to the line 21 times against us, 41 against Northern Colorado, and I think that’s a testament to them they’re doing a good of getting to the line. I’ve always thought that the free throw line is a huge key in basketball games; more times than not that’s going to determine whether you win or lose the game. Tonight, they didn’t make them very well, but they got to the line a lot. Unfortunately our bigs got into foul trouble. It was a constant struggle between man defense and zone defense, trying to piece something together to get going, and that affected us offensively too.”
You have a tough turnaround with Arizona State coming up, talk about that
“It is, we were hoping this game was going to be on Saturday, but unfortunately they have a football game and we couldn’t get it moved to Sunday so unfortunately we’re playing on Friday. It’s a six o’clock start too so that makes it worse. It’s quick but it’ll help us and our mental toughness and that’ll help us.”
Sophomore Guard Tony Snell
Opening statement
“We just got a wake-up call. They came in. They really wanted it. We didn’t come in with a mindset that we have to protect this house, and we didn’t play defense that well. Our offense wasn’t that good. Our defense was good. We had good effort, but they really gave us a wake-up call. They are a really good team, physically too.”
On how their mistakes will affect them going forward
“We just have to bounce back from this experience right now; we have a long way to go. We just have to learn and pick up from our mistakes and just move on to the next game and be ready for ASU.”
On the team’s inability to score
“They play physically. That’s it. We didn’t respond how we wanted to and just let them push us around.”
On senior forward Drew Gordon’s reaction
“He was very, very disappointed. He was really mad. I don’t blame him because we played bad, too. You can’t just blame one player, but the whole team.”
On what Coach Alford told the players postgame
“He said we didn’t execute our offense well. Our bigs didn’t get involved. We have to pick it up basically.”
NMSU Head Coach Menzies
Opening Statement…
“It’s a big win; it’s a huge win for the Aggies to be able to play so well in this building. It was a testimony to the long path that we have been traveling. We have had our ups and downs and a lot of a different things, I was proud of our guys that they stayed the course and bought in to the way that we want to play this year. I thought we were very good defensively tonight, that was our signature. I am just really excited for our guys and the community. There are a lot of Albuquerque Aggies that have a chance to smile and wear their gear tomorrow. I was happy to please them. We’ve got some loyal followers up here, they have been waiting a long time and I was glad that I was there to give them a victory, that we were able to give them a victory.”
On putting this year’s team into perspective…
“We are still trying to soak it in and still trying to process getting ready for UTEP. In the locker room I started mentioning UTEP to one of the assistant coaches and they were like, ‘Coach are you crazy? You have got to stop and enjoy this.’ I will enjoy this when I die–it’s time to go to work. Obviously, this is a big win for us, this is a huge win for us. There is no question that Steve (Alford) has done a phenomenal job here. I’m not just saying that, you guys know the work that he has put together is phenomenal. He is averaging 24-25 wins, whatever it is a season. When you can steal a win and steal it at The Pit from such a great program it makes you feel good and reaffirms that we are doing things the right way.”
On the seniors…
“I wasn’t worried at all–and I can say that now after the game–but I really wasn’t worried about us performing better offensively in the second half. It was a little frustrating and you have to give credit to the Lobos. They are very physical and strong and their bigs got lot of fouls, but they were making it tough for us to score. The bigs were around the basket and it was just one of those nights that you have to rely on your defense. You can’t win on the road without defense, you can’t do it. All we have been preaching is defense. Our rebounding in the first half was something that we really challenged them on and we made a few adjustments. I was just happy to see them in that statistical category with bringing it up.”
On winning the fifties and sixties on the road….
“I’m glad that we won but it’s not the way I want to play. I want to get up and down with pressure. I want to keep pressure on the team and play aggressively both offensively and defensively. We want run outs and steals and open court scoring. What Steve (Alford) did by turning it in to a half court game was definitely to their advantage, but we had seniors and guys that made big plays. You got to win with intensity and win with experience and that’s what we are preaching now. It was a great team game–I know it sounds like a cliché but it really was. If you look at our points and how they were distributed was the best thing about the win. There was so much synergy by everyone that was on the floor. I thought the defensive energy was good and the depth provided that.”
On expecting zone defense from the Lobos…
“If we didn’t play well against it we knew they would ride it. And that’s not something that Steve (Alford) really likes to do a lot. He wants to play man-to-man, it’s been a staple of his for a long time. They do a good job of it. Tonight I thought that the zone gave us some problems and slowed the game down and gave him the pace that he wanted. We weren’t very efficient about it, but we got some offensive rebounds against it and make some buckets.”