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Story by Liz Alper
Video courtesy goaztecs.com
February 17, 2017 (San Diego) - After winning two in a row, SDSU men's basketball returns home to face UNLV on Sunday. Coach Steve Fisher, sophomore guard Jeremy Hemsley and junior guard Trey Kell called a press conference today to talk to the media after their big turnaround. The Aztecs are 15-10 overall and 7-6 in Mountain West play.
"We've got a big game on Sunday against a team that we've always had wild, crazy games with," Fisher opened with. "so we need to continue to build on what we've done and that's play better, play consistently hard and find a way to get a win and we've done that recently. It's important that we prepare and prepare mentally, as well as physically. We've played better and that's given everybody confidence."
On Wednesday at Utah State, despite senior center Valentine Izundu and sophomore guard Montaque Gill-Caesar leaving the game with injuries, the Aztecs still managed a 66-62 win on the road. I asked Coach if the team is finally learning how to adjust with players being out. He praised the play of redshirt freshman Nolan Narain. "I was very, very proud when Valentine could not play then Nolan Narain came in and played his first meaningful minutes since Gonzaga and he gave us a big lift. I went back and watched the game and his segments were good. He played smart, he did things that you win with, he did a good job of walling up and keeping people from getting where they wanted to go defensively, didn't try to do things offensively too quickly and he gave us a lot of value, so we need to have somebody to do that again on Sunday. And by him doing that, it gives me belief and confidence that we can put him in again and he'll be able to perform for us, so it was good for Nolan, good for us and it helped us win."
Hemsley chimed in during his and Kell's segment: "It is something you have to get used to, but at the same time, when you have players out, that just means the next man has to step up. But I think we did do a good job this past game of just playing with what we had and not looking at what we didn't have. Playing without all your pieces is hard to do, but at the same time, it's something you have to deal with."
Asked about whether he was frustrated that sometimes the Aztecs can't put the pieces together and win (though lately, they have been): "We're 15-10 now. We're in fifth place in the league. We thought we would be better. We're not. We've made some progress; first time all season we've been above .500. It's not where any of us wanted to be, it's where we are. So now. where can we go from here? Frustration? I think we all have that a little bit, but if we're frustrated all the time about when things don't go well, you're not gonna perform. You gotta be tough mentally and compete and say, 'I'm gonna prove what I can do and prove what we can do' and that's been our theme."
I asked Coach what the thought of the day was. "Finish. That's what you're supposed to do. That's the goal."
Kell was asked where his head was at at this point in the regular season. "As of right now, we're in a good place. We feel like we're playing some of our best basketball we have all year and now we're looking forward to keeping it going on Sunday."
Kell was also asked about the end-of-the-season grind and getting momentum going. "You can't look at these two games and be like 'all right, we're good now, just look forward to the tournament.' That's not the case at all. We still have things to prove, things to get better at. If we can get better game by game, then I think we'll be in a good place by the time conference comes around."
Hemsley gave his thoughts about whether everything was coming together or not. "I'd say we're getting better at a lot of things. But like Trey said, we still have things to prove."
Kell spoke of the rivalry between SDSU and UNLV. "To me, it's just another game. It's a big game for us, for sure...UNLV's our next opponent, so it's a big game for us."
SDSU takes on UNLV at Viejas Arena on Sunday afternoon at 1:00 p.m. You can watch the game on CBS Sports Network and listen in on The Mighty 1090.
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