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“Aztecs-Take It To The Hoop”

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Travel day for the Aztecs as they head to Wichita for the start of the NCAA-tournament. Highlites from the San Diego State press conference.

(Brian Dutcher-Quotes)

..Excited to get to Wichita to see Houston
..Watched 3-full games of Cougars on tape
..Physical..big in post…strong guards…defend at high level
..Kelvin Sampson-great respect WSU-Indiana
..Best time of year to be playing basketball

..My first time as head coach-but be with Steve Fisher
..Compare Houston with-play with physicality we haven’t seen
..Pound you inside…bump hard..restrict you on pick and rolls
..Cougars rank extremely high in metrics…teams they have beaten
..Great challenge score on them…and keep them from scoring
..There will be lots more contact…cannot look refs to bail us out

..Houston on tape-not extremely tall..but very thick physically
..Two extremely good 3-point shooters…
..Our run has been triggered by our defense on 3-point shooters
..Must extend our defense to stop threes
..Their bigs are very physical in rebounding
..Guys have to fight around forearms-contact will get

..Trey Kell-90% healthy…he is in great shape
..Guard play has been great with Kell-Devon Watson
..Will put ball in our guards hands to drive us to win

..Rob Gray-dynamic guard-going downhill on fast break..shoot three…shoot in paint.
..We have every tape of games they;ve played…will know what they do with ball
..Turn around time in MWC is hard…from Nevada win to get ready for Mexico
..NCAA is easier-to prepare for game….4-day lead to UH game.

..1st time head coach-relationship with players-individual meetings-only thing new..spending time with each player and helping solve issues.

..Life as mid-major-so many snubbed…alot of this is scheduling non conference games.
..I undestand no Power 5-schools want to go play Gonzaga-St Mary’s etc.
..Non power 5’s cannot afford to lose non conference games early in year.

..Gonzaga-BYU..love more quality programs in our conference-hope they come to the MWC. Presidents and ADs have to work this out.
..More good teams mean more quality opportunities for wins-in favor of it.

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(Devon Watson)

..Reason I came to SDSU to get a chance like this.
..Have to be mentally tough to handle Cougars physicality.
..We guard shooters…have a game plan to deal with shooters.
..We got inspired with wins over Nevada in last week.
..We flipped this with our defense-triggered 9-game win streak.
..Brian Dutcher-expereince-alot of confidence his leadership
..Coach has great resume
..Be with Kell-Hensley…amazing experience-lean on them.
..Trey took over game-amazing see him go off like that-had hot hand.
..We are playing very hard-agressive-smart basketball.

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