Fresno State

Feb. 13, 2013

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Head Coach Rodney Terry

(Scored 31 points in the first half and not as many in second, what happened?)
"Well, when you're coming in that obviously plays a very well coached New Mexico team, a team that's in first place in our league. We were coming into this game with the type of defense that we were going to face that these guys play and they're going to pack it in and you're going to have to make some shots. We were fortunate enough to make the shots in the first half. We got great looks from the very beginning and we finished out the half really strong. The second half was going to be no different, they weren't going to change the way they play. We did a great job on the glass, a big part of the game the first half was we made shots and did a great job of keeping them off the glass, they had five offensive rebounds at half time and our defensive intensity was really good. Second half, they had fourteen offensive rebounds for the game, little different story. Second chance points are what they feed off of. A couple of their key guys made big shots. In this league you have to play for 40 minutes, you can't play for 38 or leave three extra minutes out there without finishing it out. At the end of the day you have to make shots too. I said to our guys a little while ago, we've learned some really tough lessons this year. We're learning them through wins; we're learning them through losses, but you've got to execute and you have to make plays down the stretch."

(Do you feel New Mexico made the adjustments at half time?) "Well, I wouldn't necessarily say they made the adjustments at half time, we got shots in the second half that we didn't make. We got point blank shots. We stopped in the second time out and said `hey guys it's not our offense, we are getting shots exactly where we want them. We got five shots in the paint, you have to make them. You can't draw a player if you put him at the rim, but we got five shots at the rim, we have to make those at the end of the day. We had great looks, so it wasn't our offense as so much it was in the second half, our defense, we didn't finish out the stops with the defensive rebounds that we had in the first half. It was more on our defense in the second half than it was on our offense. At the end of the day you have to make the shots.

(Were you expecting more out of Braeden (Anderson) today?)
"You know what, I think Braeden (Anderson) was a little anxious today, I think he tried a little bit too hard today and not let the game come to him a little bit. And that's with the young players, he's a freshmen. He had great looks in the paint which matter of fact we started out the half with two great paint touches with him in the paint, just slow down. Just take the shots that you practice, but young players we aren't putting pressure to do anything out of the extraordinary to help us be successful, but he will get better and he will learn from this."

#3 Kevin Olekaibe

Was the momentum there for you guys early coming out of the locker room?

"I would say so, we know New Mexico is a great team. We just followed the game plan in the first half. We knew that their coach was going to get on them at halftime and they were going to come out with fire. We just have to try and master our intensity in the second half."

Do you feel that the team is improving each game and learning?

"Yeah I would say so. I mean we are improving a lot. We work hard in practice. I mean we can't keep making the same little mistakes towards the end of the game, that's where we got to get better. I think we will improve on that."

Thoughts on Wyoming on Sunday

"Wyoming is a great team. We know for a fact that they are going to come out and play hard because they are going to want to avenge the loss here. So we just have to come ready and step up to the challenge."