Oregon State 68, Washington 53
January 26, 2002 | Men's Basketball
Oregon State 68, Washington 53
Bank of America Arena, Seattle, Wash.
January 26, 2002
Post-game Quotes
WASHINGTON HEAD COACH BOB BENDER
General Remarks:
"You have to give Oregon State a lot of credit for the fact that they executed their strengths. They did a great job of controlling the tempo, which was a big difference in the game. The only difficult thing for us to assess at this point is why we didn't have the same energy. They played with great energy, and we didn't match it."
On places to improve:
"We talked about the need to be patient defensively, because they would try to stretch the shot clock, and they did. When we needed to step up a notch with energy and confidence, that was when they would go to dribble penetration and hit a three."
On Washington State targeting UW:
"That has got to be a message that we make and our players understand. We lost an opportunity to help ourselves. There's a good basketball team in Pullman - much better than an o-fer team."
UW SENIOR CENTER DAVID DIXON
On the lack of effort:
"We didn't play hard, plain and simple. We came to play against Oregon, but we didn't come to play against Oregon State. We're one of those teams that, if we don't start out well, the whole game will more than likely be messed up for us. I really don't have an answer for why we didn't play hard. Everybody knew how big this game was - this game was bigger than the Oregon game. This was a game we needed to win."
On OSU's five-game win streak in the series:
"They play together, and they did tonight. They always knew where to find the open man, where to pass the ball, and they hit the shots they were supposed to hit."
On the toughness of the loss:
"It hurt the most [of any loss this year]. This was a game that would give us an opportunity to move up in the Pac-10 standings. Now we're stuck in ninth, and we could have been eighth. After the Oregon win, everybody's confidence was up. I don't know if people were thinking this was going to be easy, but we didn't get the job done.
On the upcoming game at Washington State:
"Hopefully, we'll be able to come back Monday in practice and be prepared to step it up and go to WSU. I know they're going to be after us, because they haven't won a game in the Pac-10 yet."
UW SOPHOMORE GUARD CURTIS ALLEN
On the lack of effort:
"It's obviously unexplainable. There's nothing I can say about that. They lulled us to sleep with their half-court offense, and made us play a half-court game. We're more up-and-down."
On the disappointment:
"Everybody feels how they should feel. This is a big loss. Oregon was a big win, but this is probably a bigger game. We have to keep playing hard - the season's not over."
On the Oregon State offense:
"They ran off their picks well and took advantage of us in the half-court game. We just couldn't stop it."
UW SOPHOMORE FORWARD DOUG WRENN
On the loss:
"We were outplayed, outworked. They're a whole different style of team than Oregon. Oregon wants to push it, run-and-gun, these guys want to break you down. We didn't come out and execute. We let them play a half-court game, and we're not really good enough to do that right now."
On the lack of effort:
"We have to learn how to fight through things. I can't speak for everybody else about not playing hard. Deep down, you know if you didn't play hard, if you didn't do the things you need to do to help win this basketball game. Everybody has to look in the mirror and ask themselves today, did they play hard. I think a lot of people are going to have a frown on their face."
Can you guys bounce back?: "I don't know. I honestly don't know."
OREGON STATE HEAD COACH RITCHIE McKAY
General Remarks:
"It was a very complete team effort on our part. I was really impressed with the way our guys carried over what they had done in practice and what they had done for most of the Washington State game to this game without any let up. For me it was good because we got a team behind and we finished the game instead of letting them back in and having to win a close game down the stretch."
On the play of Philip Ricci:
"Philip is a great inside player. When he can step out and shot it makes him all the more versatile. It is good to have a player of his ability and humility."
On the play of Jimmie Haywood:
"I think Jimmie was anxious at the beginning. He was coming off of a 23 point night his career high. He had tons of family here and lots of friends watching him so that is only natural. To his credit he was solid in the second half. He was patient, he took good shots and got other guys open."
On winning the last two road games:
"We felt like we needed to win on the road and to our guys credit, when you win one you have a tendency to let up and we didn't and that was what I was talking about in completing the weeks assignment. I thought defensively we were solid, we did a good job executing. It was a nice all around team performance."
