Post-Game Quotes
December 07, 2004 | Men's Basketball
Recap | Final Stats | Notes
Washington 98, San Diego State 69
Tuesday, December 7, 2004
Bank of America Arena/Seattle, Wash.
Post-Game Quotes
WASHINGTON HEAD COACH Lorenzo Romar
General Comments:
"I don't know if we could have too much of a better effort than we did tonight. I was as proud of the five guys at the end of the game as anything during the course of the game and I told them that in the lockerroom. Those guys went out and played right and that's good to see. We always preach playing a full 40 minutes of basketball and we don't always accomplish that, and I thought for the most part we did that tonight until the finish. Tre Simmons gave us an unbelievable lift in the first half in terms of shooting and scoring. I think two stats that are very impressive to me are forcing a good San Diego State team into 26 turnovers and grabbing 24 offensive rebounds. When you do that you are going to win some games."
On the improvements made in the last few games:
"I think we have gotten a lot better. We have held two consecutive teams to under 42 percent shooting and forced 30 and 26 turnovers in two games. That's what we like to see. I just think we got a wake up call, and I think we buckled down and decided as a group that we were going to really look at our defense. With the exception of the UAB game, I thought we were defending somewhat like that at the end of last season."
On their style of play:
"When we took an inventory of this team we felt this was the best way to play to suit this particular group. You can play different styles and guys sometimes get bored due to lack of activity and then there are some guys that would be miserable with this style of play and would be more comfortable with another style of play. It just so happens that the group we have really enjoys playing this kind of basketball, so they feed off one another."
On the play of Nate Robinson:
"The play he made when he made the Superman dive for the ball is just vintage Nate Robinson, with no regard for any limb on his body. That is special. I don't think he can injure himself, he is just a little rock. He gets hurt often in practice, and never misses a drill. Somehow he just doesn't really get hurt. He's a tough guy, who takes a lot of hits and a lot of knocks."
On the continued defensive pressure in the second half:
"One of the most difficult things to do is to continue playing defense when your shots are not going in. After awhile it just psychologically wears you down. Great teams continue to play defense in that situation. When you are knocking shots down, it gives you a lot of energy. When you are making those things, it gives you legs to play defense and shoot the rest of them. When you start missing, after about 12 shots you start to get awfully tired. It's interesting how that works. When you get a couple of guys just knocking those things down, you get energy because you are making shots."
On the play of Will Conroy:
"I think Will came into this season understanding that with this team he could make the biggest impact distributing the ball. I thought even a couple of times tonight he had shots that he passed up that he could have looked at. But he still had eight assists and I thought he did a nice job."
On the fast start:
"You have to come out ready to play and I think because we have been really focused these last two games it is reflective in those fast starts."
On the play of Jamaal Williams:
"Jamaal is a scorer. He played nine minutes in the first half and had seven rebounds. He just has a knack to be around that ball and has good hands and did a good job for us."
SAN DIEGO STATE HEAD COACH STEVE FISHER
General Comments:
"They were very, very good. Every fear that we had turned into reality the first seven possessions of the game. I think we had five turnovers in our first seven possessions. I told our team, 'they are a terrific basketball team,' and I'll leave it at that. But we're not as bad as what we showed tonight. They made us play that bad tonight. We're a pretty good basketball team and we were relegated to minor, minor leagues by a terrific defensive presence at every position. They had run-out after run-out after run-out. They had turnover, layup, dunk. They had 24 offensive rebounds. Any statistic you want to look at, they had. It was a good team taking a team in their building and spanking them good."
On Nate Robinson:
"He's a bit like a Jalen Rose in a different body where he thinks he's so good that it rubs off on everybody else on his team, and that's what Jalen did when we had him. And I see that in him. They guy thinks he could rule the world, and I'm not going to dispute it. He's good. But I think the moxie that he has and the feel that he knows he's good, it makes everybody think they're a little better than they really are probably."
On Washington's rebounding:
"If they were at the top of the key when the shot went up, they were at the rim when it hit the rim. They attacked every time, and we told them that they would. We said, 'you can get some fast break opportunities because of the way they attack the glass.' But you can't get them when you're taking them out of the net and we were taking it out of the net a lot."
On Washington's improvement:
"We played them last year so I knew the type of athleticism they had. But they're a much better team than last year."
