Post-Game Quotes
January 02, 2005 | Men's Basketball
Recap | Final Stats | Notes
NCAA Men's Basketball
(#13) Washington 76, Stanford 73
Sunday, January 2, 2005
Bank of America Arena/Seattle, Wash.
Post-Game Quotes
WASHINGTON HEAD COACH Lorenzo Romar
General Comments:
"That was a bit stressful. What energy we played with opening the game. A couple of things didn't go our way, and we appeared to let down a bit. Stanford continued to play hard. It seems like every game it's someone different -- tonight, Mike Jensen was very good on both ends of the floor. It's great for us, since we emphasize team so much, that as the team is working, a couple of guys always raise up above the crowd and will us to win. Mike hadn't played his best basketball of late, so for him to come out tonight and have this kind of game -- myself, and the players and everybody are happy for him."
On Mike Jensen:
"Mike's a very emotional player. When he's focused, he's very good. For whatever reason, he had gotten down over some things and hadn't responded the way he would have liked. He responded today, and we needed him."
On whether there was too much 1-on-1 play on offense:
"Yeah, I think we did. We did do that a little bit too much. Cal, Stanford, N.C. State, teams like that that have slowed it up. When we can't run wild and free, we tend to force things. It's a process that we've got to work through. Screens have to be better, you have to come off screens better and harder, and you've got to make two or three extra passes when you're playing against a deliberate and good defensive team that's going to pack it in. Again, with just two days since the last game and very little practice, it's hard to resolve that. But that'll get resolved."
On whether Nate Robinson is forcing the offense too much:
"Sometimes, players need to play through a scout. What I mean by that, is that Nate's name is the first name on that dry board in the other team's locker room. They spend two or three days talking about stopping Nate Robinson. It's just a matter of him making an adjustment, and us as a staff making an adjustment to get him more open looks. I think that anytime you have the start that Nate had, and you're as competitive as Nate is, that when things don't start going your way for a short amount of time, you can press a bit. But, he went through this last year and came out of it with flying colors. It's good that we've got more than Nate Robinson. We have other players on this team who have been able to step up."
STANFORD HEAD COACH TRENT JOHNSON
General Comments:
"We just have to keep pushing and sooner or later we are going to make our own breaks. A lot of things happened out there that were really frustrating for me. We put ourselves in situations where we were aggressive and really worked to get to the rim. We played well. But I won't take anything away from this Washington team. They are a really good basketball team and they compete in a really good environment here. I believe in playing aggressive. We're not in it for moral victories or ties. We came out of the timeout looking for the first open shot, whether it be a three or a two. It was tough for us to get to the basket. They were able to get to the rim, the basket, and the free throw line and we just were not. They did exactly what they were supposed to do and they did a good job tonight."
On the play of Nate Robinson:
"I'm not surprised with anything that Nate does. He is all about making plays. He is a great player and kid. The thing I appreciate about him the most is that no matter if he makes a good or bad decision he just plays aggressive. I thought it was a good college basketball game."
On coming back to gain the lead in the second half:
"I didn't really think we were ever out of it. We were executing and hitting our shots. The ball was going in and I thought we were very efficient. We've been up and down all year long in terms of our shooting percentage, but we executed well tonight, got rebounds and our assist-turnover ratio was decent against this type of pressure."
