Post-Game Quotes
January 05, 2008 | Men's Basketball
Jan. 5, 2008
Recap | Final Stats | Notes
Washington Head Coach Lorenzo Romar
Opening Statement:
"All week we talked about how Washington State would play the same way whether they were up 20, the score was tied or they were down 20. That's what they did tonight. They are a very mentally tough team. I thought for about 35 minutes we did a very good job of playing good basketball. Down the stretch they were able to take the lead. They made big plays. Baynes, Weaver, Low; those guys made big plays. Our inability to make foul shots hurt us. They didn't miss very many until the end. Normally 14 turnovers isn't enough to shut down your program, but in a game with fewer possessions they were more magnified tonight. In this particular game 14 was too many.¬ I really like the way our guys competed tonight. In a loss I thought progress was made."On the play late in the game with Washington down two: "We felt that Jon [Brockman] could get around Baynes. Jon had picked up a couple of fouls earlier when he got it and drove it, but Baynes did a good job of moving his feet and staying between Jon and the rim. He made Jon try to shoot over him.
On why Ryan Appleby was unable to get open: "Kyle Weaver is one of, if not the best defensive player in the league. He is long and he is very good defensively. When we had Bobby Jones a lot of times we would play against very good scorers and they wouldn't have as productive of a night. Washington State as a team already plays good defense and they were doing a good job of helping on the screens."
On poor free throw shooting: "If you look at the past years since we've been here, just about every year we've shot over 70 percent. This particular year we haven't been consistent from the line. I am convinced that if you shut everything down and make mention of it too much then you'll go from 58 percent to 12 percent because you are thinking about it too much. You just have to keep shooting and stay positive and hope they eventually go in."
On Aaron Baynes: "Someone asked about the difference between their team last year and this year and I pointed out Taylor Rochestie's play and Aaron Baynes. He has made a difference for them and he made a difference for them tonight."
Washington State Head Coach Tony Bennett
Opening Statement: "Very hard fought (game), you guys saw that. Washington has certainly improved defensively this year. It was a hostile environment. It was what we thought it would be. We struggled in the first half offensively no question. We just were stagnant. We couldn't get into our stuff - partly due to their pressure, partly due to our offense, but our defense held us in there. In the second half, we were better offensively but then our defense slipped to start the second half. But (our defense) really carried us late, our guys made some big plays. These guys have played a few Pac-10 games, and I think that experience helped. We were up five and I think we had a turnover, but they still held in there and came up with the stops when we needed them to."
On Foul Trouble: "We overcame some adversity. On the glass, when Aron (Baynes) goes out it is a bit more of a challenge for us, but then we ran some different stuff and got some different looks. I'm so glad Daven (Harmeling) could play - those two threes were huge. That shows the kind of warrior he is - he is playing with a fractured thumb and he is a tough kid."
On Washington: "My hat goes off to Washington and how hard they played. It is a little different this year on the defensive end for sure."
On Last Five Minutes: "The last five minutes there was a timeout and I said, `all we can do is to make them work to get contested shots for the rest of the game and let's try to just get quality shots.' As simple as that sounds, that is kind of our philosophy in a nutshell."
