Post-Game Quotes: Oregon vs. Washington State
02/25/16 | Men's Basketball
Dana Altman- Head Coach, Oregon
Overall thoughts on the game…
“Well, we out rebounded them, which is good. We were up on second chance points, 15-6, and points off turnovers, 23-7, so that's good… in the half-court, our defense wasn't real sharp, especially in the second half. At times our ball movement wasn't very good… But it was a game we had to have, and we got the win.”
On the hot start the Ducks started the game with…
“We jumped out and really came out strong, I think it was 17-3 there out of the gates. We really did a good job there. Our activity was good, we got a couple of turnovers and baskets, so I was very pleased with the way we started.”
On Arizona losing tonight…
“I did hear the announcement. We still have Utah right there, Arizona right there, Cal right there. It's going to be a tight race. We have a really tough game on Sunday, with our inability to gaurd the three right now… Washington has a number of good shooters, so we are going to have a tough matchup, and our defense against the three really has got to improve.”
Elgin Cook, RS Senior - Forward
On coming out strong...
"My teammates did a good job helping me out there, they put a lot of pressure on the ball, so when the ball did get back to me it was easy for me to defend late in the shot clock."
On the home-court dynamic...
"Chris is back there blocking shots, making good plays. The crowd is getting energized. It's picking us up, and me blocking shots, it also helps us set up our defense."
On the team's effort...
"I think the effort was there. We led them, we gave up a few offensive rebounds, we didn't do a good job guarding their guards, I think. They hit a lot of 3s. We need to have awareness."
Tyler Dorsey, Freshman - Guard
On coming off a win against Oregon State...
"We knew we had to come out with the same mentality, because even though they [WSU] haven't won a lot of games, they took Colorado into double overtime. We knew we had to come out, we couldn't slack on them. We had ups and downs but we never let them come back."
On his first year...
"It's great. We have to stay in the hunt and we have a big game coming up against Washington, and they're a good team. We just have to get back in the ladder."
Ernie Kent – Head Coach, Washington State
Opening statement…
“First of all, I want to talk about Oregon. Dana (Altman)'s team reminds me of (my 2007) team where they have skill all over the floor, they can spread you out and beat you off the bounce, everybody can score. He's got a really, really nice squad. If they continue to defend and keep their heads focused the right way, they have a chance. That team has a chance to win this thing, close it out and have a chance to do some damage in the tournament too, because they'll get an excellent seed.
“For us, it was the same old thing that we've seen a lot this year. We had that stretch of the game, this time it was at the start of the game, where you give up a 17-4 run, but outside of that you play with one of the best teams in the country even on their home court. I go back and I look at stat sheets where we gave up 15 second-chance points, we gave up 23 points off of our turnovers, even though we didn't turn it over as much in the second half. Then you give up another 19 points on the free throw line. When you look at things that are in your control, the rebounding, the fouling, and the turning the ball over, those are some things that we need to clean up.
“With all that said and done, I thought there were three times in the second half, late, where if you hit a bucket, you knock it to eight. We played them better on this floor, just not good enough.”
On if Oregon's trap set the offense back…
“No, because if you look at the first half when we had 10 turnovers, we only had three turnovers in the second half, I think it was more on ourselves…If we can get all of our guys on the same page at the same time, we had opportunities in this game. We really did, and we didn't take advantage of it.”
On if he senses the same energy around Oregon's program now as when he played…
“No, and I say that because Mac Court was one of the top 10 places to play in the history of college basketball. That was voted on by ESPN. This is a great arena, but it doesn't have that Mac Court vibe or that same energy in the building. That's hard to duplicate. They just don't make buildings like that anymore. I don't sense it because you don't have that same buzz in the building. Yet, Dana's done an incredible job without having that buzz in the building. That buzz was good for us.”
