WSU-Oregon Postgame Quotes
Head Coach Ernie Kent:
"I really give alot of the credit for this win to the wonderful crowd that was here tonight. We needed something to energize us and help us regroup. They really did that for us tonight."
"I've heard a lot of talk this week about how tired we are, but every team is tired at this point in the year. We were reenergized tonight by this crowd and this atmosphere. To beat this team as many times as we have recently is a great feat."
"We are the only team in the nation that has beaten three top 10 teams this season and that is just an incredible thing for these guys to have accomplished."
"This is just one win out of the way in this long marathon. We now have to focus on getting another win on Saturday and closing out the season on a strong run."
On Tajuan Porter:
"People were harping on his defense early in the year, but his defense hasn't hurt us. As a freshman, what he has accomplished is amazing. He has played well throughout the season, but the last three or four games he has taken his game to another level. He made some incredible shots tonight."
"We responded to the challenge tonight, especially in the last four minutes to close it out."
"The story of this game was turnovers. We gave Washington State a lot of them in the first meeting up there, but only seven tonight. The fact that most of those were in the first half was a great number for us in this game and a big reason we won."
Senior G Aaron Brooks
"To go into halftime only down five was big. We missed a lot of easy lay-ins, and we had played so bad in the first half, we just knew things would have to turn around."
Freshman G Tajuan Porter
"This was a big win, after we have lost so many games recently, and we want to go to the NCAA tournament."
On his enthusiasm after hitting shots:
"I was just trying to get the crowd going, and get the momentum back. I wanted to let my team know that I had faith."
On his tremendous second half play:
"There is always room for somebody to set up, whether it is on offense or defense, and I just got confidence, got open, and my teammates got me the ball. We have to many weapons on this team, that they can’t key in on one guy."
Junior F Maarty Leunen
"This win is huge, because we have been in a little slump, so for us to beat a very good Washington State team is huge for our confidence. Now we just have to take it game-by-game, finish out the season, and then the post-season."
On Oregon’s late first half run:
"With their slow tempo, it was huge for us to get back within five, so we could play the game out our tempo."
On Oregon’s poor 1st half shooting:
"It was frustrating, but we knew we just had to stay calm, keep running the motion offense, and then we would start hitting our shots, because we are all good shooters."
Washington State Head Coach Tony Bennett
"I thought the end of the first half really hurt us. We should have been up eight at worst. We just had some breakdowns defensively. We’re not a good enough team to absorb that in this kind of environment."
"I thought a few of our turnovers down the stretch were costly and that’s not us. When we do that, we’re not going to end up on the right side of things."
"It’s the unforced turnovers that really bother me. Valuing possessions down the stretch is cruicial and I feel like we really didn’t do that."
"Our team is not good enough to not stay in our system. We lost our way a little bit, but you learn from those kinds of things. That’s life on the road in the Pac-10."
"We had a hard time handling Porter, obviously. He hit some long bombs... tough shots and we had some breakdowns defensively too."
"The quickness of Brooks and Porter is tough in that they can both stretch you with their shots."
F Daven Harmeling
"Mac Court is not the place to turn the ball over when you’re playing such an explosive team that can make you pay for your turnovers."
"We just need to take care of the ball if we want to be successful down the stretch."
"You would be an idiot to think that they wouldn’t make a run. They’ve got too many great players."
G Derrick Low
"We had some breakdowns at the end that would have given us a chance."
"It’s frustrating because we always seem to have trouble with Oregon. We just need to stay focused and finish."
G Kyle Weaver
"In the second half, we had some chances to take advantage and we couldn’t get it done."
"We had some crucial turnovers at key times in the game when we could have gotten a shot at the rim that would have been big for us."
"They do a lot of different things. All five on the floor can shoot from anywhere and that’s pretty difficult to defend."
"Our guys played hard. I never felt we didn’t play tough. There were just things we could have done down the stretch and we didn’t get it done."
