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PACIFIC-12 CONFERENCE MEN'S TOURNAMENTMarch 11, 2015David KravishCuonzo MartinJordan MathewsLAS VEGAS, NEVADA Cal – 84 THE MODERATOR: We'll start with comments from Coach Martin, open it up for questions. COACH MARTIN: I thought our guys did a great job with setting the tone early, playing with passion on both ends of the floor. Did a great job battling, competing. Tarwater got early offensive rebounds and it helped us out. I thought we did a good job going in transition. I think the key to Washington State, they do a tremendous job of running in transition offensively. I thought we really set the tone there to try to slow those guys down. They get out in transition, it could be a long night for you. But just overall I thought we were really good on both ends of the floor. Q. Can you talk about the job that Jabari with help did against DaVonté Lacy? COACH MARTIN: That was one of the biggest keys for us defensively, to be able to stop him and keep Hawkinson off the glass. I thought he accepted that challenge. He embraced it and he wanted that. He did a great job of staying down. He didn't get back‑doored the whole game. Did a great job setting you up, chasing off screens and challenging his shots. And it's a tough, tough thing to do against a guy that caliber the way he moves and shoots the basketball. He shot 20 free throws against us in the previous two games. I thought we did a great job really setting the tone. Q. There was a point where you guys made 14 of 15 shots. During that stretch, what were you able to do just to expose them? COACH MARTIN: We were moving. We were cutting. We were patient. But I thought we did a good job hitting off big guys rolling. We established David in the post. I thought that set the tone for us offensively if we're able to do that then our perimeter guys could play. That's where I thought we had an advantage, rolling to the basket, getting offensive rebounds, spacing. Then we made shots. When you make shots, you always look good in most cases. Q. I think you missed your first six shots, then you missed one more the whole game. Talk about just kind of a veteran player when you have some struggles early, how do you maintain your confidence and regroup like that? DAVID KRAVISH: It's just one of those things you play the game for so long, you can't dwell on something in the middle of a game. You gotta look ahead and play defense the next possession to start out, and then just something where you come back and you just stress on what you've done, worked on all year and all your life, and you don't really worry about the misses. Q. I was wondering how you guys approached this week mentally. Was there a transition from last weekend in Arizona and how did you get the guys ready or was it a nothing to lose kind of situation, how did you handle it? COACH MARTIN: Not at all. We're always playing for something. Because you're representing a university. It's our job to do the best job we can. Every time we step on the floor. So that's most important. But for us we lost our last two games on the road. And for me they were losses. However you lost the game, you lost it. Learn from it and move forward. So I think in our profession you don't have a lot of time to consume yourself whether you win a big game or lose a game. You have to learn from it. And I thought that was the case for us. The one thing about our guys, we've done a great job bouncing back and having good practices. I thought that was the key in playing this game today. Q. Speaking of not having a lot of time. You won't have a lot of time to turn around before you face Arizona. How daunting is that? Is it a good thing that you don't have a lot of time, or a bad thing? COACH MARTIN: I don't know if it's daunting.  You're playing against an opponent in your league. We didn't play well at their place the last game. We'll make adjustments and go from there. Again you're playing basketball. It's a neutral court game. Opponent in your league. Prepare yourself to win the ballgame. Q. Wondered about Arizona in general. Anything you would like to see you guys do better tomorrow that didn't happen last week? COACH MARTIN: First thing is compete from start to finish. They're a good team. They played well at home. Compete, battle, play hard. That's it. Everything else will take care of itself. We've got to establish a physical tone without fouling. I thought T.J. McConnell did a tremendous job at their place really running offense, making plays, getting in the lane. That's where it started and that's where it ended. They play well. Q. Jordan, you and Jabari did a pretty darned good job out there on the perimeter. What did you see that was able to let you guys go 8 of 12 from distance? JORDAN MATHEWS: Tyrone did a great job getting in the lane. When he does that, they really gotta play him for his floater. He does a really good job of finding us. Coaches have taught us during the season to move up and down and make yourself available to him when he drives. So I credit all our teammates for finding us an open space, and we were able to bury shots today. Q. David, this is going to be probably one of the last games of your career potentially against Arizona. Could you talk about that challenge of kind of needing to overcome a team that is the No. 1 seed in the tournament in order to advance? DAVID KRAVISH: Just to echo what Coach said. It's another team. And I've played Arizona probably eight or nine times in my career. And it's just another opponent you've got to attack. They're going to do what they're going to do. But we've got to come out and play hard. And whatever it says on the front of their jersey, we're playing for what's on the front of ours. THE MODERATOR: Thank you. FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports |
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