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PACIFIC-12 CONFERENCE MEN'S TOURNAMENTMarch 13, 2015Dana AltmanDillon BrooksJoseph YoungLAS VEGAS, NEVADA Oregon – 67 THE MODERATOR: We'll start with an opening comment from Coach. COACH ALTMAN: Well, we were fortunate, Joe hit a big shot, overrode me in the timeout, and took the ball and hit a big shot. But I liked our effort, but I didn't like our ball movement a lot of the night. I thought it was a little stagnant. But the guys found a way. And we got outrebounded but Utah is a big, talented team. And Larry does a great job. And so we were fortunate. Q. Joe, can you take us through that last shot. Coach said you overrode him. Tell us what he told you to do and what you saw and how it went through. COACH ALTMAN: I was going to run him off some screens. I was going to have Casey bring it and run him off screens for a shot, because we had 7.2seconds. And he said no, I want to bring it up. And I thought with 7.2 he might take it to the basket. But he pulled it from 35. Q. How about you Joe, what did you see on that play? JOSEPH YOUNG: I wanted to get the ball out quick. I didn't want them to trap me. So came down the court. I don't know who set the pick, but they didn't hedge the pick. I felt like I set my feet right and just knocked down the shot, followed through, straight up and down. And that's all she wrote. Q. Joe, what's it like to be a large man in this, hero, and how difficult a shot was that for you? JOSEPH YOUNG: Like I say, I commend my team, my coach for letting me draw up the play at the end. And the team, we fought at the end. I had the turnover at the end, but my team didn't give up on me, kept their composure. We made a play at the end and won the ballgame. It's something you practice on every day in practice. Coach has us knock down the shots and he says great players make good plays. And I just stepped up and made the shot. Q. Dana, normally we see teams bring the ball up, call timeout, set the play. Was that timeout during the free throw kind of a strategy maybe catching them off guard without the timeout? COACH ALTMAN: We weren't going to take one. No, we were going to bring it. We took the timeout, try to freeze the shooter. A lot of times you try not to let them hit two in a row. So we basically took the time out to try to get them to freeze. But then we said we're just going to bring it. We've got 7.2, we've got plenty of time. Wanted Dillon to set the pick, and for Joe‑‑ I thought he'd make it a little bit more to the basket with the tie score. But he saw the shot he liked and he hit it. Q. Dillon, could you speak for all Joe's teammates, the confidence you have in him in that situation? DILLON BROOKS: The utmost confidence in him. He's always the first one in the gym, last one out, taking 3s every time. So once I seen him shoot that shot, I knew it was going in. I was ready to run after him, grab him. Q. Joe, can you explain what it is that you liked about having the ball in your hands rather than the catch‑and‑shoot opportunity, why was that better for you? JOSEPH YOUNG: Just if the guys‑‑ if they would have triple teamed me or same guys me, I could have easily made a simple pass either to Dillon or Dwayne. I wanted to attract their attention to open other players on my team to make a shot for them. Q. Dillon, what have you learned from Joseph this season that you're going to take into next year? DILLON BROOKS: Just work ethic and leadership. Just every time, as in practice, he's always bringing us together. I watch him like before I even came here I used to watch him play. When I first came here, I watched him work out and everything. I try to do the same thing that he does. And then just taking what he does in practice and what he does off the court, on the court, and just try to replicate myself into him. Q. Sean Miller said this team is well aware of where you guys are at right now. Where have you guys improved since the last time you played Arizona? COACH ALTMAN: Well, defensively, we've done a better job. Arizona presents problems because of their size, just like Utah did. We got beat on the boards badly tonight. I'm sure Sean's going to recognize that. So their physicality‑‑ we're not a big team‑‑ has given us problems. So we're just going to have to compete. We'll go into the game pretty loose. They have beaten us bad twice. And so our guys will be loose and we'll tell them go swing away and have fun with the game. We've got great respect for what Arizona's done this year, to go through the conference with the pressure they've had on them to win the league by three games. They've done a remarkable job. So we know we've got our hands full, and we'll just go out and have fun and swing away. Q. In the same vein I was going to ask Joe, how do you reverse, as Coach was saying, the two lopsided losses against them in the regular season? COACH ALTMAN: It's a different day, different game. You know, we're just going to have to do a good job. Joe, go ahead. JOSEPH YOUNG: Yeah, really felt like we're more better as a team. We just gotta really rebound. And I really commend T.J. McConnell just for leading his team and getting after it these first two games. And really leading his team. And I felt like I didn't lead my team at that time. But now I think we're more as a team, more as a family. Coach got us ready, and we're just going to make it a ballgame tomorrow and just play. Q. When you're getting mobbed on the floor like that after the game, could you put that feeling into words, what that feels like? JOSEPH YOUNG: That was my first time getting mobbed like that. I was just making sure I didn't bust my lip or anything. That was one thing. Just cover up. But it's a good feeling. Like Coach said, it's gotta to be in our head five more hours, get some sleep, and we've got another ballgame tomorrow. Q. In the tournament, two games in a row, you guys were behind at halftime against pretty good teams and came out again with your young team, I think it's 9‑0 in games decided by five points or less and two nights here you came out a better team in the second half. COACH ALTMAN: Well, the guys just did a great job. In both halves, our ball movement was better in the second half. We shot 58percent tonight in the second half. And it started, we set the high ball screen and Joe got some pretty good looks there. And Elgin finished some tough ones. Dillon finished some tough ones. But I liked our ball movement. I can't remember who drove the middle and kicked it to Dwayne. I think it was Dillon maybe for a wide‑open 3. And we just made some better plays. Q. Coach mentioned it, you getting to the basket, Elgin had a couple where it was force of will, where you were going to get to the hoop and try to score. Can you describe how tough it was to get points down the stretch as hard fought as this game was? DILLON BROOKS: Utah is a great defensive team and they've got really big big men in there. We kept pushing kept going to the basket and just trying to get baskets.  And even if they close on us with three or four guys, we just got to do like Coach told us before the game. Q. Joe, how hard is it to score in a game like this? Seemed like Delon Wright and Brandon Taylor were just terrific defenders on you all night? JOSEPH YOUNG: They did a good job. I was not being patient. I was just rushing shots. Needed to find my teammates more, create some for my teammates when that happens. And they did a good job. Q. Coach, I think you're 13‑2 in the past 15 games. What do you see from your team? Is it just maturity? I know you have a lot of young players. What do you think is behind this really strong finish? COACH ALTMAN: Well, we've made progress, and we'll find out how much progress tomorrow night. But we have gotten better, defensively we've gotten better. The zone's helped us some. The soft press has helped us some. Our execution has got better offensively. But we were scoring baskets early, but defensively we were giving up a lot of easy baskets. And we still defensively don't do a great job at times. But we have made progress. FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports |
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