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NCAA MEN'S 2ND & 3RD ROUNDS: OMAHA

March 20, 2015

Joseph Young

OMAHA, NEBRASKA

OREGON - 79
OKLAHOMA STATE - 73

THE MODERATOR: Elgin Cook and Joseph Young represent the student body of the Ducks. Coach Dana Altman, the head coach, is in middle. We will ask for a statement on the game and then go to questions.

COACH ALTMAN: I thought offensively both teams played pretty well. Joe, Elgin, Dillon for us really gave us a one, two, three punch, and I thought our ball movement was pretty good. Scoring 79 points against Oklahoma State, whose defensive numbers are very impressive, is a good offensive performance. We had hoped to rebound a little better. I thought they had the edge there, and they had the edge in second-chance points. Defensively, at times we gave up a few easy baskets. But I thought it was a good basketball game. I thought our guys competed. We got lost a couple of times with all their movement against our zone, but really good effort, Joe, Elgin, Dillon, all the guys, Jordan blocking four shots, and Dwayne had a good second half after a shaky start. Casey gave us good minutes, Jalil, so it was a good effort by all of our team.

Q. Dana, does it give you any more confidence going forward that it was Joe that kinda sparked that first-half run, but in the second it was those guys, like Jordan and Elgin and Dwayne, kind of a full-team effort there in the second to get that kind of -- I think it was an 11-0 run when they went back up.
COACH ALTMAN: Well, we have a lot of guys that have made contributions. Joe and Elgin are a one, two punch most nights, and down the stretch, since we have been playing better in February and March, it's been these two guys. But tonight it was Dillon hitting a big three, play out of a time-out. Coach McKenna kind of recommended it, and it worked. We ran that same play against Oregon State for Dwayne; he hit it, same play against Stanford, he hit it. So different guys have stepped up, but we have rode these two guys really hard. Dillon had a great offensive game tonight. He was 7 for 9; 17 points, 7 for 9 from the field. That's great for a freshman to step into your first NCAA Tournament game and go 7 for 9, get 17 points, great performance. But I think we have had different people contribute. We were down 8 in the first half and in trouble, and Joe sparked us there. Jalil got a big steal; Joe hit a big 3. Different guys have stepped up, but, again, these two guys have carried the ball. They've made the plays, really a tribute to these two guys, and then Dillon stepped up tonight, Dwayne stepped up in previous games, Jalil. Again, Jordan with the four blocked shots. We've had a lot of guys step up and make contributions.

Q. I know most times at this time of the season players say they don't care who they face next, but I'm wondering if you would like the opportunity to face Wisconsin again given the way last season ended and where you had to play them.
JOSEPH YOUNG: Wisconsin is a good team, but, you know, we're just really focused on what we have to do and really get back and do recovery. And we're going to watch the game, and they play Coastal Carolina, I think, and we're just going to go from there. We will play whoever wins, get back, do recovery, get ready for the ball game.

ELGIN COOK: To go off what Joe said, Coastal Carolina is a good team. Wisconsin is a good team, and we're just going to go back to the hotel, rest up, get some fluid in us and watch the game.

Q. Joe, that last -- the end of the first half, those 15-straight points, can you take me through what was clicking for you? Was it the atmosphere? Was it playing for Dana in his hometown? Can you walk me through that?
JOSEPH YOUNG: It was just my teammates trusting me, you know. Teammates found me, they got me the ball and good screens, open on the pick-and-roll, just stepped up and knocked down open shots. And I really commend my team for really getting me open and getting me the ball and Coach trusting me with the ball and running me to the right place.

Q. Dana, can you speak to Joseph's patience in the game? He didn't force a lot of stuff early and then he got the 15 right at the end of the first half and how he's maybe learned as he's gotten older to be a more patient player and know that his points are going to come?
COACH ALTMAN: It's all about making the right basketball play, and they were really jamming him hard on ball screens early. They really got after him, you know, full court, making him handle it. I thought he did really well handling the ball for us for 40 minutes with only four turnovers, so I thought he was patient. I thought he made good basketball plays, and that's what we talked to Joe about a lot. When he gets on a run, you know, we want him to be aggressive, but there are other times where he's got to make good basketball plays, and if they're doubling him like they were and jamming him hard on those picks, he's got to make plays for others, and I thought he did that. I thought he found some guys early, couple of guys missed some good looks that he created for them. When they're paying that much attention to Joe, he's got to make basketball plays, and I think he's really improved at that, and I think he's really gotten a good feel for that, and I think he's going to grow in that area as time continues. I think he can get really good at reading defenses. This is the first year that he's had the ball in his hands this much. And it takes time to make those reads, and I think he's really grown in that way. Coach Dickey after the game said the same thing, we watched him as a freshman and sophomore, said, man, he's making really good plays, and I thought he did a good job.

Q. Dana, you have almost a perfect record in games decided by 5 or 6 points or less with a group that didn't have a lot of experience coming in. What have you seen in this group in the clutch and have they built up their confidence coming through in these situations?
COACH ALTMAN: Well, tonight we usually hit free-throws really good. We missed two front-ends that could have iced it there. Previous games we have hit our free-throws down the stretch, you know, and that's such a big factor. Then late in the game you put the ball in Joe and Elgin's hands. Oregon State game, Elgin hit a big and one play at the end. Joe makes a lot of big plays at the end. It's not rocket science. You put the ball in your two best players' hands; you try to get 'em to make plays. The other factor is guys have hit free-throws, different guys, Dillon, Dwayne, Jalil, Elgin, we have had different guys step up and really knock down free-throws to ice games.

Q. Dana, you mentioned your guys got lost in the zone. How concerned are you with your guys going forward in the tournament?
COACH ALTMAN: Well, we have been concerned with it all year. We have hard taught them all year about it. We got down 8 in the first half, they had three or four really easy baskets. And it's not good as a coach to watch your team give up those kind of baskets. It's frustrating for the players, and I'm barking at 'em, it's not fun for anybody. Coastal Carolina, Wisconsin, Oklahoma State, they're going to take advantage of that. Those are the teams in our bracket. Anthony Hickey hit five threes. They hit 10 3s for the game. Now, they took 29 of them, so I thought we did a pretty good job of contesting a lot of them, but we did have some open looks where our defense didn't rotate properly, and then we gave 'em some easy ones at the goal. Jordan was kind of hit or miss. He did a great job on some contesting and then other times he got caught flat-footed, and we need him to be aggressive all the time.

Q. Elgin, when you see the freshmen, Dillon hit a big 3 tonight, and Jordan had a couple blocks late, and Dwayne, first-year guy made a couple of big plays. Does your trust in those guys in those clutch situations build as you've seen them come through this year?
ELGIN COOK: Yeah. Our trust built all year long, we worked on it in practice, and I just wanted to keep them poised, and I just wanted them to understand that there was still a lot of games to be played.

Q. Joe, have you had a defender that tight on you from the start of the game -- up until you kind of got hot there, it seemed like you couldn't move an inch without having two or three guys right on you.
JOSEPH YOUNG: No, I haven't, but, you know, really just keeping my composure, staying low with the ball. Coach said, just stay low with the ball and when they come for the double, make sure you find somebody open to get the ball out of my hands. And like Coach said, I did a good job of that, but four turnovers is a lot of turnovers. I thought I could have handled the ball better than I did. And Anthony Hickey really got after me. I thought I kept my composure, really didn't fight with him or nothing, just kept my composure, got the ball across the court and ran the plays that Coach wanted to run.

Q. Dana, you talked about relying on these two guys down the stretch, but Dillon hit a 3, had a 3-point play and Jordan had some blocks and a rebound there in that last one, and Dwayne had that steal and dunk. Those guys really came through for you in big moments tonight.
COACH ALTMAN: Absolutely, no doubt about it. On Dillon's big 3, Elgin set a heck of a pick. To start the half, Jalil set a great pick to get Jordan the lob. These two guys have done a great job, but it's a team game, and everybody's got to make contributions. I agree with you totally. Jordan blocks; if we don't have Jordan blocking 87 shots now for the season, our defense isn't really good inside, but take 87 blocks out of it. Dillon stepping up at times, making plays. I thought Dwayne went and got a couple of really big rebounds there in the second half in the zone. And Casey has made contributions, Jalil, it's a team effort. Our rotation is about eight guys now. Ahmaad didn't get to play a lot tonight, but he's still in the rotation. With these long time-outs and halftime taking forever, we can stick with that rotation, but everybody's got to be ready. Michael Chandler's got to be ready inside. Roman's got to be ready. We've got 10 guys that are capable of getting out there and giving us some minutes and all of them got to be ready.

THE MODERATOR: Anything else for Oregon? Okay, gentlemen, we will see you tomorrow and Sunday.
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