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PAC-12 MEN'S BASKETBALL TOURNAMENTMarch 9, 2016Johnny DawkinsDorian PickensRosco AllenLas Vegas, Nevada Washington - 91, Stanford - 68 THE MODERATOR: Coach, an opening statement, please? COACH DAWKINS: Give Washington a lot of credit. Washington came out right from the tip ready to compete and got off to a fast start. I thought we tried to battle. I thought we tried to force some issues and that led us down even a worse -- led us into a worse direction. By trying to force plays, we turned it over a little too much. Allowed them to play to their strength, getting out in transition, and running and free shooting. That was tough for us. That first half was tough to overcome. But give Washington credit. I think it's how they started the game. They started the game very aggressive. They started the game off, you know, defensively strong, and they executed well offensively. Q. To both players, sometimes you just sense before the game that guys aren't revved up, might not be ready to go. Did you sense anything like that today? DORIAN PICKENS: We came in this morning and knew we had a good walkthrough at the hotel. Came to the gym pretty early, guys warmed up as usual, got ready as usual. I just think we didn't come out with the fight we had from the tip-off. Pregame, pre-game-wise it was pretty much the same things we always do. ROSCO ALLEN: Same. We prepared the same way. We just didn't get off to a quick start like we should have, and we let them dictate to us too much. Q. Coach Dawkins, the last three games have been pretty tough for you guys defensively. Can I just ask how much do you think the absence of Christian Sanders has affected the team on and/or off the court? COACH DAWKINS: Well, it's a great question. For us, that's what we said after the game. Just the recognition that the leadership and also just controlling the basketball for us. Things that he did that may not have shown up in the numbers. You look at his points in assist, it didn't speak for how well he was controlling the game, how well he was leading our team. And now those are the things that we've been absent of the last three games, is someone stepping up in that role of leadership, keeping the guys together out there, and someone to get us into offense, get us initiating our offense and things that we want to run. We haven't had both of those things over the last three games, and that's been a little bit of a disruption for us. Q. Johnny, we've seen flashes from Washington this year. They obviously can take down anybody at the right time. But I'm not sure they've ever been this dominant wire to wire. What do you think they've proven today? COACH DAWKINS: Well, I think Washington's a talented team. Anytime you have a young team and they get off to the start they got off to, they're going to run with that momentum. And they did that, like you said, from start to finish. That's what happens. Also, I think it's the tournament. It's March. Everyone's excited and looking forward to making magic happen. For those young kids who have watched March Madness and opportunities to play in those moments, I'm sure they're very excited and want to go out and get off to a great start. Q. Last year you said you let the decision to participate in the NIT be made by last year's seniors. Can you talk about how you're going to evaluate your postseason prospects moving forward with this season? COACH DAWKINS: Well, with this group, this group pretty much everyone's an underclassman for the most part. With that kind of decision, it becomes mine. It's a decision for a team like this, if we have an opportunity to continue to play in the NIT, we would continue to play. I think the team needs to keep working together, need to blend some of the things that we just talked about earlier and some of our losses, we need to change that. The only way we can change that is to hopefully have another opportunity to go out and compete. FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports   |
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