|
|||
|
|||
|
 |
|
|
PAC-12 MEN'S BASKETBALL TOURNAMENTMarch 11, 2016Dana AltmanElgin CookTyler DorseyLas Vegas, Nevada Oregon - 95, Arizona - 89 THE MODERATOR: Coach, an opening statement about tonight's game? COACH ALTMAN: Well, we made that really tough on ourselves. We win 6 of 16 in the second half from the free-throw line, which obviously gave them the opportunity to come back, and they hit shots. They did a great job. I thought for the most part they were contested. Other than the one that Parker got, I thought that all of them, we were pretty tight. And they just hit some shots. But we hurt ourselves going 6 for 16 from the line. If we had shot them as well as we did in the overtime, 12 for 16, we wouldn't have been in that position. Chris made a mistake. He wasn't supposed to throw the ball in, and he panicked a little bit after missing those two free throws, but he's done so many things for us this year, and we wouldn't be anywhere near the position we are without that young man. We just had to give him a little break there he was so shook-up. But, again, the rest of the guys did a tremendous job. Most teams don't recover. They have a ballgame, they let it slip, and it's very difficult to recover from that and win a ballgame, and I thought our guys did a tremendous job, showed tremendous resiliency there in finding a way to win the game. Q. Was he supposed to call time or was somebody supposed to call timeout? COACH ALTMAN: Elgin was supposed to take the ball in and if there were any problems he would take a timeout. Q. What do you say to them in that break there as you're waiting for the review and then going into overtime to either calm the guys? COACH ALTMAN: I just tell them: Fellas, we put ourselves in this position. He's got to hit those free throws. Let's just finish the game here and see what we have. Just trying to calm him down a little bit. Chris was obviously pretty shaken up, so I just wanted him to relax a little bit. We were fortunate they missed one of the free throws, and we had another opportunity. But Elgin has experience throwing the ball in. Elgin knew we had the timeouts. Chris knew that we had the timeouts and so did the rest of the guys. None of them took it. They don't let me call timeout anymore. We wanted to get one there, but no one picked up on it. Again, it was just panic, bad mistake, we lost our discipline there and it almost cost us a game. Q. The last 3:56 of the first half when you guys finished on a 15-2 run, do you think that's as good as you've played all season for a stretch? COACH ALTMAN: Well, our activity defensively was good. We got some run-outs, we really executed our end play there. Kendall did a great job. I'd have to look at it. But we were sharp. I think they got it down to a two-point game or something and then we had a nice run to end the half. We hit some shots, our ball movement was pretty good. We got some steals and run-outs. So that was a great stretch for us, and we started the second half really well. Again, I'd have to look at the film, but I think if we had kept that 10-point cushion if we had hit our throws, and we didn't do it. 6 for 16, obviously not going to win you many games. We were fortunate to have the lead we did or we would have lost it earlier. Just everybody knows: Tournament action, you've got to hit your throws. Q. Did you have a moment to check in with Dwayne before you checked back in the game? And my follow-up would be what were your thoughts and emotions when you hit that three? COACH ALTMAN: Dwayne? Q. Yeah. COACH ALTMAN: Yeah, he got nicked up there a little bit and I didn't plan on putting him back in, but he said he was good to go. Tyler lost his shoe and just thought it would give Tyler a one-minute blow, and he hit a big shot. Then we came down on the next possession and Elgin made a great shot for Dillon, and Dillon knocked it down. So we had back-to-back threes there and, again, they were big shots after we had not done so well to finish regulation. Q. Dana, pleased, I'm sure, with the win, but as a coach, when your team does not execute in situations like we saw at the end of a game, how aggravating is that to you? COACH ALTMAN: That's my fault. That's my job to get them in the right positions. So my communication's got to be better. I thought we were pretty clear who was going to take it in, and we've practiced this. We don't have Chris take it in against any presses. But the heat-of-the-moment pressure makes guys do things that they don't usually do. Again, Chris made a mistake. It happened. We survived it. Chris will learn from it. And, again, we wouldn't be in this position without him. Again, I think he was just shook-up because he missed those two free throws and he was just out of sorts from that. Q. It sort of felt like, Dana, when you were talking about it last night that somebody had a moment or couple moments that sort of up lifted the team when they needed. Elgin, when it was you in the first half sort of leading the way to begin the game, and, Tyler, when it was you to start the second half, and Dwayne sort of pops that three in the opening minutes of overtime, what did that do emotionally and mentally? What was that thought, that train of thought going through your head when those moments happened and you sort of get that bucket it feels like you need? ELGIN COOK: I think when Dwayne checked back in the game and he made a big shot it just raised our energy level. He came in and he was focused. He was leading out there for us. He grabbed a lot of big rebounds and made a lot of big plays. Q. Just the emotion, the ups and downs of just the final few seconds of regulation, how you rally yourself for the overtime after nearly seeing that big lead disappear and lose the game? ELGIN COOK: Yeah, it's a game full of runs, and we missed a ton of free throws. Arizona's a great team and we left the door open for them, and they were right there. Q. Jordan Bell's performance with Chris being shaky this game, what did you think of that? COACH ALTMAN: I thought he did some good things, he got some big rebounds. Went 3 for 4 from the line. So I thought he battled pretty good. He had four blocks, seven rebounds. So I thought he gave us great minutes. Again, I thought we played really good, we just didn't hit free throws. 6 for 16 in the second half. If we hit six or seven of those, that's game's over. And that's just a modest percentage. Let's go 12 for 16, 13, something that we normally shoot, that game would have been over. So, again, that's why, Chris, it was all of us missing those throws. We had a lot of guys up there that had an opportunity to put that one away, and we just didn't do it. Q. Tyler, what kind of thoughts are in your mind when their player is at the free-throw line with a chance to send you home? TYLER DORSEY: Just hoping he can miss one for us or both of them. Fortunately he missed one for us, and we knew we had to throw that away in regulation and get ready, regroup in overtime, and that's what we did. We came out and jumped right on them at the beginning and that's what we needed to do, and we came out with a lot of energy. FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports   |
|
||||||||||||||||||||
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
About ASAP Sports •
FastScripts Archive •
Recent Interviews •
Captioning •
Upcoming Events •
Contact Us
FastScripts | Events Covered | Our Clients | Other Services | ASAP in the News | Site Map | Job Opportunities | Links |
|
ASAP Sports, Inc. | T: 1.212 385 0297
|