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PAC-12 MEN'S BASKETBALL TOURNAMENTMarch 7, 2018Dana AltmanPaul WhiteKenny WootenLas Vegas, Nevada Oregon - 64, Washington State - 62 (OT) DANA ALTMAN: Well, we really struggled tonight. Our ball movement wasn't very good. We're usually a very good free-throw shooting team. We didn't hit free throws. Missed a lot of shots right at the rim. We were a little tight, and that was probably my fault, putting a lot of pressure on these guys to play better and to do a better job, and we were just really tight. So, we're fortunate that we advanced. I'm happy that we found a way to win on a night that we obviously were struggling. So now we just got to move on and forget about that one and move on to tomorrow night. Q. What was the difference in the second half with only 17 points in the first half? Seemed to find a groove in the second half? DANA ALTMAN: Well, the pace changed a little bit, and our ball movement did get a little better. We had some breakaways in the first half we didn't finish. Second half we did a little better job finishing some plays. The press helped us speed it up. We didn't get many turnovers out of it. A big one there at the end. But it was really important for us to just get the ball moving a little bit. We had some bad turnovers, ball movement wasn't what we wanted it to be, but Payton hit some big shots. MiKyle got the ball to the rim a few times. Paul had a big drive there late. But we really had a hard time again with Flynn. He likes playing against us, had big games, and I think he was averaging 22 in the two games we played, and had another 22 tonight. So we've really had a hard time slowing him down. Q. What was your favorite part of the first half? DANA ALTMAN: I don't know if we had one. We were really struggling to get the ball moving. We did defensively did all right. We held him to 24. So I thought our defensive effort was pretty good. But offensively we were really struggling. So that kind of took the energy and the emotion out of the game when you're not hitting shots sometimes. Especially with the younger guys, they struggled a little bit. Q. I was at homecoming game for Troy Brown, kind of shaky. I think it was 0 for 8 from the field, but he had some plays towards the end. Can you talk about his play tonight? DANA ALTMAN: Well, he wanted to play so good. He's back home, and he did rebound the ball really well. Got a couple big rebounds, the one on the free throw there he missed -- or that he got. Had four steals, so he did some really good things there, but he did struggle offensively. I think he did miss his first eight shots. He did get a couple down off the steal, and that I think he was 2 for 10. But he did get 11 rebounds. He was trying to make plays and had some bad turnovers. But he's a freshman. Put a lot of pressure on himself to play well, and it just wasn't his night. Q. Can you take us through those two blocks? They come down, and kind of what you see and how you're trying to avoid a foul while making sure you get the hand up there? KENNY WOOTEN: Our coach always stresses defense, so I try to do the best I can every defensive play I can just try to like -- okay, the last two plays I just tried to do as much as I can on the defensive end. That's pretty much it. Q. You may have said this earlier, but you've been through so many, and it seems like it was 39 minutes of just trying to get a lead and you get one, and they come back. It seemed like you never got any kind of rhythm going? DANA ALTMAN: Absolutely. I told our guys first day of practice there are going to be nights where offensively the ball doesn't go in no matter what. You have 30 games, 10 games it's not going to go in at all. 10 games it's going to go in what you expect, and 10 games you're going to shoot the heck out of it. Tonight was one of those nights where the first two threes we took halfway down and bounced out. MiKyle got the ball to the rim, so our first three or four possessions we got pretty good shots, we just didn't get anything. Then we start pressing a little bit. So then it was a grind after that. You're right. There was never any flow to our offense. When we didn't execute anything, we looked really bad. Guys just dribbling, trying to make something for themselves. The ball movement just wasn't there. So it was really poor offensive performance for us. Like I said, we were fortunate to win. When you shoot free throws in a tournament game, 8 for 18, and they go 15 for 18, and you don't shoot the ball very well, it's pretty hard to come away with a win. But we had a hard time with Flynn, but we did get some stops late. Kenny's two blocks came at a great time. We didn't stop them all night, and you got a couple blocks late. Q. You had a lot of guys play a lot of minutes. Overtime game, you've got to get right back out here tomorrow night. How are you going to summon the energy from your guys to go against a pretty talented Utah team? DANA ALTMAN: Yeah, it is what it is. They're young, and we'll sleep in. They'll be ready to go. The second game I don't think is a problem. If we have to go overtime again, it might be a problem, but it's not going to be a problem tomorrow. Our guys will be ready. We did expend a lot of energy in our press. We did expend a lot of energy just to try to win a game. But we'll be ready tomorrow night. Q. You didn't play that first game against Utah. I think you were out of that one. But you kind of remember from watching that one and you had a chance to see them? Just some thoughts on the match-up with them against some big guys? PAUL WHITE: Yeah, well, like you said, I didn't play the first game. It was tough to watch us lose on our home court. But they're a very talented team, a very experienced team. I think that's one of the things that we have to take into account going into tomorrow is that even if, say, we do get a lead on them, they're very well seasoned to the point where they're able to come back. And that's what they did to us at our place. So we just can't take off any possessions. We've got to play a full 40-minute game, and if it requires overtime, we have to play the extra whatever time that's given. Q. You played Utah once this year way back in December. I'm sure you're a completely different team there, playing a lot differently now. What can you take from that game, if anything? DANA ALTMAN: I don't think much. It was in December, end of December. So they've really hit their stride here late. They've won five of their last six. Down the stretch here we've played a lot of close games. Our three losses were two points overtime and two points, now we've won two games in overtime with Arizona and this one. We've just experienced a lot of close games. So hopefully we're a little better than we were then. I know they are. Bibbins has played awfully well. They've got the four seniors there. They're a very experienced group, and we're going to have to play a lot better offensively than we did tonight. We know that. But it is what it is, and we've just got to bounce back and be ready to go tomorrow. FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports   |
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