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PAC-12 MEN'S BASKETBALL TOURNAMENTMarch 9, 2018Andy EnfieldElijah BrownJonah MathewsLas Vegas, Nevada USC - 74, Oregon - 54 ANDY ENFIELD: It was a great win for our team. Played extremely hard. Our defense once again carried us. And these two gentlemen next to me both had tremendous games offensively and defensively. So we're very, very proud of our team. Our goal was to compete for a Pac-12 Championship, and here we are. Q. In the first game tonight, DeAndre was out of his mind. Can you just talk a little about the challenge that he presents? ANDY ENFIELD: Who is he? He's probably the No. 1 pick in the NBA Draft. He's a tremendous talent. He's a very unselfish player. I really respect him as a player. He makes great decisions on the court, and he has long arms. So we're going to have our hands full, but we have some pretty good players too. Q. You won like 29, but you also had 20 turnovers, like have you ever seen -- ANDY ENFIELD: Gosh, we played horrible tonight. Gosh, it was terrible (laughing). Q. No, no, that's not what I'm saying. But have you ever seen that happen? Is that a testament to how -- ANDY ENFIELD: Well, we didn't make any turnovers. We lead the league in the least amount of turnovers, we average nine a game. This is very uncharacteristic. We haven't done this all season. And our point guard, Jordan McLaughlin, has one of the best-assist-to-turnover ratios in the United States, and tonight he had an off game with some of his decision-making. So we have to give him a little slack once in a while. He's been our -- he was an All-League kid. One of the best point guards in the United States. So we just made some dumb decisions, especially when I turned the heat up in the press in the second half. We were dribbling behind our back in traffic, picking the ball up, throwing off our leg, and just making careless mistakes. So we're very confident in our guys to handle the ball. We've averaged nine turnovers a game, which is by far the best in the league. Q. You had 27 points tonight, 7 three pointers. Looked like you guys played really loose out there. What was the mindset coming into this game, going up against Oregon and the style they played with? JONAH MATHEWS: Basically they had to match up zone, so we had to move the ball and find open areas, and that's what we did tonight. I was in the corner and the wings. Chimezie hit a great route passing out. We moved the ball as a team, had some open shots tonight and knocked them down. Q. Elijah, what changed for you between last night's game and tonight? ELIJAH STEWART: Just my teammates screaming at me. They came to me kind of on a rough note. No, that's what it was. They were like: You're a senior, we need you to go out ask score and be aggressive. So I just came out on the defensive end and offense just came with it. Q. You guys were picked, obviously, very high in the preseason in this conference. We all know what you've been through. What's it say about this group of guys that after all this adversity here you are playing for a Pac-12 Championship tomorrow? ANDY ENFIELD: Well, it's really amazing what our players have done and our coaching staff to stay together. Without De'Anthony Melton, who will be a high draft pick in the NBA Draft, not playing a single game for us, without Bennie Boatwright who was our leading scorer last year, with him being out three different times and out for the season. With Derryck Thornton missing 11 games now and Jonah Mathews missing a few games, it's amazing that we're here because our players have stepped up. When we have 40% of our starting lineup out with Melton and Boatwright, that being said, we're now 7-1 without Bennie in the Pac-12. And Bennie has meant so much to our program the last three years. He's just a terrific basketball player. But that means we have a pretty deep roster and our guys have played excellent basketball. Our defense right now is the best it's been. And we have to rely on that as we go forward here. FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports   |
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