PAC-12 CONFERENCE MEN'S BASKETBALL CHAMPIONSHIP

March 12, 2021

Ethan Thompson

Oregon State Beavers

Postgame Press Conference

Oregon State - 75, Oregon - 64.

Q. You started off the game with hitting two 3-pointers right away. What did that do for your confidence?

ETHAN THOMPSON: I go into every game pretty confident in my abilities and my team's abilities but seeing the ball go through the net like that early in the game, man, I think it gave us a lift, not myself but also the other guys as well.

Q. Oregon made a pretty good run at you guys there late. Got it down to five with about four and a half minutes to go. What did you feel like really kind of turned the tide and allowed you guys to hold on there?

ETHAN THOMPSON: Yeah, kind of look how Zach was talking about, just ball security. I had a couple turnovers late and that's something that I got to get better at. Guys on my team hit some big shots to kind of keep that gap between us and them and then we just had to lock in defensively and get rebounds.

Q. Can you just talk about reaching the championship game, what it means, and obviously being one win away from March Madness?

ETHAN THOMPSON: Yeah, no, it's an amazing feeling, making it this far. All glory to God, we're extremely blessed, and we're ready for this opportunity tomorrow. So we can't wait.

Q. I see that smile on your face it's obvious how excited you guys are. Wayne said that you're playing with a lot of confidence right now and you've been able to have, a couple of you veterans harness that in the young guys and figure out how to fuel it. What's that transition been like this year as you figure out how to do that?

ETHAN THOMPSON: No, it's been amazing. We have a very energetic younger guys and that energy is great. We love playing with that confidence, and then it kind of carries over from person to person, just positive energy spreads, and it leads to positive outcomes.

Q. You guys seem to really run with this 12th place pick before the season this year, just kind of this fuel to get you guys going. Has it been as big a motivating thing as it looks like from the outside?

ETHAN THOMPSON: I mean, we're a very motivated group regardless of what we were picked. We don't put too much into that. But just seeing what we have done so far and to see that we were picked 12th, it obviously puts another chip on our shoulder and motivates us to go even harder.

Q. Ethan, Jarod had that big three after Oregon had closed the gap. He's got two guys in his face and knocks that one down and kind of creates that cushion again. What's that like, you mentioned the young guys, he's one of those young guys but really not anymore, kind of having the confidence to take that shot.

ETHAN THOMPSON: No, he's a very confident person, very confident player and he makes big shots for us and you seen that last year in the tournament, we've seen that multiple times this year, this season, so it's always good to have a weapon like that on our team. So shoutout to Jarod.