NCAA MEN'S BASKETBALL CHAMPIONSHIP: SECOND ROUND - OREGON VS IOWA

March 22, 2021

Chis Duarte

Bankers Life Fieldhouse

Oregon Ducks

Postgame Media Conference

Oregon 95, Iowa 80

Q. Chris, what did you guys see from Iowa on film that you thought you'd be able to exploit?

CHRIS DUARTE: Well, Iowa is a great team. We knew they could score points. We knew that Luka Garza is a really good player. Our plan was we knew Garza was going to get his points. Our plan was get stops and play defense, play hard, get on the boards, and that's what we did.

Q. Chris, in the first half when they started to catch any momentum and the crowd got into it, you guys hit one three-pointer after another. You had one in front of their bench, Will hit one, and then LJ hit three late. How big were each of those threes in that stretch to keep the momentum from building?

CHRIS DUARTE: Well, it was great. That kept our head up, and as you can see, Eugene had 17, Will got 19 and LJ got 21. So we did really a good job moving the ball, finding our teammates, and that really worked out well.

Q. You guys obviously expected to play a couple days ago. What were your expectations for the team coming out today after not having a game to prepare for this game?

CHRIS DUARTE: Well, it is what it is. We know it's tough times. We really felt sad for VCU because we wanted to play them, but it is what it is. We can't control that, so we just keep moving on to the next game.

Q. Do you guys feel like maybe you had an advantage on the perimeter? I know you said Garza was going to be tough to handle, but they couldn't guard you one-on-one I felt like?

CHRIS DUARTE: Well, we knew we are quicker than them, so we said that we had to take advantage of that, and we did.

Q. You tied a career high today with seven assists. We all know that you're a great scorer, but how has your passing gotten better and better over the past year or two?

CHRIS DUARTE: Well, I'm just trusting my teammates, and they're trusting me on making good plays for them. You know, being out there, I know they're going to get on me and they're going to help, so I just find my teammates wide open. They did a good job by shooting the ball well.

Q. Just wondering if you could talk about your fellow Canadian Eugene's performance today and what he did against Iowa, as well.

CHRIS DUARTE: Well, Eugene was great, man. Eugene is a great basketball player on the court and off the court. He did a really good job, defending the ball, rebounding, trying to get Luka Garza stopped. He was great.

Q. Coach talked before the game about how it had been a long layoff and so he was kind of worried how the first few minutes of the game would play out and how locked in you guys would be. How were you guys able to start out so effectively and hit the ground running to start the game?

CHRIS DUARTE: Well, you know, we didn't play well in Las Vegas, so our plan was play hard and try to get as far as we can. We just tried to leave it all out there. We were the underdog, so we came out playing hard.

Q. What was the halftime adjustment on Garza? He still scores 14 points, but you were on him quite a bit. I know you guys were going back and forth between fronting him, collapsing on him. What was the halftime adjustment to better contain him?

CHRIS DUARTE: Well, not let him catch the ball easy. We tried to front him every time we could, and if he catch it in front of us, a couple times we ran at him so he can't kick it out. I feel like we did a great job.

Q. Simply put, what does it mean to you to advance to the Sweet 16? How good does it feel?

CHRIS DUARTE: It feels great for everybody, especially for those guys that haven't been here, like Eugene, Eric, myself and a couple more guys. It feels great. We are very, very excited about it, and we hope we keep doing this and keep going, keep moving on.

Q. From so many obstacles that this team on and off the floor went through, what's the significance of still being able to play when being able to play was taken away for so long?

CHRIS DUARTE: Well, we're just grateful that we have the opportunity to play. That's it.

Q. Obviously the Pac-12 is doing really well this tournament so far. What do you think with you guys and other teams like Oregon State and teams like that advancing, what do you think that does for the conference respect-wise?

CHRIS DUARTE: Well, you know, since we don't get that much respect, I feel like we don't get the respect that we deserve, it looks good on our conference. It tells you guys that our conference, we have talent, and we are really good.

Q. Your offense was flowing as freely almost as it has all season, obviously knocking down threes and a lot of breakaway dunks. How much fun was it out there? What were you talking about on the bench in time-outs, and were you having fun playing?

CHRIS DUARTE: Well, it was very, very fun. We had a lot of fun out there. Every time-out we were just trying to keep our focus on the game because Iowa is a good offensive team. We just said to keep our foot on the gas, and we did. We had a lot of fun.