PAC-12 CONFERENCE MEN'S BASKETBALL CHAMPIONSHIP

March 9, 2022

Mike Hopkins

Terrell Brown Jr.

Jamal Bey

Washington Huskies

Postgame Press Conference

Washington - 82, Utah - 70

THE MODERATOR: We'd like to welcome Washington.

MIKE HOPKINS: Obviously the hardest game is the first game in any of these tournaments. You've got the jitters. You've got the fans.

So we came out, both teams throwing shots, able to get that 3-point lead. In the second half we started to turn them over, get in transition, open them up a little bit. Had big plays from these guys up here and were able to get a tough, tough first-round win.

Q. Are there any stats that jumped out to you? Is it the points in the paint or your turnovers? You guys really protected.

MIKE HOPKINS: I think our five turnovers is huge. When you start playing tournament basketball, turn it over five times, I think that's the best of the year. And then we turned them over and got in transition.

I think that was really big. Our guys did a really good job, I felt like, in secondary and those types of things, Terrell in transition. We were playing really, really confident. And that was kind of I think the biggest difference.

Q. Jamal, new pair of lucky shoes tonight?

JAMAL BEY: What shoes did I wear today? No, I've wore those before. (Laughter) no, not at all.

Q. You had a great game tonight. Anything to do with just being back home?

JAMAL BEY: Maybe a little bit. I think just at this point we're fighting for our lives, just trying to win every game. I think that's what we're doing right now.

Q. Terrell, how important was it for the offense to be able to spread out and maybe not you have to do all the scoring, having four guys in double figures, Jamal 19, Cole at 16, how important was all that?

TERRELL BROWN JR.: That was huge. That was part of our game plan. They're a good team. They play really good defensively. We know the way they play defense is kind of like a box and (indiscernible) type of thing. So just make lanes for our teammates, pass the ball, get off of it and cut through just to open up the lane. So it was huge.

Q. Terrell, I was wondering if you could reflect, I know you're in the middle of this, but reflecting on the year you've had and the transfer you made from Arizona, how it played out for you?

TERRELL BROWN JR.: I mean, the year I had is a grateful sense. I'm really grateful for my teammates, my coaching staff, the position I was put in, the belief from our staff and my teammates.

And it was a fine transition. At the beginning of the season, it wasn't clicking as well because it was all new. But as the season kept going and us building chemistry, it got better and better. That's what you're seeing out there on the court.

Q. Nate Roberts has been playing so well down the stretch here. You always talked about how the biggest thing with him is confidence. What does that do for you guys and Nate when he's the first one to score that first basket?

MIKE HOPKINS: I think it's amazing. But the funny thing is, coaches always give -- you're trying to give confidence. It's been these guys, the leadership of these guys. Like Nate, like you're as good as anybody.

And he's starting to feel confident on that offensive end. He's been our anchor on the defensive end all season. He's been one of the best rebounders in the league all season. But now you're seeing the confidence on the offensive end.

When you have the kind of guards we have that are -- have dump-offs and put them in position, it's just invaluable. But the belief has become the belief of all these guys. And all these guys can make big plays to win. I felt everybody did that tonight. It wasn't one guy, it was everybody.

Q. It was tied at 44-44, and then you guys went on that 19-4 run. What happened there?

MIKE HOPKINS: These guys are really good. We start pressing a little bit. We tried to speed up the tempo a little bit. We went man a little bit. We were aggressive more. And we did a better job, I felt like, rebounding the second half.

In the first half, we were getting stops. But they were kind of overpowering us. I felt like we made a good adjustment in the second half. Jamal got some opportunities to be on Anthony where it wasn't big and small. And then we were able to finish with rebounds.

When we rebounded, especially when we were small, with what we got, we're like down the court, getting easy opportunities. That's a fun way to play. And it was big for tonight's win.

Q. It seemed like for a minute your defense took a minute to get settled into this. But once it did that, 19-4 was the result. Was that the turning point?

MIKE HOPKINS: I think so, the defensive end. It's always been. Sometimes when we get in, it didn't look like we had the energy we needed. We got a couple steals early and got out.

But when we started really locking in and we challenged these guys and they challenged themselves, we had five guys -- we had three guys in the top five in steals in the league, and we didn't have an overall great -- but we feel like we're one of the best teams in the league defensively. And we're taking that, we're going to show people.

You can talk about it, and you can go out and show it. And that was, I think, a big determinant in the game, no question about it.

Q. Seven-man rotation tonight; you didn't go very deep.

MIKE HOPKINS: And they're really good. They're really f'ing good, and they've got a great chemistry. Sometimes coaching, get out of the way. Run that way, do that thing you do.

Q. Does that help you, playing two games in a row, or would you rather have played tonight? Does that help you --

MIKE HOPKINS: Listen, we've got really good players on this team. We've got guys that didn't play tonight that could play for any team in this league. We have a lot of confidence in them.

Every game is going to be different. Tomorrow is going to be a different challenge. We're going to go back and watch film. We lost to them this year. We're going to go back and put a plan together and go out there and give it everything we've got.

We're just grateful for the opportunity to play, and we got many -- we got a lot of guys that have impacted winning on this team that didn't play tonight that could be the biggest difference in the game tomorrow.

Q. What type of challenge does SC present, and how quickly do you get off this win and turn your attention to them?

MIKE HOPKINS: It's already off. We always review a little bit about what that is, and then you've got to have a short-term memory, a little etch-a-sketch, wipe it clean and get on to the next game. USC is one of the best teams in the league all year, one of the best teams in the country all year.

It will be a great challenge. We're up for the challenge. We're excited. If these guys can play the way they played tonight, ten-point game, five seconds on the shot clock, Jamal Bey pulls up, boom; Nate Roberts, when we need him, boom. Everybody impacted winning. And we were not going to walk out of there tonight without a W tonight. That's our mentality tomorrow.