PAC-12 CONFERENCE MEN'S BASKETBALL CHAMPIONSHIP

March 10, 2022

Jerod Haase

Harrison Ingram

Spencer Jones

Stanford Cardinal

Postgame Press Conference

Arizona - 84, Stanford - 80

MODERATOR: We've got Harrison Ingram on the far end, Coach Haase in the middle, and Spencer Jones next to me.

Coach, you can give an opening statement, and then we'll open up for questions.

JEROD HAASE: Today was a battle from start to finish. Our guys competed from the start. Obviously Arizona is talked about as a national championship-caliber team, and for good reason.

I thought they did a lot of nice things. They handle -- have some guys that will be playing at the next level, at a very, very high level, and their game plan was great.

Going inside I thought we competed and fought with Koloko. 10 of 12 from the field obviously is tough, but at the same time I thought we executed our game plan really well down the stretch, gave ourselves opportunities.

A couple of balls didn't end up in our hands or didn't go in the basket when we needed it. But as a whole, I thought we competed really hard, executed the game plan, and we have a locker room full of guys that really played for each other tonight.

Q. A question for both Spencer and Harrison. Harrison, first time you reached double figures in points since the Oregon State game. What got you going tonight? And, Spencer, back-to-back career highs, same thing, what got you going both tonight and yesterday?

HARRISON INGRAM: Really everybody goes through a little shooting slump, and then Coach Haase and the rest of the coaching staff trusted me with the ball and trusted me making plays and allowing me to be myself out there is really what helped me get some points.

SPENCER JONES: Same. It's just the belief. Coach Haase wants me to take as many shots as I feel comfortable with, and I just had to be as aggressive as I could be, and that's how I should play from here on out.

Q. Coach, you guys had a lot of games in a short period of time. Two games in two days. A lot of guys, including the ones sitting next to you, aren't a hundred percent. Can you talk about how much they battled and left it all out there?

JEROD HAASE: Look, I evaluate the program in so many ways and evaluate a game in so many different ways, and we can be very honest that the winning part of it is extremely important.

Having said that, there's a lot of other ways I do evaluate it. And a lot of guys are banged up, fighting through fatigue, fighting through bumps and bruises. But never were there excuses, never was there any give-in from any of the guys. And the resolve, the toughness is really something that, if we can keep that as a foundation for the program, it's gonna serve us well.

Q. You guys played a really physical game today. Was the game plan just to take advantage of Arizona and try and make it as physical as possible?

JEROD HAASE: Yeah, I don't know if I would use those exact -- that phrase or words, but the idea was to be a physical team. That's part of our identity. Our core values in our program, one of them is tough, and we want to play tough on the court and physical inside.

We had guards on their bigs at times, we had bigs on their guards at times, and all of that requires a toughness, a physicality that I thought our guys brought today. They embrace that, they like that, and it's really cool to see the guys execute the game plan to the best of their ability, and that's what they did tonight.

Q. Coach, you guys had a few losses to end the regular season and didn't get the result you wanted today, but really seemed to flip a switch a little bit coming into this tournament and had some really hard-fought games. What do you think it was that sort of changed for you guys going into your performance here in these last two games?

JEROD HAASE: Part of it was out of our control. We struggled in terms of wins and losses down the stretch. I mentioned yesterday we had 15 games in 40 days, which is hard on our guys. I'm trying to remember which game it was. We finished a late game, and at midnight guys were starting finals, or midterms, and the grind was real, and our guys -- I say this with pride -- our team GPA the last couple years has been 3.5.

And they work their tails off, and it goes from game to study to wake up to get the scouting report. And during that time there was a lot of stresses on them, from the basketball stresses to losing a few games stresses to the academic stress to everything else in their lives, and it was hard. And they fought like crazy.

I mentioned yesterday the home series against Utah and Colorado, it was tough because I could tell they wanted to give everything, and there was just not much in the tank at that point.

So to answer your question, I think one reason we had a little bit uptick late in the year, and I would even label the Arizona-Arizona State games on the road as an uptick. We didn't win those games, but I thought we played pretty well. We gave our chance at guys to rest, a couple days off in a row, a couple practices in a row.

We basically didn't practice for those 40 days because it was either a day off, get their bodies right, a little bit of scouting report and try to keep them healthy for the game.

So we were able to get a couple practices, give them time to rest their minds and their bodies a little bit, and it was really interesting because then when I talked to them and see them there's just a little bit more hop in their step, just a little bit more in the tank.

And it is interesting because it's -- visually, as a coach, I could really see that. So was there was never a lack of intent from the guys, but the tanks were empty a little bit about a month left in the season.

Q. For two straight games you started Max Murrell. Talk about the decision to start him and what went into that.

JEROD HAASE: I just wanted to shake it up a little bit, just a different look. That also provided a lot of firepower coming off the bench with Jaiden and Brandon. It was good for our rotations.

I thought our rotations -- as staff, we really managed that part of it. I was really pleased about how that went, and starting Max kind of allowed that to be the case. He came in with great energy, does his best out there, fights like crazy. I think had three assists in the first half, and just wanted honestly nothing more than just trying to change it up, and it did certainly help with our rotations.

Q. If given the chance to play in a postseason tournament, what would that mean to this team to have more games together?

JEROD HAASE: Well, I'll tell you for sure I don't want to stop coaching this team. It's a very, very, very tight-knit group, a group that believes we're training the right way, but I'd rather see what tomorrow brings and see what opportunities there are, if there are any.

But just on a personal level, it would be really neat to practice with the guys some more, spend more time with them, do the scouting reports and have the meals together and -- it's been a special group, a very, very special group, and I think they're going to, along with me and the staff, remember this year as really a positive one.

Q. Coach, I wanted to get your thoughts on the job Tommy did this year, first year taking over and what he did with that program.

JEROD HAASE: The accolades he's received are well deserved. Obviously, Coach of the Year. He's done as good a job as anybody in the country as far as I'm concerned about putting a team together and coming into a new situation.

Obviously there's some good players on that roster, but I remember Coach Williams used to say nobody can coach no talent, but not everybody can coach talent. And he did a great job putting the pieces together, and they're a tough, tough scout, tough match up, and the consistency and stability with which they played, certainly a lot of credit goes to him. So off-the-charts job by him and his staff.

MODERATOR: Thank you, Coach. Thank you, guys.