PAC-12 CONFERENCE MEN'S BASKETBALL CHAMPIONSHIP

March 10, 2022

Mike Hopkins

Nate Roberts

Jamal Bey

Washington Huskies

Postgame Press Conference

USC - 65, Washington - 61

THE MODERATOR: We welcome Washington to the podium.

MIKE HOPKINS: Tough game. We knew it would be a dogfight. Felt like we came out and played really tough. Was able to get the halftime lead. Second half, it was like being in a mud-wrestling match, just going back and forth.

Had some opportunities to win down and just didn't make enough plays. Tip our cap to USC. They made the plays they needed down the stretch.

But really proud of these guys. They fought and fought. And to be able to be in that game and only shoot, I think, what was it in the second half, we shot 30 percent from the field. And it was a one-possession game.

And that means that we were making toughness plays, deflecting, giving ourselves a chance to win. We just came up short.

Q. Obviously the tale of the second half was just the inability to put the ball through the bucket. 22 points, I think, and I don't think you shot a field goal for the last six minutes, 43 seconds. Was that an offensive thing? Were they clamping you down? What were you seeing out there?

MIKE HOPKINS: It's probably on me. I played these guys a lot of minutes the day before. Sometimes that's the fatigue part. I made a big mistake by keeping him in when he got his fourth foul. I probably should have done it right away. Then we couldn't play with the big dog down the stretch.

But these guys gave it everything they got. I felt like we had some of the plays that we were taking to the basket the first half we were able to go to the foul line. The second half we didn't go to the foul line.

But our guys just, if we had to go small, if we had to go -- whatever it was, when they got in foul trouble, they battled, they fought. We turned them over and gave ourselves some opportunities. Just came up short.

Q. Coming off the floor, a lot of these guys were pretty emotional. What was the locker room like after the games?

MIKE HOPKINS: These are guys are winners, competitors. They don't want to see their season end. We were one of the hottest teams in our league at the end of the year. Some of them are seniors. It's tough. When you fight like hell and you love the guys that you're playing with and you love your teammates, that's what it feels like.

It's one of the things that I'm most proud of, seeing the emotion and seeing the way they love each other and the way these guys connected, and having four new guys and having guys that stayed when everybody else wanted to go. That's a pretty cool thing even though we lost.

Q. When Nate got his second foul, you took him out and you put Langston in, and it kind of felt like you were going to try to get Nate a little bit, maybe get him back in. You stuck with Langston. Didn't seem to drop off much?

MIKE HOPKINS: Langston gave us a lot of good minutes. I hadn't played him. I just told him, it could be anybody else's night. And we need you. And he was winded but he kept fighting. These guys kept encouraging him, like Langy, we need you, we need you. He did a heck of a job of tonight.

Q. Terrell Brown had an outstanding first half, Coach. What happened in the second half? He got off to that first bucket about a minute in. Was it their defense? Bad looks? What was going on there?

MIKE HOPKINS: I don't know. He's a heck of a player. Just sometimes the ball goes in, and sometimes it doesn't. The only thing you can control is how hard you play, how smart you play and how together you play, and that's what they did all night.

We had opportunities all around. And we just didn't make enough baskets.

Q. What kind of defensive adjustments did you make against them from the first time when you played them -- they were able to knife you up a little bit -- to create so many turnovers in this game?

MIKE HOPKINS: These guys, you know, when they're locked in, sometimes the season's, there's so many ups and downs, injuries, we dealt with COVID. We dealt with everything. Sometimes a couple of breakdowns.

But, look at Nate, he's been anchoring the defense. He was more aggressive coming up top. Jamal was swarming, made some unbelievable plays. And I thought we were really disruptive when we got into our man-to-man where we were trying to force him to make one-on-one plays rather than -- I think they had nine assists in the first half by passing the ball.

We tried to force them to have to make one-on-one plays. And in the second half we did it by shooting 30 percent. We were getting stops, too, and turning them over. We just couldn't capitalize on them.

Q. Jamal, senior year, you're probably still a little bit emotional right now, but just reflecting on your time here and what you guys have done, what's your thought process right now?

JAMAL BEY: Just right now just really frustrated with myself, first and foremost. Just there's a lot of shots and a lot of plays that I think I go and reevaluate when I think about this game, and honestly the season as a whole.

So right now just frustrated. Just want to just be with my guys and just kind of just be with them, honestly.

MIKE HOPKINS: I've got one thing to say. We were 5-5 and everybody was doubting us. And these guys came together and gave, I think, it was the second-most wins we've had here in five years.

To win one game and take a really good USC team to the mat at the end, I tried to tell the guys, obviously it's not the end of the season. Hopefully we can get an NIT bid and play in the postseason. They look at this net. I wish they'd look at the net after our 5-5 and told you what we were in the last 20 games.

And that's what I want to see. What net is that now? And to our league, our league doesn't get enough respect. Last year what this league did in the NCAA Tournament and net, this and that, we got really good basketball teams in this league. And it needs to get more respect. I've been in the ACC. I've been in the Big East. This is a great league with a lot of great coaches.

To see a Colorado team having to talk about being on the bubble or has to get another win, it's a joke to me. Have a great night.