NIT SEASON TIP-OFF

November 24, 2004

Lute Olson

LUTE OLSON: Well, the game was obviously won on the offensive -- on the boards. In the first half, we had 12 offensive boards. That's the good news. We only converted four points off second shots; we missed a lot of easy ones early. But I think it makes the strong point that if you defend well, you've still got a chance to win, to win the ballgame. Second half, we came out and hit 50 percent, and that was enough to get it done. It was certainly not a pretty game to watch, but there was some serious defense being played I think on both ends. Channing Frye's second half work on the boards, we hit him down for nine, nine his boards came in the second half. Ivan Radenovic did a good job with the glass. We had a lot of help, help from the guards, from the perimeter guys on the boards. We need to shoot the ball better if we're going to be a good team, but at least it was good to see that we could defend well and had the opportunity to pull it out. With our changing the starting lineups, Salim Stoudamire had sprained his ankle in the first half against Virginia, was not able to practice on Monday and it was still tender yesterday so we just decided to go with Chris Rodgers in that position, and we'll see what we do for Friday. Very happy with the job that Jawann McClellan did for us. He hit a big three, did a good job of stepping up at the free throw line and I thought played well overall. We need to get him in the game more than -- more than what we did.

LUTE OLSON: Yeah, he only played eight minutes the first half because of fouls. Yeah, Channing is a guy that operates better from a positive standpoint. I think the physical nature of the game bothered him some, but he got a couple of big time defensive boards late and did a really good job of pressuring the shot that Michigan had late. I think his pressure on that shot made a huge difference. Just in terms of watching the amount of the game that I did with Wake Forest, I mean, they definitely deserve to be in that No. 1 spot. They are physical, they have great athletes and they have excellent depth. So, this was a good win for us. We're happy to be playing in the finals, but we're going to have to play a whole lot better than we played tonight to be able to challenge them, I think.

LUTE OLSON: Yes, this is actually 10-0.

LUTE OLSON: Well, I think they have a lot of confidence because of what teams have done in the -- Arizona teams have done in the past. That was the big challenge that we had is that, you know, the other guys that have played here, have gotten this streak and, I mean -- one of them said, we're not going to see this streak break on our watch. They will have to play as well as they absolutely can play on Friday night to keep that streak going.

LUTE OLSON: Other good teams.

LUTE OLSON: Yeah, well, the thing that, you know, when you get a chance to come here, you're going to have two really tough games. And at this stage of the season, there's nothing better for the teams that are in here than to be playing this kind of competition. You don't learn -- you don't learn a whole lot if you're playing soft competition. The tougher the competition, the better off you are, and that's always been our philosophy in terms of our non-Conference schedule. We always try to play some teams that are very tough, have tough places to play because that helps us. Virginia was sold out; it was fantastic. It was a great environment for college basketball. We play at Marquette, which will be a great challenge. But that's really what we like to do. We've got the NIT preseason, we play Mississippi State in the Wooden Classic, and we will find out a little about what we need to do to be successful. We don't back away from anybody, and I think playing here, our guys really feel comfortable. They love being in the Big Apple, and it's every kid's dream, I think, to be able to play in Madison Square Garden.