NCAA MEN'S 3RD & 4TH ROUND REGIONALS: NEW JERSEY

March 25, 2004

Jaron Brown

Jamie Dixon

Julius Page

COACH DIXON: Obviously, disappointed to lose against as the outcome. Obviously, Oklahoma State, a very good basketball team. It was a very tight, physical game. They just seemed to pull away from us in the second half. I thought our guys played tremendous as they have all year, especially our seniors, and I can't say enough about those three guys: Taron, Julius and Tony Morris and what they have done for this program and what they have done in the four years that they have been here with school record, 107 wins and 31 wins this year, another school record. They turned the program around single-handedly between the three of them, and that's an unbelievable statement.

JARON BROWN: A lot of the rebound, we was boxing out and I think the shots, the ball was bouncing off our heads and they would just get them. They was just in the right places at the right time.

JARON BROWN: Don't know. Just depends on what happened. Couldn't say. We could have won if it turned over. The refs called a travel and that's just what happened.

JARON BROWN: It was very frustrating because I know it's my last game to probably play and we got beat. When I picked up the two fouls, it really frustrated me and I tried to keep motivating my team and come out and play hard.

JARON BROWN: I thought the game was going our way going into the second half, was playing pretty good defense, we was outrebounding them.

JULIUS PAGE: No. I mean, I felt I played as hard as I could and we got into foul trouble early. It obviously hurt us. In the second half we just didn't get the job done on defense. They are a good team but I think we could have played better defense. And struggling in the offense, we gave up too many lay-ups. That's why we are sitting here talking about a loss right now.

JARON BROWN: I had a good four or five years here. Just hoping that the winning streak keeps on and I was happy here to be playing for Coach Dixon and Coach Rohrssen.

JULIUS PAGE: I'm upset. I had a good career but I ain't never make it past the Sweet 16, so I'm just upset. The last three years I came up short and this is going to stick with me for a while.

COACH DIXON: Well, I thought Yuri came in and played well. I think the effect of that really affected Jaron for the rest of the game -- he normally does, obviously he had -- he didn't have a rebound, and I think that really took away from the ability to play as aggressively as he normally does and I think that's pretty obvious to a lot of people. So, that's it.

COACH DIXON: I thought we got some good shots a couple of times and we missed some shots, obviously would like to make all of our free throws, I think they did a good job on the defensive end. But we got pretty good looks at certain times and then maybe forced something once or twice. But I think it was Oklahoma State is obviously a very good team, played good defense, and it's just one of those days where it just caught up with us as far as not executing and not getting the shots we wanted; and then against a very good team who happened to shoot the ball well throughout the game, I thought made the free throws and shot 93 percent from the free throw line and really that was the big key, too.

COACH DIXON: You know, we got to the Sweet 16, we won 31 games, we did a lot of good things and I think we still have the most wins in the country. So as far as that, I mean, there was a lot of good at times things don't go quite as you want them to go, but with 31 wins, a lot of things went right and I think he made a lot of good decisions throughout the year and as well as at the end of the year, we lost to a very good team. Oklahoma State is a very good team, shot the ball well and made their free throws and executed well in the offensive end. I think we had to come out and extend a little bit in the second half, the last couple of minutes I should say, and gave them some lay-ups that we don't normally give up. But we were forced to extend some defensively which isn't normal for us.

COACH DIXON: Well, they shot 30 percent in the first half. We did a good job there defensively. At the end of the half, second half, they got a lot of lay-ups when we were trying to overextend a little bit. As the score, as the time got down and the score, the defense got a little bit tighter. It's a very good team, very good offensively, they are skilled in all five positions. They pass the ball well. It's an experienced group. They play just seniors and juniors, and it's obvious that they are a very good team. And I think obviously -- second half things just seemed to catch up to us, stayed late on a couple things and again we had to overextend a little bit on the end and gave them a few more lay-ups.

COACH DIXON: I think it was a normal game as far as for us. I think I didn't see any difference in really fatigue in any other -- in this game, as compared to any other game. I think that it was just a time where they just seemed to be making some tough shots, made a couple tough three in the corner and made a pull-up jumpshot and made some tough shots; and then again, we overextended a little bit on pressing and they got a couple lay-ups at the end.