NCAA MEN'S FINAL FOUR

April 3, 1995

Nolan Richardson

Scotty Thurman

Corliss Williamson

SCOTTY THURMAN: I thought he shot the basketball extremely well, and rebounded well, and did some things they needed down the stretch, that's why they won the game.

CORLISS WILLIAMSON: They played a physical game. They did a good job of the up and down, triple down, and I we had to force some shots. We give them credit for the way they played defense today.

SCOTTY THURMAN: I don't think it was the fact they attacked our press, it was the fact how they finished it. Most teams will get by a couple of times, but not every team has capitalized on it when they break it.

CORLISS WILLIAMSON: Yes, it is. Normally when we're behind in the game, usually we feel confident regardless of how much time is on the clock or how far down we are. Normally we get a run, and tonight for some reason we couldn't get a chance to get that run. And maybe if we hit a couple of shots here and there, we could have sparked one, but today we couldn't get the breaks on the shots.

CORLISS WILLIAMSON: Well, I got too caught up into the physical play, trying to go inside. He was bumping, and I wanted to go in, I guess, bump back, and shoot over him. Whereas I could have took a couple of turnaround jump shots, today I played to power play instead of all around play. I have to give UCLA credit.

SCOTTY THURMAN: They did wear down, but I think we wore down, also. The game was fast paced for both clubs. I was kind of surprised at times how they kept attacking the press and finishing. But I think with this game I think they were prepared for the press.

SCOTTY THURMAN: I don't feel there was a turning point. I feel that the game was played uptempo pretty much the whole basketball game. They made shots we didn't, and I think that was the key.

CORLISS WILLIAMSON: I feel the same way, I can't pinpoint one spot where they took off. It was a good game, all the way up to the end, and some of our shots wouldn't fall and theirs would fall.

SCOTTY THURMAN: I've been getting good looks the whole game. I just wasn't making the shots. I feel that shot was the shot that really got me, had it gone had in. But unfortunately for me it didn't.

COACH RICHARDSON: First of all, I want to congratulate the UCLA basketball team along with Coach Harrick. They actually played one of the better basketball games that we've played against. I thought the O'Bannon boys, and especially Ed had a superb game. The same with Toby, I thought he played above the rims. Our basketball team looked -- going against them that we were in mud most of the night. It reminded me the first ballgame against UMass where we weren't as active as we'd been, and maybe we were not -- not making excuses for them, but they were a little tired, they didn't have that tenacity, but again, you've got to give the UCLA Bruins all the credit for their hard work, their tough defense, their great rebounding. I thought that was -- if you asked the turning point, I think from an offensive standpoint, they got a lot of offensive boards that came back to haunt us as far as stick backs to get in the hole. Again, it was a game tonight, UCLA was the best basketball team, there's no question about it. With that I'll open up the floor.

COACH RICHARDSON: I didn't know much about any of the players in UCLA. I watched some tape. And I knew they had some tremendous athletes. Like I said before, athletes make the plays. It has nothing to do with what offense was run. They were making plays and making decisions, and they had to do that. And I was very impressed with Toby, watching him play in person, as opposed to on the tape. I don't think the tape really shows how good a kid is, and that's why it's so important that you go out and watch them play when you recruit them, as opposed to watching them on the tape. But he's an excellent player.

COACH RICHARDSON: I thought Cameron did a great job for stepping into the point position and trying to control, which he controlled the ballgame from that position. There's no question that he did a good job of taking care of the ball and meeting his team. So, again, every one of their kids, 6 or 7, I don't know how many of them that played, played within their framework, and made great decisions.

COACH RICHARDSON: No, Corliss has always played that way, except there's games he steps out with the jump shot. We kept telling him that the kid, he's quite a big guy, I mean a real big guy, and Corliss was taking the ball to him too much. And we brought him out the first half and put Wilson in. I think Wilson probably would match up a little bit bigger, but Corliss tonight has done it so many times and so many games, where it didn't matter what size you are, that's his trademark, he takes you to the basket most of the time. Tonight was not Corliss's night. He didn't have a night whatsoever. This was one game that I think Corliss would wish never happened. But as I told him, you have taken us to the promised land so many nights, doing the same things you did tonight. And tonight just wasn't one of your nights, the quickness, the shot wasn't falling, the things you normally do, this night it didn't happen.

COACH RICHARDSON: I just finished talking to the President, just while the two kids were in here, I visited with the President, just a few seconds ago.

COACH RICHARDSON: If you look at the kids that did a great job, McDaniel gets 16 points and Beck gets 11, and Dwight Stewart gets you 12. All of those kids performed really, I thought, real good. But when you look at the two leaders, what they scored, and how they played, you've got Scotty with five points. And Corliss, who's been getting up in the 20's with 12. But again, when you think of another senior, Rimac, who only took one shot, really, I thought he did okay. Lee Wilson we think is going to be a very good player. He was three out of four. So, again, I thought the seniors did their jobs. And I was very proud of them. As I told them, 32 times we were very happy. 32 times we were very happy. 7 times we've been very sad. It just so happened that last one might make us the saddest. But you have to remember when we started this year, there was 304 teams, 304 wanted to be where we were tonight. And you've got to remember that you are warriors because you had to fight every single night to get to the Final Four, and you did. And not only did you get here, you played in the final game.

COACH RICHARDSON: I really don't think it had a tremendous effect. It might have been -- sometimes guys play a lot better when another guy is not around. It picks another team up. I've seen that happen so many times. Dwight Stewart went down with us, and we won like five or six in a row, something to that effect. And yet that's the way it happens sometimes. So, they're a good enough basketball team that one player, and I said, everybody's talking about the kid Tyus, and they forget they've got all those other kids that can play. And tonight you could see it. They've got a great basketball team, it just so happens that the young man helps lead them. But tonight they didn't need him. And that, again, like I said, it's happened to some of my teams. But one of my best kids go down, then everybody steps up another notch.

COACH RICHARDSON: Scotty has not shot the ball as well. And Dillard can shoot the ball. Al can release it quick, he gets points quick, and that's why we decided to go with Al to see if he could pick up just a little of the slack. But it wasn't to be tonight.

COACH RICHARDSON: First of all, the only way I could be totally happy was win the National Championship and have a repeat. It's the same way I think our kids feel. They don't feel like they had a great season. But as I try to point out to myself, to my coaching staff and to the players, that we've had a heck of a year. The sun we hope will come up tomorrow. And we will start preparing again to see where we'll go again. I told our guys that this group has set a precedent that I don't know if we can live up to. This group won back-to-back over 30 games. This group went to the Sweet 16's as youngsters, National Championship and second place finish. That's an incredible fate for a coach that's got to follow this group that's leaving. So, I guess my biggest worry is what's going to happen tomorrow if I should live to see it. So, I'm just happy enough today that I'm alive and it was a game and we did our best, the best team sometimes won't always win. Tonight the best team was UCLA.

COACH RICHARDSON: Ed O'Bannon is a great basketball player. I mean Ed has always been a great basketball player, I mean he did the things that they needed to have him to do. I think he ended up with 17 rebounds, over 30 points. He did everything but sell popcorn. And I thought he was going to go out and sell some of that while he was playing basketball. What could you say about a first team All-American? He's truly a great All-American, and he proved that tonight in a ballgame that meant so much for both teams.

COACH RICHARDSON: Well, right now I am the basketball coach at the University of Arkansas. I intend to be the basketball coach at the University of Arkansas. I was approached with some rumors that I was already on my way somewhere else to coach professional. I have not talked to anyone about professional basketball. I've said that if that should happen, I would listen, because I owe that to my family and to myself. I'm proud to be the basketball coach at the University of Arkansas. I love the area in which I live. I plan, even if I should leave, to live right where I live in Arkansas. So, again, I am the basketball coach at the University, and that's where at this point I intend to be.

COACH RICHARDSON: I tell you, I really enjoyed the game. Seven years ago had this happened to Nolan Richardson, I would have jumped off the deep end. But I learned something 7 years ago from a little girl that passed away, that the most important thing to me is life. And I will take the game and my profession and do the best job I can. But it's not life threatening. I've enjoyed, as I told my kids, the merry-go-round or roller coaster that we've been on. It's been a great roller coaster ride, and I'm just happy they let me ride with them. The bumps were the losses. And all the other rides were victories. As I told our kids, you have never lost a basketball game, I lost it. I made the wrong decisions. You have never lost. So, when you walk out of here, you blame old coach. He's the guy that lost the game, don't ever forget that.