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NCAA MEN'S 3RD & 4TH ROUND REGIONALS: WASHINGTONMarch 24, 2006Rashad AndersonJim CalhounMarcus WilliamsWASHINGTON, D.C. JIM CALHOUN: Well, 1,100 basketball games I've been fortunate enough to be involved with, I've never been quite involved with something like that. First, I want to congratulate Washington. I'm sure my congratulations isn't the thing they want to be taking back; they want to be playing on Sunday. But no team has disrupted us as much on offense, in the halfcourt set, in the full court set, as Washington. They had to play at times as we did without some of the key players, particularly Roy, yet they hung in there. Williams was brilliant. They made big shot after big shot after big shot and they really, really, credit to any basketball team in America. They could get to a Final Four with their effort. Their effort was extraordinary. Their game plan by Lorenzo to disrupt us that much was brilliant. I really thought no one's done quite what they did to us. They kept taking the ball out of our ball handler's hands and they denied our big guys. I thought they did an incredible, incredible job. As far as our kids are concerned, we turned the ball over 26 times, yet I think our heart was shown on enough occasions. When you're down 10-points or down seven points, you need to call upon the reserves. There's something inside you that won't let you lose. I can still hear the words of Denham Brown saying, "We have plenty of time, there's a minute, seven seconds on the clock and we're down five. He really believed it and so did Marcus and Rashad, one of the biggest shots we've had in an awful long time. It just was an incredible game fought by two teams who gave it everything they possibly have. And I don't know if the teams could have gone another minute. I truly believe that. I thought it was an incredible display of what competition is all about, and I guess I'm proud to be, quite frankly, happy to be going forward but proud to be involved with that game and the effort that every single kid that played gave it on both sides. Q. How big was the technical foul called on Roy, how mentally -- where did that play put you guys? You guys seemed to kind of put it in another gear after that. RASHAD ANDERSON: I think it hurt them more than us because I think that gave him his fourth foul. We were able to take the elite scorer out of the game and that was a boost for us. Knowing how we usually defend, we had to defend another player like him and they took a loss. We just decided, hey, this is time to turn it up. Q. What did you see on the key steal late in overtime that essentially allowed you to move towards sealing the victory? MARCUS WILLIAMS: Seen that Appleby got the steal and they pulled it out as if they were trying to hit the dagger to put them up one point. I knew they were trying to find Roy. I seen him make big shots earlier in the year. I kind of glanced over to see where he was and just made a break over there. Q. You just heard your coach comment on heart. How difficult was this victory, and essentially, to what do you attribute it? Why did you win? MARCUS WILLIAMS: This is probably the toughest game I've ever played in. Going into overtime made it even more tough. I think we just made some big plays down the stretch. In regulation, we probably made some of the most boneheaded plays we've made all season, including myself. And I think in overtime we made some big baskets, got some big stops and we made free throws. The determination that we had in overtime, you could see it in everyone's face that knew we had new life. We just went out and played. RASHAD ANDERSON: Pretty much, Marcus, he said it all. We just didn't want to lose. Me, Denham, Ed, this would have been our last game ever in a UCONN uniform. As the time is coming down I see Marcus on the free throw line and I see him and I say, "Hand off, that's the play we always do in practice" or if we're in the gym late at night. I told him give me the ball and I'll knock it down for us and I was able to do that. Q. Just to play off that, what was going through your mind when Rashad said that about running that play, was there any doubt in your mind that you were going to do it or because you were hot at the time as well. MARCUS WILLIAMS: I was waiting to see if he would make the free throw or not. I seen him bury it in the corner, eyes wide open and ready. I just dribbled down, kind of figuring I was going to the rim and when it was in the air, it just got real quiet. I mean, when he knocked it down, it was just like we had new life. I looked at the clock, it was one second left and they weren't going to get a good shot off and we still get the overtime. Q. How frustrating was the first half for you when for a long stretch it seemed like you struggled to get the ball into your hands, how frustrating was that for you? MARCUS WILLIAMS: It was real difficult. I mean with that situation, I think it made me want to make more plays and I think I have to take it one play at a time instead of trying to get it all with one. They did a great job of denying me. Bobby Jones played great defense and he frustrated me. In the second half, Coach said something to me, I don't want to say what it was, but I mean it kind of fired me up to just go out there and just be calm and just try to make plays, one play at a time? Q. The score board took a while to catch up, did you think that shot had actually given you the victory? You were up one and you were celebrating quite a bit; did you think for a second you had won anything? RASHAD ANDERSON: Which one? Q. On the 3 with 1.8 left? RASHAD ANDERSON: I always knew, what's the score in those times. (Laughter) I just knew, you know, like Marcus said earlier, I just knew that if he got me the ball I was going to knock it down and we wasn't going to lose this game no matter what. We talked about it in the huddle. Denham was saying, we have enough time to come back and win this game. I knew it was down. Q. Can you explain what Washington's defense did that disrupted you, not only through the first half, but start of the second half and what changes you made to start getting some control back? RASHAD ANDERSON: They denied me, Denham and Rudy the wings. They was up in us and denying us, not letting us catch the ball. Marcus came to me, he told me, you've got to run more, which I wasn't doing as much in the first half. I was just running and getting open. Me, Rudy and Denham, we really ran the second half and was able to knock down some tough shots? Q. You've seen George take a big shot, Rip take a big shot, you've come back against Duke at the Final Four down eight with two minutes left. Does that shot and/or this win compare with those other moments? JIM CALHOUN: It's so miraculous in a sense. It almost reminds me of Tate George's shot in the sense, I'm really talking of getting into overtime. Really as the kids said we made every possible bad play we possibly could and that had to do with Washington, please, trust me. What they did is every time -- we're a pick-and-roll team. They double the pick-and-roll and our big guys weren't coming back to the basketball. If they did, you know we do lack ball handling, we said that before, and they really basically made either Denham, Rashad or Rudy our point guard so they took that out of us. And so with all that said, the Clemson game, everybody forgets that we were up 16 and then went down by one, and people wrote that for a long time and I really thought about that for a long time except for Scott Burrel and Tate George. In the same sense, I think just the aspect that we would find every way, even the pass by Rudy, which eventually Rashad doesn't meet, and then on the next ensuing play, the great interception by Marcus which didn't put the game away really in all essence, it was just the kind of stuff that would have to happen to you in order to be moving on. The more I was watching before this game began, the Villanova/BC game, the same kind of things were happening there. Villanova couldn't score and then BC couldn't score. This tournament has become so tough, so perilous for everybody that when you feel that win tonight and we'll be up late getting ready because it's late already -- we're going to play tomorrow, correct? It's going to be nice playing an away game, too, I'm looking forward to that. (Laughter) I think that part of the system is really working out to protect the 1s, right? I believe it is. But the point being, it was one of the more amazing games I've ever been involved with, the swings, the plays, everything. Everybody seemed to make big plays at different times, including them and they made some incredible plays and we did, too. Points were being scored, guys -- I've never seen, I don't recall a game that I've coached where it was so toughly fought, yet people came up with incredible plays. Rudy came up with a jumpshot that I still don't know how he made and I can say the same thing about them, it was that kind of game. It was one that certainly I'm going to remember for the rest of my life. I just think it's one of the great wins we've ever had given the fact how we did not handle the great things they threw at us. Q. You talked yesterday about the one thing you wanted your team, was focus, and a lot of turnovers the first 30 minutes; what do you think it is, and if at this point, if we have not seen it yet when is it going to get here? JIM CALHOUN: Next year, we get another point guard. I've told you that all year but you don't want to believe me. No one wants to believe we play with one guard. Our security guard at times is Rudy Gay. Rashad is a great shooter and Denham Brown. So when is he going to get here? You got anything on the wire right now? And I don't want anybody else; I want my team. I don't want to change one iota. A.J. Price, he's not playing with us, we thought we would be a different team, but we are 30-3, so I hope it doesn't get here, as a matter of fact. Someone said to me today, Lorenzo Roman, in a conversation in the back hall, "What's everybody asking what's wrong with you? Aren't you 29-3?" I said, "Well, we're not a pretty 29-3, I guess." We're 30-3 now and you want us to find a real person, I know your question is when are we going to see a smooth-running machine. Well, Lorenzo not to do that, put that kind of defensive pressure on, that's as good as you can see, you had kids sacrificing their bodies, etc. I'm not chastising you but I've said all year, we play with one point guard. When we do not expose our weaknesses, which Washington did tonight, we're terrific. When you expose some of our weaknesses, we have the ability at times to turn the ball over. Not as much tonight to be honest with you, tonight as an exception and for Marcus to say and himself included, bonehead plays, he was 100% accurate, we did. But regardless, we're not a typical team. Yet at times we are an incredibly powerful team who can do an awful lot of good things. We're a unique teams, it's one of my favorite teams I've ever coached but we have to keep -- we're making adjustments on the fly all the time just because of that lack of another guy. We used Craig Austrie at times to help Marcus and Marcus by the end could not have gone two or three more minutes. I thought once again, we are what we are, and I think it's good enough to win. But we'll have a tough time obviously on Sunday and we don't have that much time -- or tomorrow (looking at watch) and we just hope we have time to recover to get ready for that. Once again, it was a great basketball game and we're very fortunate, obviously and very happy and worthy in many ways of going to a Final 8. Q. About the one point guard or the one point guard, he didn't care to share what your discussion was about. Would you? JIM CALHOUN: No. But that's a good try. You always should give A for effort. Q. What was the dispute over the technical foul that you got in the first half, and the second part of the referee question; what did they tell you for the double technical on Rudy and Roy? JIM CALHOUN: The official told me to throw the ball to the official. I did. And then he turned to me and said, "No, you're throwing it to me." So I guess he felt I threw it to the wrong official. That was the -- I'm not complaining. He said throw the ball to the official. I was having a discussion with him, animated discussion, and I threw to John Higgins who a thousand times, threw the ball to him and technical. The other one was both kids got in each other's faces and he said that was a technical. My honest belief, I don't think they did -- well, I'm not going to have a discussion and have a fine come back to UCONN. But the bottom line is that I let the kids play on, kids are going to get emotional in a game like that and I don't think that Brandon or Rudy were trying to do anything more. It was such an incredibly intense game, they just kind of got into each other a little bit because they banged. They were not doing anything. I think in a game like that, in fairness to them, you need to be careful it doesn't explode because it was a very physical game. A lot of stuff went both ways and you have to be very careful. Once again, I trust John Higgins would called it and then it has to be the right call because he's a very good official. But the other thing was they asked me to throw the ball to the official, and I did, and I guess I threw the ball to the wrong official. Q. You said this is one of your favorite teams. It seems as if sometimes it looks as if it's one of your more exasperating teams; is that a fair assessment? JIM CALHOUN: I think that anybody with a passion for the game that I have, hopefully, and also we're striving for excellence, I can't stand when the kids say when we make bonehead plays. I understand some of our limitations but tonight we made some really awful, awful plays with the basketball. And that exasperates me. But they always, being 30-3, they have always come back to respond. We blew a 19-point lead against Notre Dame at home. Came back, Marcus got a tip-in late, came back and won by six in overtime. This team has got an incredible heart. They are easy kids to coach. We have some pieces missing, yet we have some strengths obviously, too. So they have been a great group of kids to be with. Some of these kids, four of these kids were on our National Championship team and have been -- I'm incredibly close to this team. I love this team, I really do. They are wonderful kids to coach. I think what you see, and rightfully so, and it's pretty obvious because of who I am and I wear my emotions on my sleeve, pretty simple, you see sometimes the things I feel I know we can do, or feel like we can do and sometimes we can't even do some of those things at times. It's sometimes me more than them but I really, really care a great deal about this team. We're 30-3. We're in the Final 8 and I don't think we have to apologize for who we are and what we are. Q. The 14 first-half turnovers, have you seen Marcus Williams play at that kind level turning the ball over so much and what was -- how frustrating was that? JIM CALHOUN: But what you need to understand, at least I think that you have to understand is there's another team out there. Any time you get the ball, they double-team you. And some of the guys didn't come to meet the ball, which we thought we could have done. We knew it was coming and we could have -- how you get, how you alleviate some of the problems that you have, Kentucky pressed us. We got three out of four layups and they stopped pressing us. Tonight, the exact opposite happened. They put pressure on us, took the ball out of Marcus's hands and we got the ball across halfcourt and then even struggled a little bit to get it back to Marcus and then they took 15 seconds off the shot clock so they were going to stay with that all night. We need to run that much better so it wasn't just Marcus, trust me. It was all of us involved, and that's why I said we made some plays we don't normally make. Yeah, I was frustrated. From us that is one thing but staying with it to win the game is another and we stayed with it. We had some opportunities down ten, late, down seven, down five, a minute-something to go and we didn't stop playing and we won a tremendous, tremendous basketball game against a tremendous opponent.
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