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PACIFIC-10 CONFERENCE MEN'S TOURNAMENTMarch 11, 2011Lorenzo RomarTerrence RossIsaiah ThomasLOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA WASHINGTON – 69 THE MODERATOR: An opening statement from Coach and then questions. COACH ROMAR: Very pleased with our guys' effort. Second game in a row we had a team contribution, and that's something that can make you really excited as coaches when everyone chips in and does a great job for you. Oregon is a scrappy team. They beat us at their place. They're a team that if you make many mistakes, they're going to make you pay for them. But our guys did a pretty good job of taking care of the ball. I thought we took good shots. I thought we played really hard. I thought Isaiah came out again and played I think 79 minutes, 78 minutes in two games. He was going as if he hadn't played any minutes. As if he was fresh. 12 assists, I think it was another double-double here. He's just doing a great job of leading this team. Our freshmen came out and didn't play like freshmen. They played like they were upperclassmen. They hit big shots and they did a lot of good things for us. I can go on and on. Darnell Gant, ten rebounds. Hit big shots for us early, and played a very, very good game. So great team effort by our guys. Q. Can you talk about your defensive effort tonight? COACH ROMAR: Well, I thought the zone helped us. Aziz N'Diaye when we're playing in the zone is good for us. He's so big in there that when you get through our first line, he does a good job just being big, and be not allowing you to get easy looks. I thought maybe that slowed them down a little bit -- well, didn't allow them to get going, because they can get going. I thought it helped us. I thought we did a pretty good job defensively. Q. Their third game in three nights. Did Oregon seem tired at all to you? ISAIAH THOMAS: A little bit in the first half. But in the second half they had a lot of energy. They pressed us, they made us commit a couple turnovers, and they fought hard till the end. It didn't seem like it was their third game in three nights because they kept playing hard throughout the whole 45 minutes. Q. Are you looking forward to deciding this UA-Washington rivalry this year at least once and for all? ISAIAH THOMAS: Definitely. They got us the last time and we want some revenge. They're a great team and, and we'll be ready for them. It's going to be a fun game tomorrow. COACH ROMAR: We have a lot of respect for Arizona, their program, and what they did this year. They've had a phenomenal year. They won a lot of games and played together. We know we have a tough on opponent that we're going to be facing tomorrow. Q. You didn't have a lot of points tonight, but you had a lot of assists. Is that something at this point of your career and the season, is that what you pride yourself in? And Terrence, do you like the passes he gives you? TERRENCE ROSS: Of course, I just saw it on ESPN right now (laughing). Yeah, he finds me a lot. He's a great point guard, great court vision. He finds me before I even see something happening, he'll see it before me. So it's great having him pass me the ball. ISAIAH THOMAS: Yeah, I mean, especially when you're not shooting it well, your offense isn't going well. You've got to look to do other things. My teammates stepped up. I found them and they were knocking down shots when we really needed it. It just goes out to my teammates. Without them I can't get any assists. Q. How does the smaller group that you play a lot the last couple of days help you on the floor? COACH ROMAR: It's a quicker group. It's more because of match-ups. That's why we've gone with it. If we had played UCLA, the line-up might have been different. We might have been bigger today, but we talked to our team about at this point in postseason, we may not have the same lineup every game, depending on what match-ups present, we might change. But the smaller lineup gives us a lot of versatility. If we're in a position where we're out of position, we can switch and we don't lose anything, because all the guys are pretty much like sized. Q. Open the floor? COACH ROMAR: Yeah, it does. It allows us to be spread out a little more. The majority of those guys that are in there can shoot it and drive it. So I think it makes us a little better at times. Q. Is there a sense at all that you guys were picked to win the regular season, any kind of redemption that you can win this at least? Is that a thought on your mind? ISAIAH THOMAS: Not really. Just going out there and trying to play the right way. Coach always says at the beginning of the year that predictions are what you guys pick. Everybody isn't going to -- like we were picked to be No. 1, but we finished No. 3, so we got another opportunity to win a Pac-10 Championship. We've just got to be ready for tomorrow because it's going to be a good game. Q. Back-to-back games of double assists or ten or more assists. You did that before in the season. Is it kind of like when you're shooting you can see almost anything? Is it the same thing with the assists, tonight and last night, it just seems that everyone's open? ISAIAH THOMAS: Yeah, to me it feels the same way. When you're hitting shots it feels like every shot's going to go in. When you're hitting assists, it feels like every pass is open. My guys do a good job just getting open and knocking down shots and finishing at the rim. Q. Do you have to prepare any different now that you know you're in the starting lineup? TERRENCE ROSS: I definitely think so. I have to be more focused about the scout, defensive responsibilities. I have to be ready to go at all times. Just have to be mentally prepared to go play. Q. I was wondering, do you feel like depth will be a factor either way tomorrow with you guys? Other than Isaiah, you played a lot of guys, so I didn't know if that would offset each other or be a factor? COACH ROMAR: I think we have quality depth. I think they have quality depth. I think it may offset each other. We've been fortunate. No one played over 30 minutes in our first game except Isaiah. Then we didn't have anyone play over 30 minutes again except Isaiah. So we've been able to keep our guys' legs relatively fresh given the fact that we're going into this third game. So I think both teams have depth. FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports |
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