|
|||
|
|||
|
 |
|
|
PACIFIC-12 CONFERENCE MEN'S TOURNAMENTMarch 12, 2014Johnny DawkinsDwight PowellChasson RandleLAS VEGAS, NEVADA Stanford – 74 THE MODERATOR: Coach, an opening comment, please. COACH DAWKINS: Well, my comment is really simple. Big win for us. Washington State came ready to play, ready to compete, and they gave us everything. I'm just really proud of our guys for stepping up and making the plays that needed to be made, up 7 at the half, the way they rallied and came out at halftime. They came out and played inspired. I took the lead and I thought our guys from that moment on really just focused and made the plays necessary. I give my hat off to Washington State for the way they played. This conference is great, that's what I'll say, because every team from top to bottom can beat every team. Q. Do you feel you've done enough that you should be in the NCAA field at this point? CHASSON RANDLE: I haven't really thought too much about that. As a team, we're in the moment. We just beat a great team in Washington State, and we're looking forward to tomorrow night. Q. Did you expect the kind of challenge you got from Washington State tonight, and what was the difference for your team? DWIGHT POWELL: I think in a tournament setting you always have to expect teams to step up regardless of their record in the season, because once you start the tournament everyone's 0 and 0. So we definitely expected a fight and we prepared for a fight. Thankfully we prepared in the right way, so we came out and we were able to win the game. Q. Tomorrow night you guys are playing Arizona State, maybe the fastest point guard in the country. How do you plan to defend against a player that is that dynamic? CHASSON RANDLE: Well, he's quick. But the lower man always wins, so you have to stay low on the defensive end and just lock in. Q. Coach, Arizona State, one of the fastest tempos in the Pac‑12. You guys, more deliberate. Do you go out and try to run with them or try to bring them back to your pace? What is the game plan? COACH DAWKINS: You know, everyone has a style of play, and we have to stick to what we do best. They're a very quick team. They want to play up tempo, and they have a very fast guard and they've chosen to play that way. But for us, we're going to play our system and try to execute, try to lock in defense and focus on every possession. I mean, he's a terrific player, so we've seen him now for several years, and I think he's one of the best guards in the nation. We have to give him the proper attention and make sure we game plan for him. Starting tonight, we'll start watching tape on him. Q. Considering last time against Arizona State it didn't go quite well in Tempe, what are you guys going to do‑‑ I guess you just answered this, but what are you going to do to prepare for Arizona State tomorrow with the rest they have? COACH DAWKINS: I haven't had a chance to watch much of them because we're preparing for Washington State and I always stick to the game we're going to play. Tonight I'll be up quite late looking at Arizona State and what they do. So we'll start discussing game planning and what type of actions we need to take to try to be successful. Q. Your athletic director set a pretty high bar for you guys last March when he said he expected you to make the NCAA tournament and maybe even make a deep run. Have you felt pressure because of that as you've come down the stretch this season? COACH DAWKINS: Well, for me, I've been in this for a long time. So I don't get pressure about things like that. I look at it as an opportunity and a challenge. I believe in what he said. I felt the same way. I'd be very disappointed if we didn't accomplish those things because I believe in my guys. I think he said those words because he believes in our team as well. So I think we're all on the same page with that. Q. What was going so well for your offense tonight? COACH DAWKINS: I thought we did a great job, one, of controlling tempo. I thought we put the ball where it needed to be. I thought we really established our post presence with Stefan Nastic early, and we established it even more with Dwight. I thought that was good for us. Our guys really played at a good tempo. By keeping good spacing, they shared the basketball, and took shots in rhythm, which is always a good thing. FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports |
|
||||||||||||||||||||
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
About ASAP Sports •
FastScripts Archive •
Recent Interviews •
Captioning •
Upcoming Events •
Contact Us
FastScripts | Events Covered | Our Clients | Other Services | ASAP in the News | Site Map | Job Opportunities | Links |
|
ASAP Sports, Inc. | T: 1.212 385 0297
|