Washington-Oregon Quotes
February 17, 2001 | Men's Basketball
Oregon 85, Washington 73
Bank of America Arena, Seattle, Wash.
Feb. 17, 2001
WASHINGTON HEAD COACH BOB BENDER
General Comments:
"I was pleased with their determination and effort much more than what we had on Thursday night. But, at this point in the season, that isn't worth a lot of discussion. I thought they showed a lot more pride in their ability to keep coming back. We still are in a losing position and with the number of games left, that is the season as well. You need to appeal to the competitive spirit and ask if we can make this important every time we are on the floor"
On Curtis Allen and C.J. Massingale:
"The play of the two freshmen was good, obviously. They helped us get back in the game with some critical things, but experience would help them to see some of the things in the last minute or two. They were a little quick on the trigger and did not look enough to Will (Perkins) when we were right there with the possession. This is the kind of thing you learn from in playing that position."
On the match-up with Frederick Jones:
"That was something that we did a good job in Eugene, where Jones became much more of a jump-shooter. Here, he set everything up with getting to the basket. He hit some threes and we can't help off of people then. They (Oregon) got their confidence going when they got those threes and extended the lead."
On Washington's defense:
"We wanted to pick up, and we did a pretty good job, of finding Luke Ridnour early or whoever they went to when they couldn't get into (Jones') hands. They had Luke Jackson come and bring it back. The problem was other guys not running back and seeing man, ball or matching with any person. That is how Freddie Jones scored a couple of times. The second thing is that we got back, but with no vision and (Jones) ran right behind us for some buckets."
On the last few games:
"Those guys (Massingale and Allen) have got to play more together because I think they are deserving of it. I've got one simple task as head coach for our players and that is to win basketball games. How we go about doing it, I'm not going to go back on: it has got to be done defensively. We certainly have to develop an understanding between Curtis and CJ, but not at the expense of the team. It's got to mean something every time you step on the floor. We played with greater pride (today)."
OREGON HEAD COACH ERNIE KENT
General Comments:
"The thing we talked about in the locker room before the game was that when you're facing adversity, you can't hide from it and you certainly can't make excuses. You need to look in the mirror and understand that it's up to us to get ourselves out of this, because we put ourselves into this hole. These kids have battled in practice and in games, and have weathered the disappointment of not being where they wanted to be this season. You have to tap into that inner spirit and understand where your confidence and your courage come from. It doesn't come from finding something else, from yapping and making excuses -- it comes from within, and I challenged them to find that place within them and allow their courage to come through."
On finishing out the season:
"I think this team has a chance to finish out the season with a bang, if we come together and fight this adversity, because they played a heck of a basketball game tonight. We need to just try and run this thing out right now. I've said this before, but maybe this is the breakthrough game. Teams take different paths, just like people in our lives, and maybe this is the path we had to go through. Maybe we had to go through all of this adversity to have success, testing each other to find out if we are going to hang in there together. They've done a nice job."
On Luke Ridnour:
"I hope someone turned the lights out in Blaine, because the whole town was here tonight. I could not believe how many people came in here and supported him. It just shows how loved and respected he is up there and what a great gift we have. I was very, very happy for him to come back home to the state of Washington and have success."
On Luke Jackson:
"How about getting a freshman with a triple-double? That's incredible. The key thing is that when we talking about finding that inner spirit and we were challenging those guys in the locker room, he was the guy that perked up."
