Quotes
February 24, 2001 | Men's Basketball
Feb. 24, 2001
Washington Coach Bob Bender:
Q. Have you gotten used to people having such great nights against you?
A. They're the ones that are always tough match-ups for us. The people that have gone off on us and got huge and significant numbers are guys that going in [to the game] were a concern. Then they have the type of games that you don't need them to have to give yourself a chance to win. Unfortunately, as we told our team at halftime, they hit seven threes and we had to do a better job defending the three point line, but a lot of their easy baskets inside were off dribble-penetration and dump-downs. You have to keep the ball on the perimeter, as tough as that is, because of the way they shoot the three, but you can't let them dribble-drive to the middle. They play a lot different than a lot of people will expect because they can beat you off the dribble to the middle of the floor because they can either kick it to another three-point shooter or dumping down to guys that are just tremendous finishers. You have to be rock solid defensively against this team, you cannot have a breakdown.
Q. Is this the best Stanford team you've ever played against?
A. It's not only that, it's one of the best teams we've ever played against in this league in my eight years. I felt that way in the Seattle game and I certainly feel that now.
Q. What was your plan to defend Jason Collins?
A. We knew we had to go out with him, but we wanted to front and then have the help-side come from the perimeter but we late sometimes with that, but we had to come out and guard him because of the three. I think it all started when Grant [Leep] got caught up in transition defense when [Collins] hit his first one in transition in the first half, and we were sucked down so low that we couldn't recover to him. Then his confidence was up, but we didn't want to do what we did in Seattle, which was help off of [Michael] McDonald because he knocked us right out of that adjustment. I've always said that you've got to push some buttons ? you can't play them straight up, and yet this team can punish you for your adjustments, and they have twice now.
Stanford Head Coach Mike Montgomery:
I thought we played with a lot more energy tonight from start to finish than we did the other night, and it paid off. We shot the ball extremely well, which is usually an indication of being fairly well focused. But Washington shot the ball extremely well also. Washington played hard, they came in ready to go and weren't going to back off at all and they shot a very good percentage ? over 50 again, which has to be a bit of a concern. We were awfully sharp offensively. Casey [Jacobsen] was passing the ball ? had five assists ? and dishing 21 points. And obviously Jason Collins was pretty spectacular in terms of shooting the ball. 24 assists, 11 turnovers ? that's positive. It means were passing the ball and moving the ball, we needed to get these two at home. Now we have a chance to compete for the [Pac-10] championship and four game to go, we're in pretty good shape. Interesting thing about the league, it doesn't appear that anyone is backing off. Oregon State takes UCLA to overtime. It's encouraging and exciting to see all the teams playing so well. Jason was very good, Casey was very good, Mike had a very good stretch where he was distributing the ball very well. It's really positive.
Q. What about Jason ? he wasn't just scoring.. A. He got excited. He got a little upset about the hard fouls. I had a sense that that motivated both him and Jarron [Collins] a little bit because they were fouled pretty hard. Washington was not going to let you shoot a free one. They started small, which was a little bit of a surprise considering that [David] Dixon had given us some problems, but all five starters were in double figures for them and shot it pretty well, so obviously that's a way they can go.
Stanford's Jason Collins:
Q. How did you miss that shot?
A. I was tired. I tried to shoot it from a little too far out. I saw Casey pull one from deep, so I figured I'd made four so I might as well try it.
Q. Did the hard fouls motivate you at all?
A. Yeah. Basically, I knew they weren't dirty fouls, so I just kept playing my game. The best way to respond to physical play is just try to outplay your opponent even more. That's what I did.
Q. What went through your mind when you saw their small lineup? A. I was shocked and surprised. I looked at my brother and coach [Blaine] Taylor and I was like, "OK." I talked to some of the Washington players asking what was going on, and they said it was a new strategy by the coach.
Q. What did you think would happen?
A. I thought my teammates would look for me and my brother inside. We could attack the basket because they didn't have any shot blockers in there, and that we should try to out-rebound them for the game. We got off to a good start tonight as opposed to Thursday night, which is what we needed to do.
Q. How much was that on your mind.
A. A lot. We knew that Thursday night's performance was not what we wanted to go out there and show. We knew we had to come out here focused and ready to go from the start.
Q. Do you work a lot on three pointers?
A. Yeah. I am shooting the ball with a lot more confidence from outside. I've been practicing with teammates and coaches because I know that's a shot that is in our offense that's going to be available to any post player ? that trail three coming in. With the post players we have, our opponents are going to run to the paint and wait for us there. If we are going to pull up for the three, that creates a lot more space for the other post player. That's why I was able to get a couple passes over the top to Jarron and Justin [Davis].
