Post-Game Quotes
February 26, 2005 | Men's Basketball
NCAA Men's Basketball
(#14) Washington 93, (#9) Arizona 85
Saturday, Feb. 26, 2005
Bank of America/Seattle, Wash.
WASHINGTON HEAD COACH Lorenzo Romar
General Comments:
"We thought the Stanford win last year was big, which it was, but as I said earlier this one had to be bigger and it was. Based on what was at stake it was a huge performance by our team. It is no secret that Arizona is a great basketball team that has been playing good basketball. I thought our guys came out and competed with as much heart as they could muster up. It was great to see Will Conroy hit big free throws for us down the stretch as a senior and Tre Simmons also having a great game. Hakeem Rollins had that unbelievable put-back that may have been the biggest play of the game. It's great to see that happen for those guys."
On limiting Salim Stoudamire:
"Will Conroy took it upon himself to really do as good of a job as he could on him, but you really can't just put one guy on Salim Stoudamire. I thought the guys on our team did a pretty good job on him. You don't see too many games where Stoudamire is one for six in the first half.
On the game plan for guarding Channing Frye:
"That was not the game plan because we talked about Stoudamire so much that subconsciously we were kind of shading him all day, because we were out of position all day. That's not to discredit Frye's performance at all; he had a fantastic weekend. He is an all-league player and a NBA player. That's the way it worked out, however it worked out."
On the play of Tre Simmons:
"Do you know how hard it is for me to hold back and not do what a lot of coaches do and just tell you how great of a player Tre Simmons is? He just doesn't get the notoriety. But when you look at what we've done this year and what he has done, he has had a phenomenal season. He just keeps doing things for us."
On the lack of free throws by Arizona in the first half:
"We talked about defending with our feet and our chest and not committing silly fouls, but obviously that wasn't the case in the second half because the whistle blew a lot more then."
On the teams' clutch performance:
"We are a group that has character. It has character, is together and is pretty mentally tough, which is what it takes to beat a team like Arizona. We would like for us to be perfect but that's not the case, but given the nature of the game I would say we are doing a pretty good job."
On the play of Hakeem Rollins:
"Hakeem had a flare up of tendonitis in his knee in the summer and couldn't get in the kind of shape that he wanted to coming in. He has not had the kind of senior year that he would have hoped for because of the injury. But now, to come back and finish at home with a game like this can do nothing but boost his confidence. I know it boosts our confidence."
ARIZONA HEAD COACH LUTE OLSON
General Comments: "It was a great college basketball game, a great environment. I don't think either team was going to give an inch to the other team. In the end it was a case of Washington doing a better job of knocking down threes. We took too many in the first half, our two inside guys were nine for ten. It was a combination problem there, one, the inside guys have got to get it in there, but the inside of guys have got to get open. We did a much better job of that in the second half. The stat sheet shows identical numbers of rebounds, an identical number of steals, an identical number of turnovers. So, certainly two evenly matched teams. I thought we had them on the run a couple of times, but they did a great job of maintaining their poise. I thought the killer was the one where we played great defense and forced them into throwing the ball up from the Washington bench, and we didn't get the rebound. But usually, when someone throws one up from that distance, it is going to be long, but they got to get the home bounce on that, and tipped it in. I think that gave them a spark at that point to hold that lead."
On Salim Stoudamire: "They did a goodjob defensively on him. If you take a look at it, he took 15 shots and scored 14 points. If you are taking twos that's like hitting almost 50 percent. He missed some early that I think he'd normally hit, but he hit some big ones down the stretch when we were making the run."
On change in Washington over last three years: "Well, first of all, there are people in the stands. The student section does a great job, they really pull hard for the home team, and they are not abusive or anything else. That's the way college basketball should be. Students should come, just like adults, and cheer for their team. Instead of doing like some other schools do, where its all about harassment and that kind of thing. To me that doesn't show any class. These kids showed a lot of class."
On Tre Simmons: "He's a great player, I've said that Nate (Robinson) is really good, he is the guy that sparks, but as far as the guy who has had the best year so far, its Tre. When we into the game, the thing that we told our guys was that you've got to play him like you play Salim (Stoudamire), when he catches it you have to get in his jersey and make him put it on the floor. And he nailed three in a row on us, right off, which was to his credit, but it wasn't very smart for whoever was not in that area."
On Coming Week: "They have two to go, and we have one, so it will be an interesting last week. But I think the same thing is true that Lorenzo will be telling his team, is that the most important thing is how good are you by the end of this next week and the end of the tournament, when you go into the NCAA. There are still things that I am sure he feels they need to do better, and I would feel the same way."
