Oregon vs. Morgan State Postgame Quotes
12/29/13 | Men's Basketball
Head Coach Dana Altman
On making the next step…
"Defensively we wanted to do a better job. We put them on the free throw line 35 times, took a lot of chances and got ourselves out of position. Lot of reaches that got us out of position and allowed them to get to the basket, we aren't sliding our feet good."
On if he felt there was a lack of energy…
"No, second half we got sloppy, trying to play a lot of guys, trying to get a lot of guys ready. We came out real energetic, up 24 at half we just got sloppy."
On the rebounding performance tonight…
"We got to get more physical on the block outs, they had 14 second half points and we had 10. Yes we did beat them on the boards but the second chance points they did win. The number does look good but we still have a long way to go."
On what to improve on going into conference play…
"That's a long list, I think every faucet of our game, our list starts with defense and rebounding and that's probably the majority of it but offensively we have to improve too."
OREGON PLAYER QUOTES
#15 G, Jalil Abdul-Bassit
On performance as a whole…
“We didn't have focus. We had a lot of turnovers and mental lapses. If you look at the box score we really lost the second half. We didn't take the step we wanted to.”
On potentially overlooking Morgan State…
“We take everything one game at a time. We don't really look ahead. But we are starting to get ready for conference play.”
On the need to improve defensively…
“Everyone on the team can score so we just need to focus on defense. We need to hold each other accountable a lot more because we have to pick it up on defense.”
On the team's progress…
“We were focused on taking a step forward today but we didn't take that step.”
#3 G, Joseph Young
On performance as a whole…
“It wasn't too good. We didn't take the step we wanted to but we will have a good practice tomorrow. We did better on the boards today but needed to cut the turnovers. We need to be better at all parts.”
On readiness for conference play…
“We are ready. But when it comes that time we have to be more ready. We have to come in with intensity and play as a team.”
On the need to improve defensively…
“We have a lot of confidence. We have to help each other, our offense is always good but we have to be able to rely on our defense if our offense isn't good.”
Morgan State Head Coach Todd Bozeman
Thoughts on the game…
"They are really good, there's a reason they are undefeated. Dana does a good job with the guys. They just keep coming at you. They can sub in five guys and there's not that big of a drop off. Dominic Artis, for all intents and purposes is a starter and he's coming off the bench."
"Joseph Young, mighty Joseph Young, this game comes easy to him. They're a good team, they make their free throws, that's what good teams do. They make their free throws, rebound, got depth, perimeter and posts."
On how they attacked Oregon's depth…
"Well, we wanted to make sure we stay within ourselves. Everybody has a different purpose in playing their games. We're trying to get ourselves ready for our conference and we just didn't want to be overwhelmed. I'm was just proud of my guys on how they kept fighting and kept playing. We tried different defenses which you want to do and they did a good job on us opposite of the ball and they moved the ball. Those guys moved the ball and play hard. It's a tough match up for a lot of people, I mean, they're 12-0 now so it wouldn't make us any different."
On if games like these helps team…
"Well, they help you by giving you something to measure by in terms of their athleticism. We're not small, so it's not like they overwhelmed us with their size. Their depth and the fact that there's not a lot down, they're not stepping down when they sub guys in. That makes a big difference where you can play guys that can be starters at other places. It really helps us one, I get my guys out to playing in other places, experiencing other places and playing against different styles."
