Quotes vs. Oregon State
01/04/15 | Men's Basketball
Dana Altman – Head Coach
On the team's performance…
“It's kind of what we've been doing in a lot of our ball games. We have a really good possession, but then on the other end of the spectrum we have really poor possessions. For us to be a good team, we need to eliminate a lot of these possessions on the other side. 10 or twelve offensive and defensive possessions I thought we were really good, and then we have probably the same number on the other end of the spectrum. If we can clean these up and cut them down, then I think we have a chance to have a ball club, but we had more turnovers than assists tonight, a lot of defensive mistakes… Those kind of things you just can't have to have a good team. I think we're on our way, but we need to clean it up pretty quick with Arizona coming in here Thursday.”
On Oregon State…
“Oregon State is a good team. In the first half we had a pretty good lead, and as soon as we let down they came back. That's a well-coached, make simple plays kind of team. I thought they played hard and every time we got a comfortable advantage they'd hit a couple of buckets.”
On Joe Young's leadership…
“It's a full-time job to try and lead and we've got to give him some help. He's trying to get his teammates ready to go and it's a difficult job because it's a conference game and only three of our guys have ever played in a conference game.”
“We've got to keep making adjustments and keep coming along. I think we will—but Joe did a great job. He was the difference in the game tonight; there's no doubt about it.”
On preparing for Arizona…
“Our next two weeks are going to be really important. We've got school starting on Monday so we won't have quite as much time. Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday we really have to get some work done to get ready for a really well-coached, really talented basketball team.”
On the starting lineup…
“We'll keep messing with it. It's not that big of a deal—I'm more concerned about who finishes the game than who starts it. The guys like it because they like to hear their name and run out and jump around and be foolish, but I don't care who starts I care who finishes. And that's what they should care about, too.”
Joseph Young – Oregon Guard, Senior
On starting off Pac-12 play with a win…
“I got the freshmen up early, I sent them an early text saying it's a new season. It felt energized; it's just a different feeling. It's a new season.”
“It was big. Especially with the young group we have and the freshman group we have. I told them in the locker room today that we've got to forget about this one. We have a big one next week, two big ones next week. We have to forget about it, take the day off tomorrow, and then start practice on Monday.”
On improving his shot selection…
“I'm starting to learn more. I didn't distribute that much tonight because I had the hot hand, but I want to do more distributing and rebounding and helping my team on the defensive end. We did a good job of that tonight.”
On Jordan Bell blocking five shots and recording 15 deflections…
“That's pretty intense. I wish I could get that from him every day. He's been, the last couple days in practice, he's been down low and bending his knees and doing a good job.”
Wayne Tinkle – Oregon State Head Coach
On their defense…
“There were a lot of possessions in our man and zone – 1-3-1 and 2-3 – where we lost focus in the last 10 seconds, and the one guy we said you can't lose (Joseph Young), we did time after time after time, and he hit some big 3's.”
On their slow start offensively…
“Didn't make shots; a lot of shots in front of the rim, shots that we normally get. I don't know if it was nerves or that this was the first league game for our team. We got a lot of inexperienced guys, and I thought that showed.”
On impressions of his first Civil War game…
“It's a great facility, I thought their crowd was pretty good. Where I came from we got a lot of rivalry games and this is a pretty neat one, too. We look forward to improving and we look forward to the next crack we get at these guys back at our place.”
