March 12, 2009

Recap |  Final Stats |  Notes

LOS ANGELES -

Head Coach Mike Montgomery

On getting off to a slow start:
We've had a difficult time with that particular aspect. It is something we as a group collectively need to get better at. I told the team all week that they were going to come out with a chip on the their shoulder, that they were going to try to be physical, that they were going to try to manhandle us, that they were going to try to run us off, and they did precisely that. It's happened on a number of occasions and some of those times we've bounced back and won games. I can't explain it. It is just something that we are going to have to try to figure out, that at a certain level of basketball people come out their angry, they've got a chip on their shoulder and they've got an edge. We don't always have that.

On Jorge Gutierrez:
He's done it over and over again when he comes in and wakes everybody up. He's a hell of a competitor. He hates to lose. He just hates it. He's almost in tears on the sidelines. That's his nature. We need more of that. We need more people to think like that and play like that. He motives these other guys. They play off of him when he does that. He just gives us so much.

On the number of NCAA bids for the Pac-10:
There's a lot of good teams in our league. It really depends on how they evaluate the people throughout the league and the wins and losses and how upset they give to a team losing to a team that's down the line a little bit. We've had six. We had six last year and we've had six before. We've typically gotten to the point where five was kind of the norm. I don't know that you base USC's opportunities based of tonight's game and what we didn't do in the first half. And I don't know that you base Arizona's situation on what they've done in the past for a number of years. There are a lot of deserving teams. I think people have kind of overlooked the league a little this year.

On the effect of the L.A. crowd:
None at all. There wasn't anyone there when we started the game. People two blocks away at six-o-clock in L.A. can take about 45 minutes. The crowd was not a factor at all. USC's aggressive play, us getting back on our heels, us getting out-rebounded by 26, us giving up 22 offensive rebounds - in some ways you could say how did we only lose by four? We've won about three or four games exactly the way this one unfolded. They were going to take the last shot and the officials called foul and that turned out to be the difference.

On being out-rebounded 53-27:
[Taj] Gibson is a very good rebounder. He is very long. We were flat to start with. We didn't do a great job at point of attack so there was a lot of penetration and the bigs had to slide over to help on a layup. And then the ball was shot and we didn't do a good job of getting back or contact. Second thing is: we played small. In many situations, particularly when we are behind, we have to go to a smaller lineup.

Junior Patrick Christopher

On the slow start:
We need to bring the intensity that we played with in the second half from the tipoff. Like USC played with a chip on their shoulder we need to come out like that from the job to compete at a high level for 40 minutes.

On not playing well until the second half:
We should cherish every possession, not just the ones late in the game. They definitely had some offensive rebounds that hurt us in the end. But we're a team that has proven that we can fight back. That's what we have established as our team. But the most important thing is putting two halves together.

Junior Jerome Randle

On the slow start:
I think we've been struggling with that all year. Just letting teams get us on our heels and we just play catch-up the whole game. We have to do a better job playing hard from tap to buzzer.

On the two missed free throws late in the game:
I was very disappointed in myself. I consider myself a great free throw shooter and our team needed me to hit those. I didn't hit the free throws. Once again we dug a hole for ourselves and I feel like I was the reason for that down the stretch. The fouling and losing the ball. I was just disappointed.