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PACIFIC-12 CONFERENCE MEN'S TOURNAMENTMarch 11, 2015Johnny DawkinsStefan NasticChasson RandleLAS VEGAS, NEVADA Stanford – 71 THE MODERATOR: Coach, an opening comment. It says here you scored 36 points in the paint and then you went on a rebound. COACH DAWKINS: First, I'd like to give them a lot of credit. I thought Washington has been playing some of its best basketball the last several games. I thought they shot the ball extremely well against us tonight. When a team is that hot and shooting the ball that well, you just have to find a way to win. And I thought our guys did that. I thought we were able to hang around. We weren't shooting as well. We stuck to the game plan of trying to get the ball inside as much as we could. And at the end we had a shot, and Chasson really stepped up and made a big shot for us. But it wouldn't have happened without Marcus's rebound, which was spectacular, and his wherewithal to get the ball out and find a shooter, and Chasson stepped up and made a big play for us at the end. Q. You mentioned Marcus Allen. I've heard in interviews before you talk about his work ethic how much time he puts in. Is that kind of indicative of the type of player he is, that play? COACH DAWKINS: That's exactly who he is. He's an energy guy defensively and offensively makes a lot of plays and slashes to the basket and can make open shots of course. But what he brings to our team is a tenacity. He's going to be relentless when he's out there. He's one of those guys that you look at him, he never seems to be tired. And you like that about him, the energy that he brings, and he likes to compete. Q. It must feel like Chasson hadn't made a basket in about a month. What gives him the ability to still have confidence to make that big shot? COACH DAWKINS: One, he believes in himself. And two, his teammates and our staff believe in him. He's going to take the big shots for us. I mean, you've seen that throughout his career. That's not changing. And he stepped up tonight and made a big one for us, but he's made big shots for us throughout his career. And just really, really happy for him because a night like this, where he was struggling from the perimeter some, he hit the biggest shot of them all, and that was to close the game for us. So really, really happy for him hitting that shot and going forward with knowing that he's hit a shot like that. I think that only helps as we move forward. Q. Coach, what was going through your mind when Anthony Brown missed the dunk and they came down and had two back‑to‑back 3s? COACH DAWKINS: I know it's a tough play for anybody. He went out, and, I mean, Anthony, 99.9percent of the time he's going to complete that play. But this game is funny. I've always talked, often talked to our guys about it that you can never assume anything. And I think it was a lesson learned that you can't. Every play you can't assume that the ball's going to go in. And what was great for us is we've been talking about our team, our team being connected. And I think it showed because after that dunk was missed, we all said, hey, let's go to the next play, we'll get it back, and you saw a team really come together and rally around us. We'll make up for that. And they did. And for Anthony that was great because he had a chance to see as a player out there one of our best players, he had a chance to see his teammates pick him up as we move forward to the next play down the stretch. And I thought it was beautiful basketball for us from that point on until we closed it. Q. Stefan, did you just feel you were going to have a lot of responsibility coming into this game? I know they're shorthanded down low. Did you just come in feeling like you were going to be aggressive all night? STEFAN NASTIC: I just tried to play my role as best as possible no matter who we're playing. Just want to fill the role that my team needs me to do, and I can still get better at that. And just want to make the reads and keep it as simple as possible. That's what I tried to do tonight. Q. Chasson, can you talk about the final play, you had another tough shooting night, a number of them late, but when you got the ball at the last second, tell us what you felt and what you saw. CHASSON RANDLE: First of all, we were moving the ball around trying to get the last shot, of course. Rosco took a great shot, he was open. And then his twin, Marcus Allen, came over with a big rebound, man. And he kicked it out to me, and I was fortunate enough to make a shot. Q. Chasson, when you were kind of struggling like that a little bit from the perimeter, what kind of goes through your mind? How do you reset mentally to be ready for that opportunity when it comes your way? CHASSON RANDLE: I don't think about it. Every shot is a new shot. You can't think about the last one. And my teammates, they kept telling me to shoot it. So I believed in what they were saying. I believed in myself. I was able to hit a big one. Q. One of these guys said this sets you up for a meaningful game tomorrow. Can you talk about that? CHASSON RANDLE: Yeah, I mean, at this point it's win or go home. So they're all meaningful to us. We're just going to take it one game at a time. We have to prepare as soon as we leave this podium and make sure that we come out focused tomorrow. Q. Do you feel tomorrow night is one that can get you in the tournament? CHASSON RANDLE: I'm not sure. You know, at this point, you know, you just want to win the game that's in front of you. And we have a great team in Utah who they do a lot of great things well. And we are just going to have to play a great game. Q. Coach, you've got‑‑ had a very physical game today. You'll probably have another physical game tomorrow against Utah, one of the better defensive teams in the Pac‑12. How do you prepare for that coming off of a night like tonight? COACH DAWKINS: I think tonight was good preparation for us. We have a chance to come in and play a very good Washington team. Like you just mentioned, they are physical. And fortunately we had some guys play some extended minutes, but we also had some guys play a little less minutes than they played during the season for us. So we need to just get our rest, get ready to come out and compete. We can't let fatigue be an excuse. We can't have any excuses. What we need to do is focus on Utah. They're a very good team, terrific coach. They're having a fantastic season, and we need to prepare for them. And it's going to be a big challenge, and we need to make sure that we're ready. Q. You only played Utah once this year. What did you see from the time last time that maybe you could take into this game to maybe counter what they did to you last time? COACH DAWKINS: Well, they are a big team. And they are physical, and they do play very good D, as you mentioned. I think their offense really complements what they do. They're a very efficient basketball team on the floor. That's the thing I was most impressed with. We have to study tape and find ways to maybe disrupt some of the things they do. But they've done a very good job this year. Q. Chasson or Stefan, does kind of a revenge factor come to mind when you think of the matchup with Utah? Does that kind of help you guys? STEFAN NASTIC: Coming into every game, like Chasson said, we're just looking to get the wins. We respect Utah. They're a great program. And we want to learn from how we played in previous games to give us the best shot tomorrow. THE MODERATOR: Thank you. FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports |
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