PAC-12 CONFERENCE MEN'S BASKETBALL CHAMPIONSHIP

March 11, 2021

Jarod Lucas

Oregon State Beavers

Postgame Press Conference

Oregon State - 83, UCLA - 79

Q. This is the fourth time this year where you guys have come back from a double-digit deficit and won game. What is the characteristic of this team that allows you guys to do stuff like that?

JAROD LUCAS: It's fight. Fight and heart. Coach mentioned in the huddle, as you might have seen by every player on the floor's face, there was some heart we had. A lot of heart and fight.

Q. When you look at all the ups and downs your team has experienced, you look back at this game, how much was this game itself just kind of a snapshot of your season?

JAROD LUCAS: It's big. I think coach mentioned it. We got a lot of guys that want to win. We push ourselves every day and it was a big win for us, especially against a really good program like UCLA and we're going to keep on building, hopefully get another one tomorrow.

Q. You hit you get the Ducks tomorrow, you saw them a few days ago at home, but now you get them in Vegas. What kind of matchup are you expecting?

JAROD LUCAS: It's going to be a good one. They're a really good program, obviously they won the league, they beat us a couple days ago or last week. They're our rival, there's going to be a lot on the line, but I think we'll be up for the challenge.

Q. Five guys fouled out. That would kind of make people think it was a physical game. How physical was it? Did it seem overly physical out there or was it just a typical college game?

JAROD LUCAS: It was physical. Like you said, five guys fouled out. It goes to tell you how physical that game was. But we have guys like Warith and Rodrigue and a few others that bang on the glass with the rest of their big guys down there.

Q. Getting to see Tres, the whole Tinkle family was there in the stands, getting to see them, what did it mean to have fans in the stands?

JAROD LUCAS: It was cool. You might have seen a lot of us trying to pump up the crowd. I think it definitely got us going. I know a lot of us have all of our families here, so it means a lot to win, especially in front of your family and obviously Tres, who is one of Oregon State's best players ever.

Q. How much did last year's game against Utah rub off on you guys today?

JAROD LUCAS: I don't know if it did, but it did give us confidence maybe to see the ball fall through the rim. Obviously in the first half it didn't happen. We, the basket wasn't very big for us, but eventually we, it was starting to fall for us.