BIG TEN CONFERENCE MEN'S BASKETBALL TOURNAMENT

March 11, 2026

Eric Musselman

Jacob Cofie

Kam Woods

United Center

USC Trojans

Postgame Press Conference

Washington - 83, USC - 79

THE MODERATOR: We're joined by Coach Eric Musselman along with student-athletes Jacob Cofie and Kam Woods.

ERIC MUSSELMAN: Congratulations to Washington. They beat us three times this year. I thought first half we played really well. That's been the story of our last eight games. I think we've led at halftime 4 of our last 8 games, and as a group, we haven't figured out how to close games the last 20 minutes with a lead.

Disappointing last eight games of the season. I thought up until that point we played good basketball. We were in a good spot in the Big Ten standings. We were in a good spot in the NCAA bubble watch or whatever at that point, but the last eight games has not been good, and it's basically been second halves that have hurt us.

I can't wait to get to work for next year, starting tonight when I get back to the hotel.

Q. When they went on their 13-0 run, what did you see happening from your perspective? Is it mostly offense, defense problems, a combination? Was there kind of like a snowball effect going on there?

KAM WOODS: I would say it was defensive side. We could have gotten more stops and took the life away from them. That leads to bad shots. We know the way that we supposed the play to win in the game and we failed firmly. That's why they went on that 13-0 run.

JACOB COFIE: I'd say it was a combination of things. I feel like we could have done a better job following the game plan.

Q. Kam, you had the ball at the end of regulation. You had the ball in the last 30 seconds of overtime. How did you feel about the looks you guys got, and what did you try to do on those possessions?

KAM WOODS: On the last one, I feel like I missed Ezra on that cut. Coach trusted me with the ball in my hands, and I feel like I let him down. Yeah, that's how I feel.

Q. Jacob, obviously the way that this season ended was not how you guys wanted. How will you look back at this year? And what do you think went wrong in the last month?

JACOB COFIE: As a team, we faced a lot of adversity. I felt like we did a good job sticking with it and trying to play for each other. We had to deal with a lot of injuries. I felt like that played a huge deal in it. We still fought. We tried our best.

Q. Getting ready for next season, are you going to decline any sort of postseason NIT or that type of tournament bid? What would be the thinking there?

ERIC MUSSELMAN: I would say probably not, but I haven't had in-depth conversations with admin yet about that, but I would assume we're not going to play, just based on number of bodies and how we played the last eight games.

Q. What would you say are kind of your priorities then as you move forward?

ERIC MUSSELMAN: I think we have a lot of priorities. One, the health. I think, when we're going in the portal, we've got to do a good job of finding durability. I think that's a big piece of not just this year, last year as well.

I haven't been doing college that, that long, but I've never had two years with just guys unavailable due to injury.

Look, it's been a tough year. We're leading tonight for 30 minutes, and this has happened quite often. Priorities, competitiveness, toughness -- same things that every coach in the off-season wants to try to prioritize.

Q. Terrance Williams, is that another injury or your decision today?

ERIC MUSSELMAN: Yeah, that was totally my decision, yeah.

Q. And then Alijah, obviously a tough night for him, and you kind of went away from him in the second half there. What was going on with him? Did that make it tough in the last 10 minutes to not be able to count on him?

ERIC MUSSELMAN: Yeah, I think for us it was -- they played four guards. We were trying to look at defensive matchups and trying to get shots on goal. I thought we got a little bit sloppy with the ball as a group, not anyone individually, any player at all.

Nothing anybody, whether it's Terrance or Alijah. It was staff's decision on who was out there.

Q. Did you feel like the guys' belief held up in the second half when they were in the middle of their run? Obviously you alluded to having some tough second halves. Did they stick with it, in your view, those guys?

ERIC MUSSELMAN: Yeah, and I haven't studied the stat sheet obviously because the season is over, but I think, when you look at our defense in the first half and we held them to 36 percent, and then you go to the second half, and from a field goal percentage, they shot 42, 41 point whatever.

I thought we were -- pick-and-rolls, maybe there was a couple breakdowns, which there is with everybody. Yeah, I thought they followed what was asked for the most part. I think that, when you lose, we'll be able to -- whether we watch the game back on the plane and look at it, I'm sure there's going to be some things, but there is every night, I think, especially when you lose. You can find holes in areas that you can get better at.

Q. I know you've got some high school guys coming in next year. Do you want to try to build more that way going forward than trying to turn over the roster every year? What's your approach to roster building going forward?

ERIC MUSSELMAN: I don't think -- we really didn't have a choice in year one. To take a job and have one returner, that was not on us. That was kind of what we walked into. Then you have a season like this, there's a lot of stuff you've got to think about.

Obviously having the two Ratliffs at seven foot, coming in and McDonald's All-Americans, I think that's a good -- we had a McDonald's All-American in basically our first recruiting class with Alijah, and to get the Ratliff twins -- we're still going to recruit high school for this year.

I don't think we're necessarily moving to the portal. When I say I've got to do some stuff tonight even, it's high school guys because the portal doesn't even open until whatever, April 7th, whatever it is.

Yeah, we want a blend of both. It's early in our tenure or whatever, and we've got to figure out a way to get better than what we've done the last two years.

Q. It is a real grind and probably more challenging for West Coast teams to play in this league just with the amount of travel. You were able to get a three-game road trip, and that was kind of -- and you navigated that pretty well. Overall, what are your thoughts on travel in the league right now and the challenges associated with it? Is there anything that could be done to mitigate some of those challenges for a West Coast team?

ERIC MUSSELMAN: I think, number one, the travel, in my opinion, can't be used as an excuse. We're in the Big Ten. To be honest with you, when I look back at last year and we went at Illinois, they're ranked 10th or 11th or whatever. I look at winning at Nebraska last year. I look at this season. We should have won at Iowa. We committed a foul late.

We had a couple good -- winning at Wisconsin was a good one. So we actually played -- I kind of felt just as good on the road.

We wanted the three-game road trip. I would love a four or five-game road trip, based on my experience coaching at the NBA level. I think there's a reason that the NBA and the NHL don't play one or two-game road trips or two-game road trips across the country.

I think as this stuff continues to evolve, we need to research and maybe follow the path of people that are really, really smart in how they do things, meaning the NHL and the NBA because, when I was in the NBA, you don't go from Golden State to play Miami and Orlando and then back. You go to Philly and then maybe Jersey, and you do that a couple times.

It's hard with school. We've looked at it, and actually in my opinion -- it's just an opinion -- we'll actually miss less school because most of us all leave two days early before the game. So we're not going the day before the game. I actually think from an academic standpoint it would help as well.

But there's no excuse. Look at USC's women's team last year and how they played. Look at UCLA's women's team. The answer to the equation is get a heck of a team and go kick butt. That will solve -- I've watched those two women's programs. That solves a lot of stuff.

Q. Where does this eight-game stretch rank as far as the toughest stretches of your career? Is there anything you can use going forward to help you out of it?

ERIC MUSSELMAN: It's the toughest by far, Ben. In the NBA, you go through four-game losing streaks, and it happens. Yeah, I've never -- like normally our teams like start to get cooking at this time of year, and we prided ourselves on that, whether it was Nevada or Arkansas.

I've never experienced anything like this, but we've got to get better obviously. Like I said, when I look back and things that we've always talked about at Nevada, we're never losing two games in a row. That was our theme. We lose a game, and it's like stop the bleeding right now. We couldn't do that for this year for whatever reason.

It was tough. I don't really like the grind. When you're in the NBA and you play 82 games, that's a freaking grind. Playing 30 is not a grind. Losing eight is a grind, in a row.