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NCAA MEN'S 3RD & 4TH ROUND REGIONALS: SAN JOSE


March 22, 2007


Jamie Dixon

Aaron Gray

Levon Kendall


SAN JOSE, CALIFORNIA

THE MODERATOR: We will start with a statement from Coach Dixon.
COACH DIXON: First of all, I'd like to congratulate UCLA for getting the win, advancing. I felt that we played very hard, really got after it. Really feel sorry for our seniors, as I told them in the locker room that our season had to end this way. I thought we played extremely hard but didn't play as well as we thought we could have.
We had a very good week of practice. I thought we really were prepared to play well. Just didn't play as well as we have been playing, especially in practice. It was disappointing. But I'm very proud of our seniors. The second most wins in school history. They've done a great job all throughout their careers. Levon, Aaron, Antonio and Doyle. I'm very proud of them for what they've done.
THE MODERATOR: We'll open it up to questions for the student-athletes.

Q. It felt like you had some shots that you wanted; just missed a lot of easy ones. Do you feel like if you make your shots as you normally do, you win this game?
LEVON KENDALL: Yeah, of course. I can't remember another game where we missed that many layups or easy looks. I don't know what it was. Just one of those things. There's a lot of times just sitting around the room, came out, shots weren't dropping.
Like you said, we got pretty good looks offensively. They just weren't falling.

Q. Teams at times looked like a mirror image of each other in certain ways. Can you talk about UCLA's defense. Was it as tough as you've seen this year?
AARON GRAY: You know, they're a very good defensive team. Obviously we kind of knew that going in. We knew it wasn't going to be an up-and-down game.
You know, you got to give them a lot of credit. They did a great job of forcing us out of our stuff. At the same time we missed a lot of shots that we're accustomed to making.
Like I said, you just have to give them all the credit. They're advancing. They're the winners.
THE MODERATOR: Thank you, fellas. Questions for Coach Dixon.

Q. Seems to be a question of what their defense did. Does the credit go to them or are you guys missing a bunch of easy shots?
COACH DIXON: You know, I don't know if they were that easy. We felt like we were getting some layups, looks around the basket that didn't go. Maybe if it was that obvious to some others, I don't know.
They're a very good defensive team. I guess it happens more to good defensive teams where they miss -- they seem to miss more shots. Maybe we didn't get a rhythm as far as making some.
I thought we did some good things that we could have. We took care of the ball. We only had 10 turnovers. That was a concern going into the game. So, you know, I think we did. I think we missed some shots that we normally do make. I don't want to take anything away from UCLA and their defense because they seemed to do that regularly, kind of like we do as well.
You want to give credit when credit's due.

Q. We've been talking all week about the match-up between the two coaches who know each other so well. How difficult was it? Coach Howland said he would prefer maybe not having this type of situation again.
COACH DIXON: It's a little tough. I mean, it didn't feel too different during the game, though. Doesn't right now. Just feels like a loss, and a bad one, disappointing end-of-the-year loss. Again, right now I'm not remembering -- I'm trying to remember the 29 wins. I seem to only be remembering this loss. So it doesn't feel that different right now. I think it will.
Obviously, it would have been -- it's just disappointing for us. That's the main thing right now. It's a disappointing loss for us.
THE MODERATOR: Thank you. Coach.

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