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PAC-12 MEN'S BASKETBALL TOURNAMENT

March 12, 2016

Las Vegas, Nevada

Oregon - 88, Utah - 57

THE MODERATOR: Coach, fashioned quite a convincing championship victory.

COACH ALTMAN: Well, we really played well tonight, and, first of all, this kind of game happened to us a year ago against Arizona, and we weren't that bad a year ago, and obviously Utah just had an off night. Larry and his team will regroup and I believe have an outstanding NCAA Tournament. They're a good team.

It was just our night. We played really hard tonight, really well, and for 40 minutes I thought gave tremendous effort. So, again, it was not the game that we anticipated, but we just got on a roll. And that happens, just like Arizona got on a roll last year against us, and to our team's credit, we bounced back and won a game in the NCAA Tournament and gave ourselves an opportunity to win a second one. I know Utah will do that.

Q. Coach, you did mention that you guys were pretty much hot the whole night. But you look at the stats, 28 points off turnovers, 23 second-chance points, I mean, these are stats that are hardly even heard of. So in your eyes, do you feel like tonight might have been the cleanest basketball game you've played all year?
COACH ALTMAN: Well, it was one of our better ones. We only had seven turnovers, and we had 16 assists. I thought our ball movement at times was really good. As you mentioned, those are two key stats for us. We've got to get some points off turnovers. Because of our lack of size, creating some turnovers is important to us. But we also feel like those are big hustle stats.

Last night Arizona beat us on the boards, and that was the first time in six games we had been beaten on the boards, and we were able to win the boards tonight. So those two stats are always stats we look at. But I was really pleased with our ball movement, especially the second half. I thought we really were trying to make plays for each other and took very few poor shots.

Q. You think you guys made a statement tonight and should be a 1 seed tomorrow?
COACH ALTMAN: Oh, that's for the committee to decide. We just want to play. Wherever they set us up, wherever they match us up, we're just going to have to go play. The committee puts a tremendous amount of work in. I said a long time ago I'd never politic to get in on seeding or anything, because they do a tremendous job. We just are anxious to get in and be in the tournament. Wherever they send us, I think it's going to be a tremendous tournament for our league. I really believe that.

I think the athletes in our league will do well this coming week. I hate to put pressure on everybody like that, but I just think that our league's been really competitive and really good, and I'm sure excited about next week, and I'm sure the other teams that are going to get in are excited also.

Q. Tyler, they were the 12th ranked team in the country. You didn't just beat them, you clobbered them. How did you do it?
TYLER DORSEY: We jumped on them in the first half pretty quick. Coming into the locker room at halftime we knew like the last game Arizona we let them come back. We knew we emphasized on that and not letting them jump on us in the first five minutes of the second half. That's what we did.

We just picked up our effort and energy in the second half and never let them get going, the shooters and playing in front of Poeltl and doubling in the post and not letting him get going as well.

Q. Just following up on that earlier question about seeding. I know this is purely speculative. But what is a better situation, being a No. 1 seed and having to go out of the time zone or maybe staying as that No. 2 seed as some have you projected in Spokane?
COACH ALTMAN: Well, I've never been in that situation before, so I wouldn't know. You'd have to ask Sean. He's the only one that's been in that position. We hopefully will -- we'll go wherever they tell us to go. Elgin went to Milwaukee his first year with us and played really good in front of his home fans. So it doesn't matter. Wherever we go, we'll go try to make the best of it.

Q. Where are you guys better defensively now than maybe a month or two ago? How have you guys kind of learned to compensate for the lack of size that you have?
COACH ALTMAN: Well, I think our activity has gotten better. Our communication has really gotten better. November, December, January, we gave up a lot of baskets just because our guys didn't know what the other guy was going to do. And when you're trying to match up in the zone or man-to-man, whatever defense you're playing, communication is a big part of it. And our communication wasn't very good. I think we've gotten better collectively, talking, communicating with each other, letting guys know what they're going to do so the guy can make the next move.

So then Chris and Jordan, Jordan didn't play November and part of December. And Chris gave us a one-two punch back there that covered up a lot of mistakes. People get to the rim and Chris is really long, and Jordan's really bouncy, and those two guys cover up a lot of mistakes for us.

Q. Elgin, winning Most Outstanding Player, what's that feeling like? I know you've been playing very well in weeks past. What's it say about this team that you and three of your teammates are on the All-Tournament team?
ELGIN COOK: It's an amazing feeling, but at the same time this wouldn't be possible without my teammates and without the coaching staff. My teammates do a great job executing the plays coach calls, and he does a great job getting us the ball where we're comfortable.

Q. Dana, I'd like to ask you the same thing. What's it say about your team, four of your guys are on this All-Tournament team?
COACH ALTMAN: It's what I said all year, we've got really good players. Our guys are good. They're fun to work with, they've developed, they're getting better, so just it states the fact that we've got really good players. And they work together.

Like I said, I thought our ball movement tonight was really good and we made plays for each other. We've got some swing action and guys driving the ball and if they didn't have a good shot kicking it out. So I just thought our ball movement was good and they made plays. They're playing well together, and that's important for any team.

Q. Elgin, was this your team's best showing of the season? And now that you've won eight in a row heading into the tournament, how do you feel about the momentum?
ELGIN COOK: I think it was our best effort. Everybody showed effort on the rebounding and on the defensive end. I think there was a lot of activity. And when we did get beat, Jordan was back there and Chris was back there to cover up our mistakes.

Q. Can you comment on the roll you're on with eight wins going into the tournament?
ELGIN COOK: It's good, I guess. It's positive for the team. Just knowing that we can compete whether we're down or ahead in closing teams out.

Q. Athletes talk a lot about getting into a zone. Midway through the first half when you guys just took off and went on an 18-3 run, did it just feel like everything was going your way? Were you feeding off each other? What was that like on the floor at that time?
TYLER DORSEY: It was, I think, just one of those nights. Offensively we were moving the ball. We had more assists this game and everybody can get it going. It was just moving the ball offensively and getting what we want and taking our time.

Q. Three games in three nights, overtime, Utah had the exact same situation. How tired were you guys and did you sense that Utah's legs were just dead?
TYLER DORSEY: I don't think the fatigue played in the role. We've been conditioning all off-season, running tens is coming in key right now. We just kept it going. We kept pushing. We never let down on our guard even when we were up.

ELGIN COOK: I think Cal's a great team and they competed hard against Utah and went into overtime as well, so maybe that played a factor in today's game. But I felt great out there. Feeding off my teammate's energy and positive attitudes.

Q. Elgin, last year you guys were the Utah this year, being blown out by Arizona. But it seems like tonight didn't matter who you played against it was going to be that kind of game. So for you, how does it feel to get that second coming and win out the conference tournament?
ELGIN COOK: It feels great knowing that the team bought in and we just came together and we had no problems sharing the ball and communicating on the defensive end.

Q. Last night, Sean Miller, as you may have heard, very complimentary about you guys. He said you guys have enough talent to win the NCAA Championship. How do you feel about that?
COACH ALTMAN: Well, I think Sean was trying to be nice. We have a good ballclub. I haven't seen enough basketball across the country. You kind of get locked in on your conference. You watch other games. You know, Arizona's definitely been in that position the last two years, and as I've said on a number of occasions, they've set the standard in our league, and everybody's tried to catch them.

This year we did catch them for a little bit. But I don't know how we stack up nationally, to be very honest. So our challenge will be whoever we play, wherever we play to refocus and just play the best basketball we can play and stick to the formula that's been successful for us, and then just play as hard as we can and let it take us where we go. Hopefully that will be a long way. But I can't honestly answer that question because I just don't know how we stack up against some of the other conferences.

We did play Baylor and Alabama, some teams that are being considered for the tournament and did all right there, so I think we're going to be okay. But we'll see here in the next few weeks.

Q. Elgin, you said last week you'd never really won anything before in basketball. Can you talk about these last two weeks. You win a regular season title, the conference title, you win the MVP of this thing, just sort of what these last couple weeks have been like for you? Kind of picking up things you haven't had before in your career?
ELGIN COOK: It's just surreal right now. It's an amazing feeling, and I wouldn't want to share it with anybody else but those guys in the locker room and this coaching staff. They did an amazing job all year.

Q. Elgin and Tyler, what kind of emotions are going through your head? Tyler, you as a freshman, going to your first NCAA Tournament, and Elgin, you as a senior?
TYLER DORSEY: It's been a great year. I think this team, we've been fighting all year. We came together lately winning these last eight games. It's just a great feeling winning the conference championship and the tournament.

But we've got to keep it going. We've got to lock in, take a couple days off, enjoy it, but we've got to get going and lock in and see who we're playing on Friday on Sunday. So I'm just happy, and I'm enjoying it.

FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports

ASAP Sports, Inc. | T: 1.212 385 0297

PAC-12 MEN'S BASKETBALL TOURNAMENT

March 12, 2016

Dana Altman

Tyler Dorsey

Elgin Cook