It's a great position for us to be in. It's an honor to be able to play for a Pac-10 championship. I'm happy for our players that they're going to have the opportunity to fight for the championship. That's what you dream of as a player and as a coach. |
It's been a long time. |
It's tough. I thought our guys came out and played very hard. But give N.C. State credit, they played well. They didn't make a whole lot of threes like they normally do, but the ones they did make were some real momentum changers. |
Leon and I have talked a lot about his future and his options. He just had the best season of his basketball career, which is a credit to his work ethic and perseverance. I trust that Leon will ultimately make a great decision. |
Leon deserves a lot of the credit for the impact he's made. He makes a lot of things easier for a lot of guys. He's also been a really good defender for us this year. he's really improved his understanding of the game. |
Leon fought through the frustration. |
Leon has gotten stronger. He was kind of up and down, to where he'd have a solid Thursday and maybe not a solid Saturday. Now he's durable and he's been playing under a lot of duress. |
Leon is a smart guy. I have faith in Leon, in his decision-making process. |
Leon is really a highly competitive person. When he was struggling shooting free throws earlier in the year, he was getting up at 5 in the morning and going to a gym near his home and shooting free throws. Then he came up with a couple of 10-for-10 games, 10-for-12, 12-for-15. I think that's a testimony to who he is. |
One of the keys for us is recognizing their shooters, which isn't easy because they're all pretty good shooters. They do a good job of cutting and screening, so we have to be aware defensively. They have some good athletes and some good shooters. They are very tough to guard. |
Our guys have to stay in the moment, and it's not easy. I was worried about our team when we were up 21-2 against Oregon State. |
Our intensity was good, our spirit was good. That's the kind of effort you need against Washington. They're that kind of team. |
Our players have the game in perspective. We know what we're up against ? and we're facing a very dangerous team. |
Our players were hungry. I can't ask our players to go out and play harder than they played today. |
Our team obviously is down after the game. I don't know how you can play that game and not be down. We have to come back. That's our challenge right now. We have to bounce back. We can't go back to this game. It's over. We have to have the same mentality we had during that stretch. That's going to be our challenge right now. |