Lorenzo Romar says Huskies showed ‘courage’, ‘resiliency’ in 87-85 comeback win over USC
Here is everything Huskies coach Lorenzo Romar said after Washington’s 87-85 comeback victory over USC. The Huskies trailed 66-44 with 13:30 to play, and that 22-point deficit is the largest they have overcome during Romar’s 14-year tenure.
(Opening) “I can’t say anything without first praising USC. That team is good. In my opinion, they are the most difficult team to guard that we have played up to this point. They just have someone at every position that can make a basket. I feel bad for Julian Jacobs. I think he’s one of the more underrated guards in America. We watched him on film, watched what he was doing, he controls their team, runs their team, and it was a big blow for them for him to have to go out. But our guys stepped up and we tried to take advantage of it the best we could and I thought we did a great job with that. I’m just so proud of our team. So proud of these guys, to show the character and the courage and resiliency they showed today.”
(You seemed to show more emotion than usual) “I won’t say we weren’t right, like we didn’t care, but I don’t know if was the emotion of the double-overtime game the other night – but we were just flat. We were a step slow defensively. Now, USC is good, and they will exploit you if you’re a step slow, but we were a step slow on the defensive end, and offensively, the shots, they didn’t look like they were going to go in. it wasn’t like we were shooting airballs, but it just wasn’t that good touch. Thank goodness in the second half we were able to go with a smaller group that played with a lot of energy that generated some offense for us and got us going. But yeah, I was trying to get us going, because we were flat. Sometimes when you’re flat, you don’t realize you are until you watch yourself on film and go ‘wow, I’m not moving very fast at all.’”
(2-of-9 on layups in the first half because of that?) “I think so. I think so. Noah missed some shots around the rim that he normally makes. A couple other guys missed some shots they would normally make. Marquese did. Again, it was a different story down the stretch.”
(On David Crisp playing 29 minutes) “David Crisp I thought was playing well. The way the game went, he was able to stay in the game and help us. He did a phenomenal job of trying to deny Jordan McLaughlin the ball down the stretch. We knew he was their main ballhandler that was going to be in there, and David showed he’s in pretty good condition, because he was able to keep him from catching the ball quite a bit after they had done a lot of damage to our team.”
(What did Jacobs going out allow you to do?) “It allowed us to be more aggressive with our pressure. He’s good enough to where if you really get up and pressure him, he’s going to go by you and he’s a good enough guard that if you step up, he’s going to dish it off to someone else. He’s very good.”
(On Dejounte Murray taking over in the second half) “It was great to see that. The way we were playing, pressing and trapping, turnovers, up and down – that right there is bliss for him. It was just him going out there hooping, and there’s not too many better at it than him.”
(Have you ever been in back to back games with this kind of emotion?) “Yes, but not this nature. There have been games where the stakes were higher, where this is a heavyweight title fight, it seems like, one blow, another blow and another blow, and it’s so much emotion down the stretch but the game is close the entire time. Hadn’t been where you’re down like we were down against UCLA, comeback, double overtime, and then you’re down (22) in the second half with not a lot of time left in the second half. Never been a part of that before.”
(On the bigs all bringing something different) “It seems like there – Malik, the way he plays, he’s a little more solid game in and game out because he’s going to defend, he’s going to rebound, those type of things. Noah and Marquese on the offensive end, even though Malik’s been scoring more lately on the offensive end, they can be contributors as well. I think between those three, one or two of them, and sometimes all three of them step up.”
(What was the play design for Murray on the last possession) “We were trying to get him going to the rim. That’s what we were trying to do – get him going to the rim. We were in the double bonus, he had been going well – he gets a step on you, he’s probably going to get into the paint and make some type of play.”
(They played box-and-one against Andrews?) “On a couple possessions. Not the entire time, but there were a couple possessions they tried to do it.”
(What changed in the second half?) “Again, the nature of the second half, the game was so spread out, and us penetrating and playing very loose, there were a lot of openings for guys to go out and get the ball, but if it had been the same situation in the first half, I don’t know if we would have got those rebounds. Down the stretch, we came alive, and we started to paly Husky basketball in terms of that frenetic pace and that effort, and I think the rebounds were a byproduct of that.”
(On forcing 21 turnovers and only having 11) “We love that. UCLA had 25 turnovers, and 21, I wouldn’t have predicted that by either team, especially USC, because they play with two ballhandling guards in there quite a bit. Even in the first half when Jacobs played, they had 11 turnovers. It just means we’re active. When we’re active on the defensive end, we’re going to give ourselves a fighting chance.”
(Surprised that a team this young is winning these kind of games?) “I wouldn’t say I’m surprised as much as I’m very pleased to see us doing it … Games like this, for a young team, early, as you’re still developing – and I believe we’ll keep getting better as a team – if you can somehow sneak one in, sneak another in, move the chains until you get better and improve, these wins are valuable. These wins are going to be so valuable for us, not only in the win-loss column, but in terms of our own psyche, and our own belief within ourselves. We come back in double overtime and beat UCLA, but now we can always say, ‘fellas, we were down 21 with 15 minutes to go.’ Hopefully we’re not in that position, but now there are not a whole lot of situations where we can’t just say we still have a chance.”
(Why do you think this group is so resilient? Where does that come from?) “I think it’s the character of our team. Anybody that would listen, I’ve been saying it from Day 1, this is a different group, this is a special group, this is a caring group. They care about one another. Every one of these guys want to play in the NBA, but there’s no one that’s u[putting their personal agenda ahead of our team. Everyone’s out there trying to make the other one better. like I said, t’s a special group. You don’t get groups like this all the time. We still have 16 games left in the Pac-12, but it’s going to be fun to coach these guys and watch these guys grow.”
(On the players looking like they have fun) “From Day 1, we said that if we will sell out to playing the way we want to play, if we would get in condition, if we would guard the way we want to guard, if we would share the ball, you’ll have as much fun as you’ve ever had playing basketball. And when our guys are doing it, you can tell they have that fun. But remember, they’re all been hanging out since the summer quite a bit with each other and they’ve been playing basketball with each other. We go to China, we got to the Bahamas, we’re hanging out. So they all know one another. They kid each other all the time, and when that game starts, they’re all for one, and they pull for one another, and when things go well, they’re just an excitable group.”
(On why that is) “I just think we’ve been blessed with a good combination of guys. Guys want to be here. They want to be here. They’re not renting out our program.”
(Does having more local guys help?) “That has something to do with it, but again, one of the most well-liked guys on our team is Malik Dime. But yeah, they bring that enthusiasm. The local guys, like I’ve said many times, when we offered them scholarships, they were fired up. You bring this up – you’re talking about guys when they got their practice gear the first day, they’re putting it on and there’s no practice. And they’re taking selfies in their practice uniform. That’s how much they appreciate the program and appreciate being here, and it makes a difference.”
(USC was picked to finish 10th, and UW 11th – thoughts after that game?) “If that’s the 10th-place team, then somebody’s winning the championship out of this league. That’s a good team. I can speak for SC – I won’t talk about us – but for SC, there are a lot of guys that were wrong on that one. That’s not a 10th-place team. They won’t finish in 10th place.”
(Do they look like an NCAA tournament team?) “I think so. I think they can do it. They’re hard to deal with.”
(Why does Noah Dickerson get hit in the face so much?) “He mixes it up. He’s always guarding the biggest, strongest guy, and he’s not backing down from them. He’s just right in there getting dirty, and every now and then, that happens.”
This story was originally published January 3, 2016 at 4:13 PM with the headline "Lorenzo Romar says Huskies showed ‘courage’, ‘resiliency’ in 87-85 comeback win over USC."