Lorenzo Romar says USC comeback was ‘somewhat magical,’ gives updates on Matthew Atewe, Sam Timmins, talks coach-AD relationship and more
As usual, Huskies coach Lorenzo Romar’s weekly media session was long and wide-ranging. So let’s get right to it.
(Impressions from the USC game?) “The first part was, we weren’t as bad as I thought in the first half. First half I just thought, wow, SC was just good. They were good and we got down, we got behind. We weren’t very good defensively in the second half in the beginning. I believe they made their first seven field goals and that’s when they began to distance themselves. What you said was, yeah, we were down 22, we make a big comeback, then we’re down seven with under two minutes to go. To me that was just as difficult as coming back from 22, yet our guys found a way.”
(On what fueled the comeback) “There’s no question it was the defense. No doubt, that generated the offense for us. We were able to trap. It’s kind of been a pattern for us, not just this year, (but) over the years – when you’re really dialed in defensively, and every now and then you’ll be dialed in and can’t make a basket, but somehow that focus carries over to the offensive end, and I thought that just got us going the other night, then all of a sudden you’re just playing with tremendous confidence. You’re literally not thinking a whole lot. You’re just playing on instincts, and it just all kind of came together for us.”
(On what they learned from the comeback) “That we understand what can be accomplished when we’re playing with that type of intensity and that type of togetherness. During that comeback, no one really cared who was getting the credit for anything. There weren’t a whole lot of distractions. We were all in the foxhole together. I think our guys saw that. It was somewhat magical in the way it happened. When you experience something like that, I think you grow up a notch. I think our guys did that, in both games, actually.”
(What do you tell your team about going on the road for the first time?) “Don’t change a thing. You don’t have to change the way you play. if you play the right way, it should translate, and when you go on the road that way, you have to make sure that you try to take care of the ball even more. Bad shots are the first pass to a fast break for the other team. You’ve just got to be more aware. But in terms of your philosophy, your style of play, we’re ready to go on the road in terms of what you’re supposed to do. You just can’t get distracted and sidetracked.”
(On defending WSU’s transition offense) “You’ve got to get back. Not only do you have to be back, you have to be organized. It’s one thing to have all your guys back on defense. It’s another thing to be in position to help, (when) they bring that ball full speed, to help on the ballhandler that’s coming, (if) they hit one of the shooters, you’ve got guys posting up on you – you’ve got to be organized when you’re back.”
(Does Ernie Kent do same things his teams did at Oregon?) “No question. There are a lot of things he still does that worked for him at Oregon and they’re good at. Coach knows his system like the back of his hand. He knows how to counter what you’re trying to do to stop it, and he gets his guys to believe in it.”
(On what WSU does well) “I’ll just say this. They really like to play uptempo, but they are a lot more organized in their uptempo than people might think they are. I’ll just say that.”
(On Josh Hawkinson’s game) “He’s one of the guys that, the scout is almost irrelevant for him. I used to always joke about Nate Robinson, how do you scout the fact that when there’s a loose ball, he’s not only going to get it every time, he’s going to turn it into a layup. OK, so we’re going to work on drills going for loose balls and then transition when you go after the loose ball – no one does that. Hawkinson is a little like that in that he just has a nose for the ball. He gets far more defensive rebounds than he does offensive rebounds and he just kind of hangs around, hangs around, has that great feel for where the ball is, where the open spots are, and you can concentrate on him a lot, but he still kind of finds a way. He’s just a very, very innately smart basketball player.”
(On how Hawkinson, a Shoreline native, went under the radar in recruiting) “Every now and then you have one. I think Josh would tell you by his own admission that he was not the player that he is now. His freshman year he wasn’t the player that he was his sophomore year. One or two points a game is what he averaged. He’s just one of those rare guys that he ends up being a late bloomer. The last guy I remember that was like that, and I think this guy was further along than Josh, was Luke Sikma from here. Luke almost ended up playing in the NBA, but when he was in high school, you would not have predicted that. And he was further along than Josh was. Josh I think being able to step outside and all that has helped him, and he has a lot of confidence right now.”
(Is it important to withstand that first burst of energy from the opponent on the road?) “I think it always is when you’re on the road, for sure, for our team. You talk about the road, you’ve got to come ready to play. Hopefully you come ready to play at home, too. They can come out and throw the first punch. The crowd is, ‘we’re going to feed them to the lions today’ kind of atmosphere. That’s how it usually is when we go there. So you definitely want to come out, make sure you take care of the basketball, make sure you’re dialed in on defense, not give up easy baskets.”
(Does having more local guys make it easier for the team to understand the importance of the rivalry?) “I think so. I think, again, true rivalries are when both teams are near the top every year, they’re knocking each other off every year. I don’t know if we’ve had that as consistently over the last five, six years.”
(On what the game-winning shot at WSU did for Andrew Andrews’ confidence last year) “It definitely didn’t necessarily change his confidence. He’s always been pretty confident, Andrew has. I think maybe it kind of opened some other people’s eyes about what he’s capable of doing. You and I have talked about this a lot, Andrew, two years in a row, hi sophomore year and his junior year, he finished the season playing very well, scoring a lot, and games like the Washington State game there last year did nothing but let the outside people in on more of what he had been doing.”
(On Dejounte Murray having more confidence after a big game) “He’s another one that walked in the door here with swag. That’s how he’s always played. He’s always been not cocky but very, very confident in himself. I think really good players, great players, have this certain sense about themselves that they just know they’re pretty good. Things don’t go as well, it eventually will. They don’t really lose confidence, the really good ones.”
(What’s the message to Noah Dickerson after a rough game against USC?) “Noah, we know what you’re capable of. Just get lost in the game, play hard, everything will be fine. Which it will. We were able to document – you do it more than I do – when we talk to the media, we talk about certain players throughout the season, I think everybody kind of gets their turn, (like), ‘Marquese Chriss is down, Andrew’s going through a slump.’ Whoever it is throughout the year, you play so many games, someone’s going to go through this. And it just happened to be Noah’s turn in one of the games, not both, because he still impacted the game (against) UCLA even though he didn’t make a basket because he had 10 rebounds and played great defense on Tony Parker. So I see it as he had one game where he was a little off.”
(Does he have more trouble in an up-tempo game?) “No, he played at Montverde last year, and as he will remind you, he won two national championships, and they like to play up-tempo. He thrived in that. I think Noah can play in any system. He’s a pretty versatile basketball player.”
(Where does Andrew’s 35-point game against UCLA rank as far as individual performances you’ve coached?) I think it’s very reminiscent of the Arizona-Washington game with Brandon Roy (in the 2005-06 season). Now, Bryce Alford’s 30 were a little different than Hassan Adams’ 30-plus that he had here, but it was double overtime game then, just we won this one this time. Brandon hit two, he did a lot like what Alford did, hit two 3s to send game into overtime and second overtime, but they both made big plays in that game. It was very similar, I thought.”
(On the relationship between athletic director and coach) “Well, we’ve had three. We’ve been very fortunate we’ve had very good athletic directors here. I’ve always felt the athletic directors here have been very, very supportive. I think it’s very vital. I always feel like with an athletic director, it’s very important that you’re both working together in the same direction, and I think a lot of people would feel that way.”
(More on that) “Like anything, they’re all different forms of leadership. Some are micro-managers, some stay off, some believe that they hire someone to do the job and because they did a good job in their selection, they can back off and let them go to work. Some others want to be right there every step of the way. Some are dictators – you’re the coach, but you’re going to do it the way I want to do it.”
(Does it concern you to see Scott Woodward reportedly leaving for another job?) “Well, Scott has been great here. Scott has done a lot here with our athletic department. Obviously there has been some trust there with Scott, so we’ll just have to wait and see.”
(Update on Matthew Atewe, a transfer from Aubur who is redshirting this season) “Matthew is very fast, he is now completely healthy, he’s been practicing with us for a month or so, and he’s learning, continuing to learn our system, because although he was here, he couldn’t actually do it. Watching and doing are two different things. Matthew is physical, going to be a very good defender for us, he’s going to be a very good rebounder for us. He has experience because he’s played in the SEC against top competition, so it’s been good. It’s made practices a little more intense with him in there banging around. It’s been good for Noah and Devenir and Marquese for Matthew to get out there, and now we have Sam (Timmins), who I’ve been really impressed in that he has not – he’s practiced with us I believe two or three times … and we’ve not had a session where we’ve taken him to the side with four other guys and said, ‘OK this is what we’re doing.’ He’s just kind of watching and we’re talking to him on the fly and he’s picked things up really quickly. And man, he’s really strong. He’s really strong.”
(You compared Sam Timmins to Aron Baynes, is that what you’ve seen so far?) “I think physically the comparison is there. I feel like he’s further along offensively than Aron Baynes was. And this is – Sam hasn’t played a game yet. I’m talking about Aron Baynes as a junior. I believe Sam is a little further along than he was. Aron Baynes maybe as a sophomore.”
(Why is it important for Timmins to suit up for games, warm up, etc.?) “And travel on the road, and sit on the bench, and see the crowds and do everything. If he were a transfer from another college and had done this before, it wouldn’t be that big of a deal, like Matthew Atewe. But because he is an incoming freshman and has not been in the states, I thought it was very important for him to experience everything, this part. So right now, it’s as if he is on the team, he’s just not going to get in the game. So when he comes in and plays next year, hopefully all this part is nothing to him.”
This story was originally published January 7, 2016 at 4:45 PM with the headline "Lorenzo Romar says USC comeback was ‘somewhat magical,’ gives updates on Matthew Atewe, Sam Timmins, talks coach-AD relationship and more."