Lorenzo Romar again praises Huskies’ resiliency in 99-95 overtime win at Washington State
After another wild, overtime victory for the Washington Huskies -- this one a 99-95 win over Washington State at Beasley Coliseum -- UW coach Lorenzo Romar spoke with reporters for a few minutes. Here is what he said.
(Opening) “Washington State played a great game. Great game. Took us to the limit, but just really proud of our guys that went on the road, only committed eight turnovers. You had a freshman, Dejounte Murray, step up and carry us in the first half. It was a team effort. Noah Dickerson stepped up. Malik Dime stepped up. But it all stemmed from the straw that stirs the drink, Andrew Andrews, our senior leader, who was just phenomenal again today.”
(You’ve had two overtime games where it seemed the opponent really had the momentum – why are you able to reset so well?) “I think our guys are pretty resilient. I think our guys come from backgrounds, a lot of them, where they won games. They’ve been winners. They’re accustomed to winning games, they’re accustomed to knowing what it takes, even though they haven’t done it at this level. And I think that helps. And again, when you have Andrew Andrews leading the way, who’s been in big games also, then he can kind of give the calm to the storm and give the guys a lot of confidence that we can pull it out.”
(Did their inside game give you trouble?) “It did. We were switching everything, so we knew going into the game that they were probably going to score over the top on us. That was what we were going to give up, were willing to give up. Hopefully we could take them out of their offense, but they still did a good job finding holes and getting offensive rebounds.”
(Why are you able to pull these games out despite so much foul trouble?) “I think we have quality depth, I only say it’s a difference in having depth and quality depth. You can go through that bench and sometimes that guy on the bench is going to have a better night than a starter. If you have that type of depth, you can get through games like this every now and then.”
(General thoughts on the game) “Washington State took it to us. They played a fantastic game, but our guys didn’t quit. One of the marks of a veteran team is, whether at home or on the road, up or down, they play the same way. They continue to do the same things that they’ve worked on. And even though our group is young, I thought that’s what we did tonight. Whatever the circumstances were, we continued to play the way we’ve been practicing.”
(On the job Ernie Kent is doing at WSU) “He’s got them believing. There’s no doubt about it. Those guys play with a lot of confidence and we knew coming in that Washington State was a dangerous team. I think that alone, Ernie Kent and his staff deserves a lot of credit for that.”
(Expect their dribble penetration to be such an issue?) “We worked on it a lot early, but they spread us and they have some quick guards. Those guys do that to most teams. They’re hard to keep out of the paint. But we were able to find a way to get it done.”
(Is there any situation this team hasn’t been in yet?) “I don’t think we’ve had a 20 point lead and gave it up and now it’s a two-point game at the end, but pretty much, we’ve seen a lot. We’ve seen some very adverse situations.”
(Did you expect to be 3-0 in Pac-12 play?) “I said one day we’re going to get it. I didn’t know when we would get it, and we still haven’t gotten it yet. But because of our effort and because of our belief and our guys play together and stick together, we’re just able to get by enough until we continue to get better. And I think this team will continue to get better. This was another first for us, and a challenge – it was a road game. A true road game. Our guys came out on top.”
(So you think in February, March, this team will be that much better?) “That’s the hope. We continue to work. Hopefully we continue to get better. We gain more experience in what we’re doing. I would think we could be better than we are right now.”
(On Andrew Andrews’ final shot in regulation) “We had all the confidence that he’d make a play. we thought he did great. We thought he got the guy lifted. We thought the guy was there and there was contact made, but the official didn’t feel like he had jumped far enough to warrant calling a foul.”
(On free-throw shooting being the difference) “That wins a lot of games for teams. We’ve been on the other end where we didn’t shoot free throws well and we came up short. So thank goodness we were on the positive side in that game.”
This story was originally published January 9, 2016 at 3:26 PM with the headline "Lorenzo Romar again praises Huskies’ resiliency in 99-95 overtime win at Washington State."