Lorenzo Romar talks Arizona, Allonzo Trier, Dejounte Murray, Dawg Pack memories and more
Huskies coach Lorenzo Romar met with reporters for about 30 minutes today to preview Saturday’s 1:30 p.m. game against No. 23 Arizona. Fewer than 400 tickets remain and the Huskies are expecting their first sellout since February 2012.
A couple quick notes -- Dejounte Murray, who tweaked his left ankle on Wednesday night, “didn’t do much” during Thursday’s practice, Romar said, but he expects he’ll be fine for Saturday. And Romar also said freshman forward Noah Dickerson (foot) is “doing fine.”
Arizona coach Sean Miller, meanwhile, told the Arizona Daily Star today that star freshman guard Allonzo Trier will be a game-time decision. Trier has missed Arizona’s last seven games with a broke hand. He suited up and warmed up prior to Arizona’s Wednesday victory at Washington State, but did not play.
Here’s everything else Romar said today:
(On defending against Arizona’s size) “It’s difficult. It’s a challenge. They’re playing with a couple 7-footers on the floor, then Ryan Anderson is playing very big right now, 31 points in his last game. He hurt us down in Tucson when we played them before. We’ve got to be very scrappy, very aggressive. We’re going to have to guard their size as a team. And it will help if we can keep the ball in front of us out front.”
(Do you study what went right in the first half against them the first time you played, or what went wrong in the second?) “A little bit of both. We obviously went through that second half and tried to sort it all out, what happened, try to capitalize and be better at what we did in the first half. They’re a different team. I’m sure Allonzo Trier will play this game. That gives them an added dimension, another guy that can make baskets and get to the free throw line and get you in foul trouble. It’s going to be even more of a challenge this time.”
(On gameplanning for Arizona with Trier) “We lost to them by 30 without him. So we’ve seen them play on film before he went out. Either way, they’re a tough matchup for us. So we’ve got to go in and be prepared to face what I think is a little different makeup of a team than anyone else in our team.”
(How do you think your team is difference since that first meeting?) “I think we probably execute a little better offensively at this point, and I think roles have been defined even more. I think everyone is a little more comfortable in their own roles, whatever those are.”
(On the challenges of defending Arizona) “If Gabe York’s on the floor alone you’ve got to be concerned about him. Parker Cartwright hurt us last game with his penetration. Kadeem Allen hurt us at times with his penetration. Tollefson broke out and was knocking 3s down, and then we had problems inside. That was without Allonzo. So when you talk about challenges, put all that in one package and now put Allonzo in the mix – that’s a different challenge. That’s a different team than we played last time.”
(On Allonzo Trier) “Ever since I’ve known him, since he was probably 8 or 9 years old, he’s been able to just score, do things offensively that most can’t do. He’s always had a passion for this game, always. You can still see that passion when he plays.”
(On the chemistry between local players who were used to playing against each other in high school)“I think it’s fine. Those guys, one way or another, played together before they played here at Washington. So they’re familiar with each other. David Crisp and Dejounte played an entire year on the same team. I know David Crisp and Dominic (Green) have played together. Matisse and Dejounte played on the same team together. Those local guys are accustomed to one another. They played against each other in league play. They played together other all summer, then played together in the fall. So it is a group that is pretty adaptable, I would say, that can play with a lot of different type of players, because I think there’s a lot of versatility in the group. So that bodes well for guys being able to come together and play well together, regardless of the combination, regardless of if they’re local or not local.”
(On breeding chemistry between new players) “Most of these guys are starting from scratch. We had to take our time. There were certain things we would have covered much earlier, but we delayed that process a little bit to make sure we got it. We didn’t want to go too fast and not get things. So that’s one way we had to look at it. I’ve said before, we had to maintain a balance of being patient yet moving along. Because you have to be able to learn the entire philosophy of what we’re trying to do. … This group is so compliant and so willing to do what you ask them to do. They’re trying to do what you ask them to do. So whenever you don’t have to coach effort and you don’t have to fight your team, you can get things done a little quicker. A lot less stressful.”
(On teams focusing more on Andrew Andrews) “I don’t think there’s any question. There was one situation where Andrew drove the lane, and there were literally – there was a crowd of five guys. He was in the middle of a pack fo five guys. So there’s no doubt he is on their mind, which is the same as when we played Oregon last year and Joseph Young was on their team and he was leading the league in scoring. But Andrew also has been able to get some open shots. And I talked to Andrew about this, you go back and look, the last three years now, if we include this year, at some point in league he’s gone through a slump. At some point, he went through a slump. But when he has come out of those slumps, he comes out with stellar play. So I’ve been saying it would be great if he came out of it Saturday.”
(Justin Dentmon slumped his senior year and never quite pulled out of it, can you glean anything from that?) “I remember that with Justin, who was playing at a Player of the Year level that time. As opposed to Justin, I’d go back to Andrew. He’s done it before. He’s already pulled out of it before, twice. So he’s been in this situation before. I think what’s great about Andrew right now is he’s still assisting, he’s still leading, he’s still doing other things that make an impact and are impactful to our team. So it’s not just his scoring. His scoring does help, there’s no doubt about that. But he’s still able to contribute in other ways, which really leads me to believe even more so that he’s going to break out of this and do just fine.”
(On the possibility of Andrews and others being tired) “We’d have to go back and look at the first two years. Again, if this was the first time this had ever happened, ‘what’s going on?’ But it’s happened, for whatever reason, so I don’t know if you can pinpoint one thing or another other than, boy, he’s had a stellar year, and you would think throughout the course of the season you may have a time where you’re a little down, at some point. Most do. The thing like I mentioned earlier, it’s not (that) he’s down. He’s still playing well. The ball just hasn’t gone in the basket as much as he would like.”
(On whether this game could turn into a free-throw shooting contest) “The way that we play normally, and the way the game is being called, any game on our schedule could be a free-flowing free-throw fest. All those Fs in there. It could be.”
(On either Andrews or Murray seeming to have it going every night) “There’s probably some of that going on. Obviously in the two games at Arizona State, that was definitely the case. But what I’ve began to slowly notice as the season has progressed – you make mention of the new guys playing – is Noah’s starting to score more. Before he hurt his foot, he was in double-figures like four out of five games. And last game, he was out but he scored for us in the first half. Matisse Thybulle is starting to score more. Dominic Green, in his role, is certainly capable of making baskets. Marquese Chriss goes out and gets 19 points in one half last game. So it’s not just Andrew now. Other guys are starting to step up and make baskets and make plays, which is great, and that definitely helps Andrew. And to Andrew’s credit, Andrew hasn’t totally tried to force things to just get his. Other guys have stepped up. Matisse Thybulle is hitting 3s. Marquese is making plays. Malik Dime, you throw the ball into him. So Andrew sees that, and I think Andrew’s fine with distributing the ball. You look, his assists have been pretty good, also. So that’s just helpful for the Huskies.”
(On Andrews picking his spots and knowing when to take over and when to distribute) “I think Andrew knows his game, obviously, as well as anyone. And he knows when he’s about to get into that zone. He knows when he can go on a flurry and score points. When he gets in that point where he can run off 14, 16 points in minutes, I think he sees that. In the overtime, he hit the jumper. Once he hit that one, the 3, then he knew. He came down and hit the next jumper, and there it went. If the game had gone to double overtime, he probably would have scored more, probably got up to 20, something like that. I think he has a pretty good feel for that. The other thing, and I may have mentioned this after the game, is Andrew, the ball wasn’t going in for him in the first half, but the ball was going in for Dejounte, and Andrew sensed that. And he just started to play and make sure Dejounte was involved. There was one time, even, in my mind we were going to try to get (Andrews) going and call something for him. Well, he calls the same play, and says ‘Coach, let’s do it for Baby Boy.’ The same thing for him, because he knew he was going. That is awesome, when you have your leading scorer, he’s up (for) maybe Player of the Year in the conference, and he’s thinking about ‘what’s best for this team?’ I thought it showed tremendous maturity on his part.”
(Anything stand out to you about Murray’s game against ASU?) “The fact that he took one outside shot and had 34 points. That probably stood out. And he was just relentless getting to the basket.”
(Where does he rank in terms of getting to the rim?) “Right up there in the top two. Tony Wroten, against the same team, but they were playing zone when he did it. He scored 24 points against a zone and never took an outside shot. That’s pretty good getting to the basket. He was really good at it.”
(Was Wroten more just strength?) “Strength and speed, and footwork. Tony was pretty crafty. Dejounte, he’s so long. He is just so shifty. Tony was probably more srraight-line than Dejounte is. Dejounte is so shifty, he’s probably the shiftiest guy. Isaiah’s right in there. Isaiah Thomas and Brandon Roy. There’s your group – Brandon Roy, Isaiah, Tony and Dejounte. Dejounte reminds me – sorry for going way back in the day – but Gus Williams. When Gus Wiliams was in the open court, it was a layup. It was a layup. Gus got it at halfcourt, turn your head. ‘Is he there yet? (Crowd roars.) Yep, I knew it.’ Dejounte’s kind of like that.”
(On expecting these kind of games from Murray) “Yeah. Again, I wouldn’t tell you he’s going to go out and just get 34 on a regular basis. You guys have heard me say it before – ‘are you surprised that this guy’s playing that way?’ I’m surprised when they don’t play the way we thought they could play. but we recruited them, and as we were recruiting them, we were thinking, OK, they can come in as a freshman and do this or do that. And he’s doing it.”
(On comparing Murray’s season to Wroten) “Never have. Only thing I’ve ever talked to Dejounte about along those lines, was the type of year Isaiah Thomas had as a freshman, and that (Dejounte) is having just as good if not a better freshman year. So, keep it up, big fella. Keep working. He’s not on our team, but you bring up Allonzo Trier. Allonzo, before he got hurt and went out, he was leading Arizona’s team in scoring. If he wasn’t, that would surprise me. It really would have, because that’s what he does. That’s what he’s always done. That would surprise me. And that’s how it is with Dejounte. Dejounte had 30 rebounds in a high school game. ‘Yeah, but it was high school, what was the competition?’ OK. No one else did it. I didn’t hear any other high school guys doing it, regardless of the competition. He’s just able to do those things. He’s got a great feel for where the action is, and how to get involved in the action.”
(Similarities to tomorrow and the 2004 game against Arizona?) “There are some. We’re trying to make our mark. Arizona’s established. They’re a ranked team. They’re arguably one of the couple teams in this league that the nation recognizes when they think of the Pac-12. Again, we’re trying to get over the hump. At that point, we hadn’t had much success in the past couple years, and at this point we haven’t had a whole lot of success.”
(On Nate Robinson’s alley-oop dunk in that game) “The thing – and I talk to people about this – I remember beating Oregon State and people basically were thinking that was cute, you guys won a game on the road. But you won’t win another one because you’re going to another road game. We played Washington State and we won that one. OK, you’ve had your fun, honeymoon is over. You’re about to play 9th-ranked Arizona. And we were able to win that game. That’s kind of where we started going. But what I remember, really, was going back watching that game, I think it was last year or two years ago, and it looked like it was packed but it wasn’t. There were 8,000 people at the game. But there was something weird about the game. There was no noise except when there was a basket made by us. That was weird, but I didn’t know why it was weird. Then Nate got the alley-oop dunk. Then the noise started. Then the Dawg Pack and everyone else started to stand up, and they didn’t sit down after that. That’s what I noticed. A lot of people point to – so do I – the 0-5 start, and we came back and Nate hit the shot against Oregon State to get us on the right track. But I also look at that as, that play, that alley-oop kind of was the signature statement of that was an exciting group to watch. That team was going to be special. And that’s when people really, really started to follow and support us, I thought.”
(On this being somewhat of a milestone game with the sellout, etc.) “I feel like it shows we’re headed back in the right direction. Order, not has been, but is being, restored. That’s what I would say. Not ‘has been,’ because we could go 0-8 in these next games. So we have not arrived, by any stretch of the imagination. But we’re headed in the right direction.”
(On whether he’ll talk to players about what the atmosphere will be like) “I think it speaks for itself. The thing we have to guard against is being too anxious to be in a situation like this. In a positive way, you know? I feel like we were like that in our first game aginst Texas in China. We were so excited to finally play together, I just thought, you know, we were throwing alley-oops three feet over guys’ heads, trying all kind of stuff that we hadn’t tried before, because guys were just so excited to play in that game. So that would be the one thing we would have to maybe guard against.”
(On keeping local talent home) “I think it’s very important. When there’s local talent here that can help us win. Some would say, ‘just take local talent.’ Well, what if that puts us in a position where we’re not very good? It has to be players that are at alevel that can help us win at a high level. I always think it’s good. If things are going well and the local guys are here, they go back into the community and they talk about their experience here, and hopefully it can become a cycle.”
(On changing his recruiting philosophy) “We talked about this a few years ago, where we shot for the – how do you say it, shot for the moon. The stars? … We shot for lofty goals, how about that? In recruiting, in the name of trying to get our program to the next level. And we fell short. There were some players that we thought gave us an indication that we were really strong with them, and we thought, let’s go for it. And we fell short. And after that, we were trying to recover, and we decided we’re going to go after guys that really want to be here, and if the perception is that maybe they’re just slightly at a lower level than those that are going to wait until the last minute, we’re going to take ‘em now, and hopefully they develop, and end up being better than those that were going to make us wait. And that’s what we did. And maybe the best example of that is Marquese Chriss, who, if they could go back to high school and re-rank the kids, I wonder where he’d be ranked now in that same class. I think he’d be ranked a lot higher than that, and he committed to us in January of his junior year.”
(On whether watching Rainier Beach-Garfield game made him feel good about the local hoops scene) “Yeah, but I would say there have been several moments like that since the summer. There have been several times when I’ve had that feeling of, there’s interest here. More kids want to stay home now. The kids that are with us are a part of that, and then the kids that played for us in the past. Everybody seems to be on board. That’s definitely a positive.”
(On having a good relationship with Sean Miller) “I didn’t know Sean very well before he joined the Pac-12, and obviously had a deep respect for what he had done in the past. When he joined the conference, when he came in here, he just came in here, ‘I’m glad to be a part of what’s going on.’ You could see right away the job they were doing over at Arizona, and he hasn’t been one to keep to himself when we’re on the road recruiting, when you see him other places. We talk. We’re pretty open about things we talk about. I don’t think either one is trying to keep secrets from the other. Well, maybe some. But from my end, I have a respect for what he’s done and the way that he’s handled himself around me.”
(Even though he got Allonzo Trier, etc?) “Yeah. No, we’re all right. Hey, it hasn’t just been Allonzo. How about Aaron Gordon?”
This story was originally published February 5, 2016 at 4:57 PM with the headline "Lorenzo Romar talks Arizona, Allonzo Trier, Dejounte Murray, Dawg Pack memories and more."