Lorenzo Romar says Huskies have lost margin for error in pursuit of NCAA bid after 78-75 home loss to California
Here’s everything Huskies coach Lorenzo Romar said after Washington’s 78-75 loss to California on Thursday night at Hec Edmundson Pavilion.
(Opening) “Very disappointing loss. I think that goes without saying. I thought we did a lot of things tonight that would allow you to win a ballgame. I thought we did a better job of guarding. They beat us on the backboards, but I thought we did a better job on the backboards. We missed a lot of easy shots. Couldn’t get that ball to go in the basket. We could talk about free throws, but they didn’t do a very good job at the foul line, either, so that was kind of a wash. We just couldn’t put the ball in the basket tonight. Some of that had to do with their size. They’re big around the rim. There were also a lot of them that we had that I wish we could have had again, (and) those shots would go down.”
(On Cal getting so much bench scoring) “Oh, that’s an advantage to them. Our bench is usually something we can count on, and we just didn’t have it tonight. Also, we brought Noah off the bench, that’s a starter. They’re bringing in two guys that are all-league potential. You’re talking about Tyrone Wallace and Jordan Mathews, so that’s not really – I don’t think we could really gauge that. But those guys did come off the bench. You’re talking about some high, high-level veterans coming off the bench. That’s pretty good for them that they have the luxury to be able to do that.”
(On 3-point shot selection) “Ball just didn’t go in. we probably took two questionable 3s tonight. Andrew hit two at the end. If it weren’t for that, we’d be 2-for-15 for the game. We just couldn’t knock the ball into the basket.”
(On the team fighting until the end) “That’s our team. I think that’s the makeup of our team. Our team doesn’t quit. You don’t get a badge for coming close. We know that. We have to get over the hump. We have to get over the hump. We have to find a way to be able to do it.”
(On why Malik Dime started instead of Noah Dickerson) “We had come up short in a few games and we decided to mix some things up. Malik always gives us a lot of energy. He’s No. 2 in the league in blocked shots, one of the best shot-blockers in the country. We decided to go with him in the beginning, and I thought he started off really well. I thought he played very good, until he picked up a couple of fouls and he had to sit down.”
(On the message to the team now) “We’re going to have the same message the next game we play – we’re doing a lot of things that can help you win, but we go through these periods. I thought tonight we put together a better effort to come up with a victory, but there are just little things. We’re going to make mistakes. I thought there were a couple of times we made mistakes. A couple times, we gave up penetration. But you know, you turn the ball over seven times. We hold them to 39 percent from the field. We did some good things. Tonight, we couldn’t make shots. Of all games, we start to do some things right, tonight was a night we couldn’t put the ball in the basket. We just don’t have a lot of margin for error.”
(On rebounding) “I thought we did a better job. That team is huge. They’ve got athletes. And I thought they out-rebounded us by 10, but there were a lot of missed shots on our end. They had 12 offensive boards, we had 13. We had more second-chance points than they did. I thought we did a better job. It wasn’t stellar, but we made progress. That’s what we want. I thought we made progress in all of the areas that we’ve been talking to our team about this week.”
(On keeping the team’s confidence level up) “You continue to do the right things that are going to allow you to be successful. We had been losing these games and we had been struggling. Our guys came back tonight I thought and did a good job. We know our team pretty good now. Our team will come back on Saturday and our team will be up for the challenge to come back and play again, and I think we’ll do the right thing.”
(On the team’s attitude right now) “Probably shocked. Probably shocked that we’re going through this stretch right now. That’s what I would say. I have sensed in the last week, especially this week, as attentive as our guys were before, we’re even more attentive now. I think our guys will really look and say, OK, what do we need to do to turn this around.”
(Does it seem like you’ve lost any margin for error to make the tournament now?) “We’ve lost our margin for error, yes. We have to bring it. We don’t have very many opportunities to go out and not come out on top right now in order to get an at-large bid. It’s still there, it’s still within sight, but we can’t make many mistakes.”
This story was originally published February 19, 2016 at 1:22 AM with the headline "Lorenzo Romar says Huskies have lost margin for error in pursuit of NCAA bid after 78-75 home loss to California."