Feb. 19, 2005
Quoting Rob Evans:
"One thing I want to mention is that the fans that came here were tremendous and really gave us a lift and we really appreciate it."
"He is going to get better and better. Still learning the nuances of the game at this level. He is a tremendous point guard and leader and that's what we have been looking for. He did a great job of attacking the basket when he needed to and getting the ball where he needed to. Defensively he was super. He has improved a lot sense he has come here. When he first came here he was used to the same system that I came out of in high school with 40 minutes of full court press. He has had to learn when to gamble and when not to. A couple of times he wanted to gamble and leave a few shooters and he caught himself. Then a couple times he trapped and created some turnovers."
On Steve Moore
"The first half he was settling for threes and at the half I talked to him about showing some patience. He is very good shooting except when he starts hunting for shots. He is an aggressive young man and he needs to understand that the first look is to get the ball inside. If he comes off screens or the ball comes back outside he is going to knock down those shots."
On team defense in the last 5:00 minutes
"That's the best defense we have played in a long time. Against Oregon State on Thursday was the best defense we have played with some effort and concentration. Then the last 10 minutes was the best defense we have played in a while. That's the way you win ballgames on the defensive end of the floor.
Quoting Oregon Head Coach Ernie Kent:
On the game: "We had this game under control until the second half. I didn't think we played very smart going down the floor three straight times and foul Ike (Diogu)in a double-team. We let him spin out of double-teams a couple of times. When it was all said and done he didn't have a monster game, but Steve Moore did. He had way too many points. I thought he really turned the game for them with his energy and effort. He basically just out-toughed us at times in that second half after we had taken control of the game. It got away from us, though. You can't have 17 turnovers with your four starters alone. That's going to be tough to beat anybody. And obviously when you only make 6-16 free throws and the other team is making 17-25 you're not going to beat a lot of people either."
On ASU's defense:
"When you go look at tape they're (Arizona State) a good defensive team, but a lot of our turnovers are just unforced turnovers. There were wrong reads and guys were wide open for lay ups and you can't get the ball to him. It's frustrating, but at the same time it's stuff that you have to get through. This is a team with guys just getting up to this level. Typically, you only play with one freshman on the floor and we have four. They're making freshman mistakes at times when people are open and trying to feed things and doing some things that way."
On the turnovers:
"The only thing we can do is come back and continue to coach, continue to work with them and understand good selection and bad selection. You have a team that is relying on a lot of guys to come and play in situations they've never been in before. If you look back at the history of any team that had players that were young they made a lot of mistakes. This is a game that I felt we could have had. Obviously, it was right there in our grasp to take control of it."