Opening Statement, Head Coach Mike Montgomery: It didn't feel like a thirty-point ball game. Certainly in the first half to start the game, they gave us a tremendous challenge. Very quick, very athletic. Really attacked the ball defensively, really attacked the goal offensively. It was a real adjustment for us. I don't know that we've played a team that quick, particularly at four spots, not necessarily the fifth spot. They were without a low post and they really rallied to the ball and fronted. Our assist to turnover ratio evidenced their quickness, but we started to solve it. The zone helped us, I thought it slowed them down a great deal, got them out of their tempo. They had a stretch where they didn't shoot the ball well, which gave us some confidence. Of course, we had a run right before the half that got us up a fairly large amount - 17 [points]. It gives you a little breathing room going in, where probably, in all fairness, it wasn't a 17-point game. We probably shouldn't have been up 17 the way both teams played, but we were. It's tough to overcome when you're on the road. We got a chance to get some other players in, which was important. We challenged them to extend the lead, not just go in and play "rat ball," but try to extend the lead, and they did that. I thought that was a real positive. New Mexico is a very interesting team to play because of their size and their quickness and their point-of-attack offense, so it was good for us. But to be able to win like that - it didn't seem like it as I said, but I guess there were stretches where they didn't score very much. Now we'll get ready to go back on the road in the Pac-10, it was a good game between conference [ones] and I think it will really help us.
Q. The team seemed to be having problems with interior passing. What was happening there?
A. They were quick. We don't see that everyday. They protect themselves very well. We told them that they needed to ball fake because were rallying to the ball when it seemed like a guy was open and the guy would flash in there and steal the ball. I didn't think asked at the post as hard as we needed to, but [Wayland] White, for example, has a 42-inch vertical jump so it's not like he can't go up and catch a lob if you try and go over the top. They pressured the ball. They did what they needed to do with their personell. They were very aggressive. They front everything. They get great backside help. They pressure the ball. They use their quickness to their advantage, but it's hard. It puts a lot of pressure on them to continue to do that all night long. Board-wise, we out-rebounded them by 23, and of course that's significant - it got us some second opportunities. Turning it over 19 times was really a product of their quickness.
Q. It seemed like at the end of the half you were able to turn defensive rebounds into points.
A. We went to a zone for a while. Coming out of a timeout, we decided to try it one time and see what happened - just see if we could slow the tempo down in terms of movement on offense. They missed and we got out and ran. It just changed the nature of the game at that point, so we stuck with it, feeling like, well, let's stay with it until something bad happens, and nothing bad ever really happened. We were able to get long rebounds, get out on the break and they were sending several people to the glass and it allowed us to get out and run on the break. Like I said, we got two or three baskets towards the end of the half that turned a 10 or 11 point game and made it 17 and that's a huge difference.
Q. How often have you played the zone this year?
A. We tried to play it early just to work on it, to see whether it would be good for us. We played it in the preseason quite often, we haven't played it much since then. It's probably something that we're going to see this week. The tempo changes and you're not playing man, and their mentality changes, and I think that's what happened.
Q. Did you have to grit your teeth because you love man-to-man?
A. Well, I grit my teeth when the shots go in. I hate to see uncontested shots go in. I hate to see us not block off and them rebound the ball because there was no responsibility for that, but they didn't have much luck with it frankly. I think it was just a tempo thing as much as anything else. Against teams like that, we have got to make them see if they can play against it, if they can't we'll stick with it until they can and then we'll go back to man.
Q. Did you see anything on tape about them against the zone?
A. No. Well, I saw them play zone one time and they were very patient. It's not a revolutionary thing. We just played zone and they didn't score, so we played it again and they didn't score, so we tried it again and they didn't score. Like I said, if they had scored, we wouldn't have played it anymore.
Q. Is this the best depth you've ever had at the post?
A. Curtis [Borchardt] and Justin [Davis] are starting to come along. I think you're going to see continued improvement out of those two, just because of lack of playing time. In many respects, both are freshman and then both were hurt again this year. They missed all of the preseason experience. You will see continued improvement from them, and that will be huge for us to be able to spot Jarron [Collins] and Jason [Collins] with quality play. We stay big and Justin gives us a different look with his explosiveness to the ball. It's the best quality depth we've ever had, for sure.
Q. This is just a two-year contract with New Mexico?
A. Yes. We open with them next year.
Q. With Georgetown losing -
A. Well, we'll probably go the whole season right? Let me, "Don't you think you have the best chance, coach, to be the one team that goes undefeated this year?" Well, let me see, since there isn't anybody else - yeah, we have the best chance.
Q. What does that signify?
A. It signifies that we haven't lost yet and everybody else has. What else could it signify? I don't know any way to answer that question. I really don't.