Jan. 26, 2001
HEAD COACH BOB BENDER
General Remarks:
"The beginning of that game couldn't have been better for us in a lot ofways. The tempo was really something we could be positive with andbenefit from. We were hitting some open baskets. We were hitting someopen shots that we created with good movements and defensively and theywere scoring obviously. We weren't giving up a big home run ball tospeak.
"We came down and changed defenses, organizing, but we didn't get thedefense we wanted--two guys on one side of the court--and that started thethrees. That lead was all of the sudden double figures and on theoffensive end we started to panic and we lead to our own problems.
"Not to understate the obvious. Stanford will do that to a lot of teamsand is always capable of that--punishing you when you break down. In mymind, why they are undefeated is they've played some great teams in sometough places and they have gotten it done. When we were vulnerable, theypounced on us. That's what good teams do."
On how Stanford compares to other teams:
"They're really good. They really are a good basketball team. We'vewatched so much tape on them and you just get a different perspective whenyou see them in person and I think it heightens how good they are."
Where does Washington stand now:
"We've got a long way to go to compete with Stanford. 'Will that make usbetter? Will it help us against Cal?' That is what I am hoping, becauseCal is playing well and they present some of the same matchup problems."
STANFORD HEAD COACH MIKE MONTGOMERY
General Remarks:
"Washington started off extremely well, making their first five, six orseven shots in a row, but so did we, so we were able to keep pace. Then aswe started to get a little more aggressive defensively and started to geta little more feel for what they were doing, we were able to get up intothem a little bit. We continued to shoot the ball well, and they startedto throw it off a little bit and we were able to stretch [the lead]out. We challenged our guys to win the second half. All in all, it was apretty good team effort. A pretty big win for us."
On playing everybody in the first half:
"It was probably the best half of basketball, particularly on the road,that we've played. We played everybody in the first half, which I thoughtwas important. We're trying to get our depth developed, get some kids someexperience -- I know there were some raised eyebrows, but we wanted to getsome guys valuable time in a conference road game. We got nine guysdouble-figure minutes on the road in the Pac-10, and I think that'simportant. That's going to help us down the line."
On Michael McDonald:
"Mike McDonald was excellent, he could have had a double-double easily. Heshot the ball well and had nine assists and just one turnover. He wasdisappointed he didn't get the 10th assist. He's been shooting the ballreally well, and that's important."
On the best start in school history:
"You can't really compare, because you don't know who we've played [inother years] or what the circumstances were. We're in a heck of aconference race right now. Nobody's giving much ground -- Arizona, SC,UCLA, Cal and Oregon are hanging -- so we've got to continue to try andwin as many games as we can if we want to win the conference. I think wehave a pretty good basketball team, and if we can stay focused and stayhealthy, and continue to develop our depth, we might have a chance to makesome hay."
On Seattle-area prepsters Teyo Johnson and Curtis Borchardt:
"Curtis is probably right now playing where he was a year ago before hegot hurt. The fact that he had to take seven months off was reallydifficult for him, and he had some difficulties both physically andmentally. He's now back where he was last year, and that's good, that'sreally going to help us down the road. Teyo has played a lot of post forus, and he's really kind of a perimeter guy. For a freshman, it's a toughbreak, in particular, with the numbers of players that we have that canplay. He's playing well and getting better, and he's really starting toconcentrate to try to learn.