March 17, 2001
Opening Statement from Stanford Coach Mike Montgomery:
"We took a pretty good shot there from a very good St. Joseph's team.They played superb. You look at the stats, they shot 57 percent for thegame and had a kid get 37 (points) and we still won. I'm really pleasedwith the way the kids hung in there and made the plays at the end andtook the win. I think that's what the NCAA Tournament is all about. Itwas a tough game. We had a great deal of difficulty squaring theirattack, particularly Jameer Nelson. He's awful good at point of attack.We got in foul trouble and we certainly didn't want Mike (McDonald) outof the game with four fouls for a length of time. We had to really workto get a win and we just went inside because of the way they wereplaying us, and the big kids responded. It's a great win. I told thekids in the locker room, and I really, really believe this, that theydeserved to play next week and now we get to."
Montgomery regarding getting past the second round:
"There's a long answer and a short answer to that. The short answer is,I'm relieved. I feel a lot of emotion because I thought, as I saidbefore, we deserved to keep playing. It's tough because almost in everysituation, when you get to this tournament, when you're good, there's a'but' attached to your team. It gets old, it gets tiring, but you haveto deal with it. You know you have to deal with it. This was a toughgame. We knew, in the last two years, they've been really tough games. Ithought we were prepared to handle this and I still think we're preparedto handle it, but there is a sense of relief for sure."
Montgomery regarding the flow of the game and relying on the players toknow what to do:
"We have a really veteran team that generally when a mistake is made, itseems to be the younger guys who make a mental error, something theyhaven't learned, such as gambling on defense and giving up a better shotor stepping off a shooter because you think you're in help but then youdon't get back. Honestly, Casey (Jacobsen)did about what we asked him todo. Certainly not all those points were scored on him. (Marvin) O'Connorwent 10-for-10 inside the 3-point line, which means he was getting tothe basket and we weren't very good at rotating to help, that's otherpeople's responsibility and those shots were made on other people. Ourteam knows what to do. The thing that you're constantly adjusting to inthis tournament is the difference in stuff. You have a pretty good feelfor your opponents in the Pac 10, their personnel and who they are, howthey are going to act and what's going to be said or done. When you'rein the Tournament it's a real different thing, different stuff happens.Different calls are made, different emphasis on what they're going tocall and you have to be pretty veteran to adjust to that, and I think itaffected us a little bit."
Montgomery regarding how the team responded to the pressure down thestretch:
"In a tournament like this, if you look back at any team that hasadvanced at all, they have games like this one. And in a game like this,you have to respond and I think our kids did that."
Montgomery regarding Cincinnati, Thursday's opponent in Anaheim:
"They're probably stronger physically than St. Joe's. They're big muscleguys and they've got a lot of them, so I expect that they will play usthat way, with a lot of good on-ball pressure, probably try to be asphysical as they can in the post. They run a very athletic team, typicalof Bob Huggins' teams. Obviously they are playing with a lot ofconfidence right now."
Casey Jacobsen, Stanford University GuardRegarding what he knew about St. Joseph's guard Marvin O'Connor cominginto the game and whether he'd seen anything like his performancebefore:
"I never heard of him before we drew St. Joe's. Now what do I think ofhim? That is the most amazing performance I've seen, of a player thatI've guarded. I thought I did a good job on him. I worked my butt offout there, and tried to be where he was, to get through screens, and hestill had 37 (points). I don't know what else I could have done butmaybe get there a little bit sooner. My job was not to leave him, Itried not to, but he still scored that many points. That's a testamentof how great of an athlete and how great of a player he is. Every playthat St. Joe's runs, is to him. I felt like I got screened once ortwice on every play. When a guy gets that hot, gets that much freedom,it's hard to shut him off. I know they're setting a screen for him, butI don't know where it's going to come from. I was trying, but at leastwe won."
Regarding the physical play on the court in this game:
"St. Joe's is a very physical team. They bring a lot of attitude,swagger. I would compare them to UCLA in their confidence. When theywalk on the court, they believe they can beat anybody, and that's theway they play. They were really physical with me, grabbing and chuckingwhenever they could. Those are the kind of games where you're going tohave to endure, because when a team plays physical against us and theywin, they're in the NCAA Tournament and everyone is going to do that.If a team plays physical, almost beats us, you better believe we'regonna see it again. They're going to get into us, and get into ourheads, and try to beat us up physically. That's fine if we can learnfrom this game, and deal with it."
Michael McDonald, Stanford University Guard
Is it possible to feel any more pressure than you faced today?:
"Definitely. If we're tied next round. It was a great game out there.We fought. We battled. We lost the lead and got it back. St. Joseph'sdid a wonderful job of executing their offense to perfection. Casey(Jacobsen) did a great job on (Marvin) O'Connor. He was just shootingin his face like he wasn't there. They are a really tough team, and(Jameer) Nelson played extremely well. He's everything that he'scracked up to be. He almost had a triple-double. He's a freshmanplaying in the second round of the NCAA Tournament. We just went outand battled."
Jarron Collins, Stanford University Forward
What is the feeling when a team is pushing you the way St. Joe's did andyou come out with a win?:
"Right now very excited in myself and the rest of the guys here. Secondrounds have been a heartbreaker for us. We know that we're advancing tothe Sweet 16, and that's a great feeling. They pushed us, and gave usall they had, and they really played well. Give them credit for comingout and executing their offense. Right now we're feeling really good.We're already starting to think about Cincinnati right now."
Ryan Mendez, Stanford University Forward
On worrying about a potential upset midway through second half:
"No, that really didn't cross my mind. I was just thinking get itinside to Jason (Collins). He was so dominant. They really tried tooverplay me and Casey (Jacobsen), not let us get too much, and where wecould exploit them was with our inside game. We started going theretowards the end. We made some big plays, some guys got some looseballs. That's what has to happen. If we can't get it in the hole, guyshave to do little things like get rebounds."
On the play of the Stanford bench:
"Our bench is going to have to be key if we're going to make a run inthis tournament. They proved themselves again tonight as they did thefirst night (against UNC-Greensboro). With each game and week-to-week,they are getting more experience and more confidence in themselves.Coach (Mike Montgomery) is relying on them and they realize that."
Teyo Johnson, Stanford University Forward
On his emotions:
"A little bit of relief. We're happy but we're still hungry. We'rereally hungry. We want to get to the Final Four, get to the NationalChampionship Game."
On keeping their composure down the stretch:
"All season, we've been in close games - the Duke game, the UCLA game,Arizona. That really helped us. We're pretty experienced in closegames."
Jason Collins, Stanford University Center
Regarding the good free-throw shooting by Stanford's starting frontcourtin the game:
"Having Ryan Mendez helps us out in the frontcourt. I think he's missedabout only six free throws all year. When the game is on the line, youhave to concentrate and focus that much harder. When I step to theline, and Jarron (Collins) steps to the line, I knew they were importantfree throws. Each free throw is important and I have to make them. Ijust tried to concentrate and knock them down."