Gonzaga Bulldogs - 88, Kentucky Wildcats - 72
Q. You guys got off to a pretty hot start today. How crucial was that after Wednesday?
MARK FEW: I think it was really, really big. You're hoping that's how your team responds after a disappointing loss, and it was great. It got the crowd energized and they stayed energized. It was a phenomenal environment in here tonight. Yeah, that was big.
And then I also thought our response in the second half after they made their run, that was a very, very good sign for us moving forward.
Q. The battle inside that Anton had with Oscar, Oscar got a lot of points, but what did you make of that?
MARK FEW: Anton was phenomenal tonight. He was spectacular. If we can get that out of him in every night, we're going just fine. It's exactly, I think, all of us want and that's the best of Anton. He locked up with Oscar all night, did a great job.
Every one of Oscar's were tough. I mean, it's surprising that he ended up with 20. That's how good a player he is. But I thought Anton was not only phenomenal there, but also on the glass, and then also offensively. He was big-time for us. We leaned on him to bring the ball up the floor and handle their press, and he did a lot.
Q. (Question about Gonzaga wanting it more than Kentucky.)
MARK FEW: I don't think it's about wanting. That's a really competitive group in there. It's just about we came out and played great. We hit shots and we were flying around. I think it's just, the energy I think was probably the difference. They want to win just as bad as we want to win.
Q. How much confidence does that give you, though, when you can start like that against a team like that?
MARK FEW: Oh, I mean, tremendous. As we started the conference with, like, yeah, tremendous. I mean, especially coming off what we just got done with, we needed some positive things to happen and to do it against that caliber of opponent, I think really helped fuel our confidence even more. And then, like I said, what was even probably more critical for us was to respond after we knew Kentucky was going to make a run, and to respond there late in the second half was big.
Q. Was there anything that surprised you that you were able to get done against Kentucky that you maybe didn't think you would?
MARK FEW: Listen, I mean, when we go 19-21, we were just talking in the locker room, at the free-throw line, I mean, we haven't been doing that in these games. We turned it over like a lot tonight still, but like our turnovers were more, they were, we were being assertive and we were staying aggressive, and they were more of that variety instead of just kind of the soft variety, which we had the other night.
To be honest with you, the way we were rebounding, I didn't know that we could hang with 'em on the glass, and I was really pleased that we, especially after that first half, I thought we did a great job on the glass.
Q. You had talked about the relevance of a Kentucky coming to Spokane and now they came to Spokane and you guys got a big win. Can you look at the big picture of that?
MARK FEW: Yeah, it's big. There's all kinds of variables or stuff that goes into having a top program, and probably the last piece is, there's winning and we've won for quite a long time, and then the recruiting kind of picks up after that, and then the final piece is to be kind of accepted and where it is okay to go play at your place or go play in your town. Cal deserves a ton of credit for that. They can sit and play, they make tons of money when they play home games.
But I think both of us have served on these committees now and we see where college basketball is and we see just how important playing these games are right now at this time of year, and to get -- and I'm guessing it probably got a great number tonight and there was a lot of eyeballs on it, and I think it will be really, really good for the sport.
But, yeah, it's great for Gonzaga and it's a huge accomplishment to get such a great program to come here and play us.
Q. Was this the easier to prepare for because you guys played a common opponent with Michigan State so you kind of knew in terms of weaknesses and strengths for both?
MARK FEW: No. I would just say that it probably helped us a little bit in just kind of healing our mental state of mind. We had just got done playing Michigan State and were fortunate enough to get out of there with a win. So I think our guys saw that and most of the clips were from that game. I would say that that probably helped the most.
Q. (Question about Oscar Tshiebwe's improvement year to year.)
MARK FEW: He's gotten a lot better now too since we last played 'em. They have done a phenomenal job of developing him. He's in great shape and he's, I mean, he's much more of a load than the first time we played him. Much more, a lot better offensive skills and moves and he's a handful.
Q. What can you say about Rasir down the stretch?
MARK FEW: Oh, he was huge. He was huge. We leaned on him to handle the ball more because Nolan was in foul trouble, but we need him to handle the ball more. I think that's probably when we're at our best, when everybody's kind of sharing it.
But obviously when those deep threes are going in, it makes life a lot easier. It stretches the floor more for Drew. And then he does a great job at the free-throw line. So all of those things, I mean, for him to get 24 is huge. I think we're going to need more scoring out of him as we move forward this year. He's been a little bit reluctant or reticent to be quite as aggressive.
Q. You guys have their two best shooters with 3-13 from three. Was there anything that did you to bother 'em?
MARK FEW: We just tried to stay locked in on 'em. We thought that was a real big key was just not letting them get going. It was scary, they kind of -- you know Frederick got his first one on that crazy loose ball. I mean, it seems like it exchanged hands like three times there. It was on the floor, everybody was waiting for them to call a jump and they didn't. He hit his first one and I was like, Oh boy, look out.
And then Wheeler hit one. And then I thought Wallace did a really nice job. He hadn't been scoring that much off the bounce and he hit a couple. But Toppin was exceptional too. I mean, those are the epitome of what we call tough twos and we usually invite those with our defense. But he was making 'em.
But our guys were totally keyed in on those guards shooting the three ball. Because if they're making those threes and you got Oscar inside, I mean, it's almost impossible.
Q. You guys weren't sure about Nolan's status after Wednesday.
MARK FEW: Or Julian. Julian was down and out also. So those guys toughed it out and showed a lot of guts and a lot of heart and toughness and laid it all out there tonight.
Q. What is the origin of your relationship with Coach Cal and just how has that kind of grown over time?
MARK FEW: I mean we've, you know, obviously being in the profession and running into each other. Played a lot. We had a nice series going with Memphis and Gonzaga back in the day because we kind of both needed it then. Again, it was just getting together and setting that up, so we were always talking on that.
And then we've really been on a lot of committees together. And then we just our friendship has really, really grown. We talk numerous times during the week. He's always on. He's always on. He really, really cares about basketball and college basketball and even NBA basketball because he's got so many great players in the NBA. But he's a good man.
Q. Can we get you to just address kind of the next games that you got coming up, more difficult games coming up this next week.
MARK FEW: Yeah, I just told the guys, we can enjoy this one tonight and then we got to, I mean we'll head for Portland here in a little bit. That PK 85 is just loaded with great teams. It's just great to get this one under our belt because there's many, many more coming down the stretch.
So we start with Portland State. It's a scrappy bunch that just beat Oregon State last night. Then we'll see what happens after that. But that tournament is loaded.
FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports