FRESHMAN FORWARD KYLE FILIPOWSKI
On what he did differently against Oregon State:
“Over the past few games, I’ve had a bit of a struggle coming out ready to get it and playing the way I should be playing. I think just always coming in at halftime, talking with the team, talking with the coaches and things not going the right way, I know that I can do so much better and I think that brings a little fire into me. I definitely have to play with that from the start moving forward, but I think that’s what got me out of my slump. Even if the shots weren’t falling, just playing my butt because that’s what the team needed.”
On the gameplan towards the end of the game centered around him and Ryan Young:
“Absolutely. I mean, that was some of the stuff that we were talking about. Getting it inside, that’s going to open up outside shots as well and I think in the beginning it was against their zone and we were just moving it around the wing and just shooting the three’s. That’s when we needed to focus on was getting it inside the paint and that opened up the rest of it.”
On if he’s proud of his late-game steal of Oregon State’s Jordan Pope:
“I’m pretty proud of that. You noticed that. That’s a lot of what people critique about me, is playing defense. I have a chip on my shoulder, showing people that I can play defense, especially against guys like Pope. So, I just have to keep that up. My coaches and teammates have been on me since the beginning to play defense. So, it’s not just me doing the work. It was a close game, and I just locked in. Even though they switched, I know what I’m capable of and I just had to dig deep.”
GRADUATE FORWARD RYAN YOUNG
On the thought process of attacking Oregon State’s zone:
“I think it’s just playing aggressive. We talked about that. That was a point of emphasis from the coaching staff before the game is that they’re a team that gets creative defensively, they throw some different zones, obviously the way you get teams that way is if you stand them up and you start having them pass the ball and play tentatively. I think that was emphasized – ‘don’t play slow’. Get to the rim, we’ve got Jeremy [Roach] and Tyrese [Proctor] who can break down guys. Get into the paint, throw the ball into [Filipowski], I mean, there’s not many people who are better than Kyle in the middle of that post. That should be a nightmare for teams that have to try and guard. Just…
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