Watch Few's postgame press conference after Gonzaga's 77-72 win
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00:00 >> That's quite a battle, Mark, what it takes to get it done.
00:04 >> Yeah, it was a great battle.
00:05 That's a heck of a team that we beat that's got, they got a lot of toughness to
00:11 them and Chris has done a really, really good job putting them all in the right
00:16 places and what they're doing and so it's a great, very, very, very good win for us.
00:22 >> Does that second half kind of reiterate why Graham is so
00:26 important to you guys, not only the offense, but
00:27 he was also on Mobo a lot of the time in the first half and second half?
00:30 >> I thought we did a great job on Mogo all night.
00:33 I mean, he's a heck of a player and
00:34 I thought we had different guys on him throughout the game.
00:37 But yeah, Graham's huge.
00:39 I mean, some games he just kinda casually gets into them or
00:44 he's so unselfish he kinda defers and he can't do that.
00:48 We need him to be that guy that he was in the second half,
00:52 regardless of whatever the post coverage is.
00:54 And on him and on him and on him about that.
00:58 And maybe experiencing it now, after kinda getting off to a slow start,
01:06 but then kinda flipping the switch, coming through, we can firm up that behavior
01:11 somehow, cuz obviously we need him.
01:13 When he's like that, we can be pretty good.
01:15 >> What about the defense as a whole tonight as well?
01:20 Outside of maybe the rebounding differential.
01:22 >> No, it was great.
01:23 It was great.
01:24 It was good until that last two minutes and that's a tough deal.
01:28 It's almost like in football, you're in pre-med defense a little bit and
01:32 you don't wanna give up threes and you don't wanna foul.
01:36 And so it's a tough position to be in.
01:37 We can obviously do a better job than we did.
01:40 But I thought it was really good, especially in that second half and
01:47 then really long stretches of the first half.
01:50 It was pretty, both teams were really playing their tails off on the defensive.
01:54 It didn't matter if we got them.
01:55 Yeah.
01:57 >> What did it take kinda to solve their defense?
01:59 It looked like paint points and got the transition going, turnovers.
02:03 >> Yeah, good call, good call.
02:04 Yeah, we turned them over and Taun got out of the break a little bit.
02:07 I think that kinda opened some things up.
02:09 Obviously, we spoke about Graham, how it got going a little bit.
02:15 So we had some options we could do there.
02:17 They were post-doubling a little bit, so then that opened up some threes for us.
02:21 We hit some threes off some post-doubles.
02:23 So kinda all of the above.
02:26 >> What was kinda the game plan against Moba?
02:30 Was it denying him the ball?
02:31 I mean, he only shot six times.
02:32 Is that kinda an ideal situation?
02:34 He's not shooting ten times in a game.
02:36 >> I mean, it's more complicated than that.
02:39 We just hit our coverages.
02:40 We guarded him and hit our coverages.
02:42 >> Try to not let him get lob dunks and try to keep him off the glass.
02:48 >> Coach Anton's kinda just been this constant over the past four games of just
02:51 getting double figures.
02:53 I mean, he had some big shots.
02:54 How nice is it to be able to rely on him?
02:58 >> I mean, hey, he's obviously the most valuable guy we have out there.
03:02 You can switch him on to anybody out there on the floor.
03:05 He can guard anybody.
03:07 He's became a better scorer now and a more diversified offensive player.
03:13 He gets our offense going.
03:14 He takes the ball out against presses.
03:16 He does everything for us.
03:17 So he's been that a lot of those jobs throughout his career.
03:23 He's just scoring the ball better and being more assertive now,
03:25 which is exactly what we need from him.
03:27 >> How key of a factor was it Anton got the two early fouls, Graham got
03:31 a couple of early fouls, but they were able to play with it and
03:33 not get in serious foul trouble?
03:35 >> Yeah, again, I mean, that's trusting your players.
03:39 But sometimes it's just you gotta trust the officials too.
03:45 I mean, you can trust your players and we had a good crew tonight.
03:49 They were letting both teams play.
03:51 And so I didn't hesitate to play either one of those guys with fouls.
03:57 And certainly I think Anton's smart enough and
04:00 has been in enough games to understand that.
04:02 I think he can say the same for Graham a little bit.
04:04 It's harder at that spot, obviously.
04:05 >> What's going through your mind when the free throws aren't dropping and
04:09 it's getting tighter?
04:10 >> I mean, it's just frustrating.
04:12 And you're rooting for your guys.
04:14 It's a tough position to be in.
04:16 I just tell you they've done their work.
04:17 They put their work in and that's all you want as a coach.
04:21 I tell them, you put your work in and you feel good about,
04:23 you just deal with the results.
04:25 To me, it was more about just getting stops.
04:29 We just somehow needed to get some Sunday hits.
04:33 Some big time shots, those threes were deep and quick.
04:37 And again, like I said, it's much like watching a football team.
04:43 You're trying not to give up a touchdown.
04:45 And so you can't just blitz them every time.
04:50 And they did a good job.
04:52 They were taking some twos on us and driving it, cliff making us.
04:55 So we need to guard better and smarter at the end of those games,
04:58 make those a little bit tougher.
04:59 But yeah, you need to make your free throws.
05:03 If you don't make your free throws, you put yourself in harm's way,
05:06 which we almost do.
05:08 >> Is he one of those guys who's, cuz he was the teller.
05:11 >> A lot of them.
05:12 >> Yeah, it's been at the line working.
05:14 >> Yeah, I mean, all of them have.
05:16 They all get in here and they're repping it out.
05:18 But there's nothing like game pressure either.
05:22 You just can't simulate that.
05:25 [BLANK_AUDIO]
05:29 >> Back on the road again tomorrow, what have you guys seen from Pacific?
05:32 >> Yeah, no, hey, we just got, it's a quick turnaround and a tough turnaround.
05:36 And you hit the road and these are crazy kind of deals we have.
05:41 So just gotta rest up, the biggest thing is rest up.
05:45 We'll get through a scout tomorrow and then you just have to bring,
05:48 well, like I've said over and over again, we have to bring it each and
05:53 every night or we'll put ourselves in a position to lose.
05:55 We don't have that big of a talent discrepancy with anybody.
05:59 We gotta just bring it and we gotta be ready to go on Saturday.
06:04 >> One more on Benny, he hit that big three and then came through at the line for
06:07 you, he made some plays down the stretch for you?
06:10 >> Yeah, very much so, I told the guys afterwards.
06:12 Those were big free throws and he hit that big three and
06:15 I thought he did a great job today.
06:18 Played heavy minutes, played through his heavy minutes.
06:21 He's been kind of struggling with his conditioning and
06:22 getting gassed after three or four minutes all year.
06:25 So that's limited his time on the floor.
06:30 And so I thought he played through it better tonight.
06:33 [BLANK_AUDIO]