Lorenzo Romar Team Quotations

We were left with a very small team without an inside presence,

I don't know if the people in Los Angeles understand the job that UCLA is doing in keeping that team going.

There was a beauty to it. We're leading the nation in scoring, and we played a team that went to Cal and won, and that gives us problems. Yet we found a way to win (while) shooting 33 percent. I think that's a very positive thing.

What didn't come with it were wins, ... If those teams could have won, we'd have seen this happen earlier. So Coach Bender and his staff got this going a little bit and we were able to come in and capitalize on what was already here and add a little bit to it. The team grew together and we were able to win. And that's when we were able to draw a Jon Brockman and Martell Webster.

We're not saying it's David and Goliath, and we don't have a chance in the world. We happen to be playing the most talented team in the country, but we can't take anything away from what we've done.

When other teams have played deliberate basketball against us, we have been able to force our will upon them. We weren't able to do that tonight.

I think Utah State is a better team than Montana was. They're closer to what Pacific was.

The team the last couple of years, when we were successful, we were blue collar, and when we weren't blue collar, we weren't successful. That's the same with this group.

Any team in this league is capable of beating anyone else. This thing is wide open.

It wouldn't surprise us at all if he led our team in rebounding as a freshman. He just has a knack for making big plays but he approaches the game as if he doesn't have a scholarship. He's old school.

Our guys, as a group, were as together tonight as they have been. I just think we are a tough team when that happens.

Before Justin could be freed to score ... he had to learn how to run a team better. If he just scores, and now teams take his scoring away and he doesn't know how to run a team, we are up a creek. Now that he's done a better job of that and understanding what we are doing better, he's freed up.

It's important at this point that we don't take a nosedive. I've seen teams not recover from it.

I don't think we look to top last year. We look to go out and be the best that this team can be, whatever that is. ... But we're not going to try to compare last year with whatever we do this year.

We have always been impressed with Stanford. They are a solid team and never give you a game.

There's no way you think you're going to lose that with 2.1 seconds to go. You think the game's over. The unheard of situation happened. ... What's important at this point is we don't take a nosedive. I've seen teams in this situation not recover from it. It's fine to grieve tonight. I'm going to grieve.

There was a time when he didn't play intensely. In terms of his ability, since the day he became eligible he has been our best all-around player. He's so selfless and such a team guy that he was fine deferring to his teammates to be successful. This year, he's come around more.