Matt Haryasz Quotations

We're moving in the right direction. We're starting to get a lot of momentum.

I didn't get a lot of sleep last night. When we got back, as late as it was, I probably got to sleep about 3:30 and got up at 9.

Chris stepped up big. A lot of guys stepped up big for us and that was huge.

He's a good shooter, but we didn't expect that.

He's a really good player. He's a big guy and really good. I had a mind-set I wanted to do a job on him and I worked hard.

I think we just stuck to the game plan. For us it's playing good defense and executing on offense. We got a nice lead there. Everyone is playing well right now.

I think tomorrow is a big game for us. A split in the road for the Pac-10 openers, we'll be better than last year when we started off by getting swept on the road.

I think they threw every single guy they had at me last night. Every time I touched the ball I had guys all over me. ... UCLA did a lot of double-teams. When that happens, I need to look for the open man quicker. They were real aggressive with their hands up. I had been doubled before. They did a good job rotating and cutting off the easy pass, but part of that is on me. I've got to get the ball out.

Part of it was we looked a little rusty, we made some simple mistakes, like passing the ball out of bounds. That led to some fast break points for them. You have to give credit to them. They did play good defense and did have good defensive pressure.

That was a scheme to make someone else beat you. I tried to get the ball to the open man. In the second half, I kind of got out of rhythm and started forcing shots. ... I have to try to get in a better position early. ... Other guys are going to have to hit shots and I'm confident they can do that.

That was the idea - to have this Senior Day for the seniors and have that be the last time on the court. It was the seniors and the team, really. It was everybody's decision.

That was kind of an aberration. We worked on them this week the same way we always do. We are a good free throw shooting team.

We fought back in the second half. We had a chance to win, and I was proud of the way we played. But I want to give credit to their team -- they played a very good game.

The past three years we played ASU first, and we always prepared for ASU during the week; we would never prepare for Arizona until after the game. That's how it is on all road trips. You prepare for the team you are going to play Thursday.

We didn't have anybody do any superstar play.

We said before the overtime that here's our second chance. You don't get many second chances.

We need to get some swagger, some confidence, back. We need to be getting into people defensively and having more of a presence on the court. UCLA is a tough one to open with, but I like where we're at right now.

We knew he could shoot. I don't think we expected him to hit like 5-for-5, or whatever it was, to start the game. He hit some big shots.

Everyone took it as a personal challenge, stopping their man.

That's not even close to simulating - when you've got a packed house, down three, Pac-10, Washington. You can't simulate that. If we did it three more times, it probably wouldn't work. But this one did.

This injury has put things in perspective for me. Sometimes you take things for granted like always being able to see perfectly. To go down with the eye injury was tough. It's nice to see again.

There were a couple of times I thought my shot was off and it went in for me. The basket wasn't exactly where I thought it was but I got some lucky bounces.

It's a fun place to play. They've got a great student section, and it's always exciting to play up there.

It's not something we talk about. I can't even tell you what RPI is. But I know this is a big game. Anytime you play the No. 5 team it helps with all those other things.

It's going to be a good game. They're good.

They came out and whooped up on us.

I hope you don't say too much to him. I don't want him to lose his concentration or his focus. When you start to think, I've made 30 in a row and don't want to miss, that's when you miss.

I knew they were in just like every time he shoots them. Actually I was more surprised the game was tied. I thought Chris had hit a 3-pointer and we were up by a point.

I kind of got tripped up going up there, but I just turned and Chris beat his man. Chris made the play, I just gave him the ball.

I play against him in practice every day and I know what he's capable of. He's big and strong and he can rebound. I keep telling him that if he plays the way he does against me, he'll be fine. He'll get there.

Chris beat his man. Chris made the play.

Chris was clutch last week and he was clutch this week. He stepped up and made big plays.

He's an amazing athlete. That's obviously going to hurt their team. But Arizona's a very resilient team.

I could tell that the team is starting to change. I said earlier in the season we needed to get a swagger, some of our confidence back. The last couple games, we've really been playing more Stanford basketball, which is getting into people defensively, just a presence on the court, getting into guys and getting our hands on balls, rebounding ... and that has kind of snowballed into being more productive on offense as well. It gives us something to build on heading into the Pac-10.

This is a good way for us to go out. It felt a lot better. This is the way we want to remember going out of Maples.

This is a good way for us to go off.

The guys have been doing a good job of getting me the ball where I'm in a position to do something with it. Another thing is confidence ... I'm playing about as confident as I've ever been in my entire career. I feel really good about how I'm playing.