Dusty May’s Monday press conference previewing Washington and Oregon

If we weren't scoring, I would have managed it different. But it's you're in a great rhythm off— I mean, that's— we came in the timeout and we felt like we defended at a very poor rate. And it was maybe a 3 or 4-point game. And we were in a great rhythm offensively.

I think that 5-minute stretch was probably as efficient as any offensive basketball performance in college basketball this year. So, to be honest, I like it when the game gets loosened up, up and down. Usually for us, that's because we're getting stops and getting out and going. I just have always felt like we usually have more bodies, we play more guys, we play in the flow, and it's always been advantageous to get a game loosened up.

Was it that game or was it not? I don't know. I mean, I don't know if you call it— I mean, we changed our coverages and we botched them on the fly. I mean, we just, we've got to be more prepared in advance for these contingencies.

And we spent time on it, but obviously when you're you're facing a guy that's made 1 3-and-a-month and he makes 5, you don't spend, you know, let's say there's 100% of practice time, you don't spend 90% on contingencies. You just try to spend 90% on the stuff that happens 90% of the time. And we didn't. We spent a few minutes a day on it and it wasn't enough for us to be able to make those adjustments on the fly.

But then when we changed our personnel, the same thing happened. And then when we changed our coverages in reverse order, the same thing happened. So I'm not sure what I would have said in a timeout that we weren't able to communicate on the court other than maybe just, I don't know. I don't know.

We were getting— we were playing well offensively. We just weren't able to get stops, our communication, our physicality. And we had some guys that were uncharacteristic things were happening to them. And so you have to give Wisconsin credit whenever Maybe a player's done this really well all year and for the first time he did— he's not doing it well.

I don't think we would have taken those guys out. They were in a good rhythm, they were playing well. So, yeah, in hindsight I wish I would have done 150 different— I wish I would have started a different lineup. But before the game, after the game, during the game, I wish I would have called all my timeouts early or late.

I mean, when you lose, was our processes good? We didn't lose because of our plan, but we lost is a combination of our plan, our execution, our preparation. And so all those things rolled into one and you lose a one-possession game.

I'd say check back with me and see how we respond to this. We obviously didn't respond to playing well like we needed to. As far as getting hungry and whatnot. We seemed a little bit satisfied.

I don't know if we— I don't want to put words or thoughts on our guys, but we didn't play with the same edge. And part of that could be injuries. Part of it could be foul trouble. I mean, there's just— there's so many things that go on in a game that affect the outcome that probably aren't noticed by the naked eye.

I mean, Elliot Cadeau picking up 2 fouls, that hurt us. That hurt us a lot. And, you know, especially when you look at the fouls, if those are fouls and you can't play him anymore because he's going to get 3 or 4 if those 2 were fouls and we can't play him anymore after that. So, I mean, we were playing well until he got his second foul.

So, there's just a lot that goes into it. And then obviously L.J. played as well as he could at Penn State and then didn't have his better game against Wisconsin. A lot to learn from that game. You know, the only thing we didn't look as— the only thing I'm really disappointed in other than just us not playing to our maximum level of energy is the— we looked a little bit— we lacked poise down the stretch as a group.

When I say down the stretch, it's really the last 10 minutes. We didn't look— and that is probably the downside of the margin of victory, that we haven't been in those situations so many times. As you saw last year, we were in them a few times early and we learned from them and it was really great for our growth. So yes, if we respond the way we did last year and the way we have the majority of the time this year, then this will be a good thing.

But if we don't, if we lose a little bit of confidence or we don't have the same edge or we start pointing fingers and the noise gets into our locker room, then it's a bad thing. So check back with me in a week or two, I'll let you know.

There's a defender with— I mean, the ball didn't go in. They looked good. He said they felt great. There's a defender 15 feet away.

But that's what you do when you lose. You go back to resulting and it's like, okay, freeze this shot. He's standing here. He's a very good shooter.

He always has been. And so you can't put yourself in position where that ball— I mean, they hit a— and they pop in. Nimari has 2 great looks, 2 great looks that don't go in. Even on the one where his defender fell down and the big emergency switch, I mean, he had a lot of space, but the ball was low.

And then in that point, we probably just need to take the 2 because Morez Johnson's guy rotated to him. But to answer your question, if Nimari Burnett has 10 feet of space and a wide open corner 3 because Roddy Gayle— I mean, I thought we were playing— that's the thing. I mean, we went back yesterday and we're looking at the last 4 minutes.

And other than a little bit of missed execution in the last minute, a little bit of panic. Man, we played good ball. That thing was popping. We were turning down good ones for great ones, and it didn't go in.

So, you sit here and say, do you overanalyze that? We don't because we would love to play 82 possessions like that. The problem is that everyone sees those possessions and we're more concerned with all the stuff that went on outside of the naked eye, the other 82 possessions, the defensive lapses, the things that we didn't do well in that end versus Nimari Burnett's wide open shots that they did.

They were playing good ball, man. Roddy Gayle's back screen, Roddy Gayle lob, kick out corner 3, man, I'll take that. Give me 100 of those on this road trip and we'll take all 100 of them and feel good about where we are.