Arizona Mens' Basketball
Player Quotes
February 23, 2000

Michael Wright:
"I expect a real battle. It's the big Arizona rivalry. In the back of their minds, they have how we beat them up there. Payback, and now without Loren, they're licking their chops. We just have to play harder and put up more points than them at the end. There is no overlooking in the Pac-10. We just take it game by game."

"I have to step up my role, rebounding, try to block some more shots. Even though I can't really. We've got a bunch of good players. Luke, Ricky, Justin Wessel. We've been having some good battles in practice. Just because they are on the bench doesn't mean they aren't good players. I knew we could stay on top of our game."

"Everybody needs to come together. Just like when we lost Richard (Jefferson), everybody stepped up their game. Justin and I just need to play harder. We need to block more shots than we usually do."

"I"m just going to let it flow like the UCLA game. I'm going to have three good days of practice."

Justin Wessel:
On ASU:
"I think they're playing with more confidence. We've beaten them pretty good so they are going to be ready. I think they are going to be really fired up to play us and prove that last time was no fluke."

On Loren Woods:
"He (Loren Woods) is the main part of our team, at least numberswise. He changes our game plan and how teams attack us. He wants to play right away. He wants to be 100% and be a part of the Pac-10 title. He's dying to get out there, he has been playing with it for a month. When we play without Loren, it's a problem for us."

"We've been through so much this year. We expect the unexpected. Last game, I knew a little bit(that Loren Woods was not going to play). I had an idea because he wasn't around on Friday. You never know what could happen day to day. There have been so many ups and downs this season."

On his nose:
"I did break it, I do have stitches. But it's nothing where I can't play."

"On the bench, you can get a flow of the game and know what you have to do when you go in there. But when you start, you have to be ready right from the tip-off. I just gotta go where I'm needed. If you can protect that first foul for a while, you can play pretty tough and play your style."

On blocking as many shots as Loren Woods:
"If I grow five or six inches, maybe I could."