USC - Arizona State Postgame Quotes
February 16, 2001 | Men's Basketball
Feb. 16, 2001
USC Coach Henry Bibby
"I think someone of authority needs to see this game. It was a fracas. I've never seen anything like that in my life. The second technical wasn't against me. I told Richie (Ballesteros) that. He said I was crazy and told me to leave the game. I thought it was the biggest travesty I've seen in basketball. Then a manager came in the locker room and said it was okay for me to come back. That goes down in history. Going into halftime, Richie and the other refs were laughing and looking at me. It was premeditated. The first technical was on me. All I said was ?That's a moving screen.' I said it twice. That does not warrant a technical. He also told me that I had to sit down, that I couldn't stand. He was adamant about throwing me out. Richie is considered one of the best officials in the Pac-10.
"Every game is important now. Brian Scalabrine kept us in the game tonight. He's the only one who came to play. David Bluthenthal hit two big shots for us to get us an eight point lead late in the game, but we didn't get any performances from any other players. We took Sam (Clancy) out in the first half because of fouls and also because I didn't think he was playing well."
Post Game Quotes from ASU Coach Rob Evans
"We got down quick to a top 25 team and you can't do that on the road. It's very difficult to win on the road in this league, but you have to do things like make free throws to do it. We had three players foul out and we were trying to come back late but that's just too hard to do against a good team.
"We wore down at the end because we had three guys foul out, but I was proud of the way we battle back. We'll have to start practicing more on free throws because we're usually a good free throw shooting team.
On Henry Bibby's technical foul situation
"The whole scenario was unbelievable. They explained it to me. I didn't quite understand it, but they know the rules."
"Tommie (Smith) has to understand that you have to play smart with four fouls. That's something he's learning."
Official Richie Ballesteros
"We called two technical fouls: one on Henry Bibby and the second on the assistant coach, David Miller. When we ejected Bibby, we misapplied the rule. The NCAA rule says you eject the head coach if he has two technicals, or if there are three on the bench. We ejected him by mistake with two on the bench. I realized it shortly after and after discussing with the other officials, and explaining it to (ASU) coach Evans, we got word to him that he could come back. When we realized our mistake we were waiting for the first dead ball situation to correct it."
