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UA 'confident and prepared'

The loss to LSU doesn't affect the conference standings, but does it have some sort of psychological effect?

It has a psychological effect because it's a loss, and it's hard to say a loss is a good loss. A loss is never a good loss because it makes you vulnerable. To make sure that we don't stay vulnerable, we need to go out and take care of business on Thursday and come out with a win against Oregon.

After playing so many difficult road games in the Pacific 10 Conference, was it difficult going across the country to play the Tigers? Were your heads in the game?

We knew LSU would be a difficult opponent. Our heads were in it, but it's one of those things when the ship goes down, it goes down quickly. It was a little reminiscent of the (NCAA regional final loss to) Utah in the 1998 Elite Eight. It was just one of those things that is unexplainable, and that's why it happened.

Coach Olson was saying that was the best game LSU's played all year. Will they be a factor come March?

I think they can go far if they play like that consistently. We saw the tape of when they played Florida and Vanderbilt, and they didn't play at that high of a level. We have to know that we're Arizona. We're the target team, and we have to be ready to come out against every team.

You didn't play against LSU, keeping your career undefeated streak alive.

I thanked Coach O for that, and I really respect that he did that. I can tell my kids someday that I was an undefeated player.

Why didn't sophomore forward Rick Anderson make the trip to Baton Rouge?

I'm not allowed to comment on that. We're not allowed to talk about that. I have a strong feeling he'll be back on Thursday.

Oregon is coming off two big home wins over USC and UCLA. What do you expect from them?

Oregon's really good. They run a lot of the same type of stuff we run. They've got some great players, guys like A.D. Smith. He's not the most athletic player, but he's one of the most clever players in the conference, if not the country. They've got Alex Scales and a lot of other great players. Their coaches have done a great job with them.

How does it feel to have the next couple games at McKale Center after being on the road for most of January?

It feels great. Any time you can sleep in your own bed the night before the game, in your familiar surroundings, psychologically, it's always better. We feel real confident and prepared for this weekend.

Bryan Rosenbaum can be reached at Bryan.Rosenbaum@wildcat.arizona.edu.