Before Tuesday afternoon’s Oregon men’s basketball practice, redshirt junior guard Joseph Young chatted with The Emerald, mainly about the previous week. He discussed the crazy end of regulation in Friday’s game against UCLA and his failed free throw attempt. Young also talked about Mike Moser and the forward’s award-winning performance last week.
What went through your mind the moment UCLA’s David Wear made his buzzer-beating three to send Friday’s game into overtime?
“I knew I made the free throw to go up by three, so I knew we were good in that situation. What came to mind, I said, ‘We’d never lost in overtime this year.’ I’m like, we play better in overtime, and we’re in overtime, so we just have to forget about it and play.”
Was there any panic or shock when Wear’s shot went in?
“I was shocked for like two seconds, and then I noticed it was a tie ballgame and we have to overcome that play and move on to the next play.”
Moser said you were trying to miss the second free throw that put you up three. Is that true?
“Yeah, we tried to miss it but just being a 90-something-percent free throw shooter, it’s kind of hard. I tried to put a little arch on it, but it didn’t work out. But coach taught me how to shoot it, so I know how to miss it.”
What is the strategy to purposely miss a free throw?
“You can just look on the right side of the rim, or the left side, and just shoot the ball at angle to where it is so it will just bounce off. I tried to shoot it off the back iron and make it hit so it would go up high, but it didn’t work out.”
Did your dad (who makes Young shoot 100 practice free throws for every one he misses in a game) make you shoot 100 free throws for making one this time?
“(Young said no). I missed a free throw earlier — a one-and-one — so I had to shoot 150 free throws last night.”
Have you seen any differences in Moser during his recent stretch of good play?
“More aggressive. Back to what he was earlier this year, but he’s more aggressive on the rebounding. I’ve seen him getting greedy on the rebounding. I went in there to get one rebound and he was there, so I had one rebound in the game. I was like, ‘Well, Mike took all the rebounds.’ So, he’s been more aggressive, stepping into his shot, knocking the shots down and making the right plays.”
Moser is the first Duck this year to win Pac-12 player of the week. Do you hope to be the second Duck when this week is over?
“If we get the ball games and we win, it’s possible. But the main focus is just to get the win. Congrats to Mike for getting the award. I’m a big award guy but if I don’t get the award, I won’t put my head down. There’s still a lot more to work for.”
Follow Victor Flores on Twitter @vflores415