Arizona State Men's Basketball Quotes - at Cal

Arizona State Men’s Basketball Head Coach Bobby Hurley
On how it felt to win…
“We fought through it for a majority of the game. I don’t think it was the prettiest game for stretches. They played really hard, so did we. I thought as the game went down the stretch, both teams stepped up their shot making. For percentages being on the low side overall, there were some big plays being made on the offensive end by both teams. It was great that we got overtime and we were able to circle the wagons and continue to make plays in overtime.”
 
On what about Desmond and DJ hitting big shots…
“They’re very confident, they believe in themselves and they know that they can make shots. For those types of guys, who have been doing it as long as they have, you gotta have a short memory. If you miss a couple, you still want them to be aggressive. Especially without Warren, knowing that it was going to be hard to generate points, we needed those two guys to be a threat out there. We just have to work on converting. We missed way too many layups in the second half, so that was kind of a negative. But the guys battled and fought.
 
On dealing with Devan in foul trouble…
“It was an amazing accomplishment that we were able to get the road sweep without Warren. He’s a guy that we’ve relied on so much in so many different ways, so to be able to get this done without him is pretty special.”
 
On what about Desmond and DJ hitting big shots…
“They’re very confident, they believe in themselves and they know that they can make shots. For those types of guys, who have been doing it as long as they have, you gotta have a short memory. If you miss a couple, you still want them to be aggressive. Especially without Warren, knowing that it was going to be hard to generate points, we needed those two guys to be a threat out there. We just have to work on converting. We missed way too many layups in the second half, so that was kind of a negative. But the guys battled and fought.
 
On rebounding…
“This was the best Alonzo Gaffney has played this year. He was so active, 13 rebounds, and again that big put back. We were able to switch everything because they were able to hurt us down the stretch from the three point line.
 
On Duke Brennan…
“I didn’t want Zo - and I told him this before the game - I didn’t want him to pick up early fouls with [Lars, of Cal] Thiemann. I was worried about how physical he is. He’s a duck-in, deep post guy and I thought it was better to bring Zo off the bench. It didn’t have anything to do with how he played at Stanford, it was just a better matchup. Duke had a good motor, good energy the entire game. He tried like heck to keep as many basketballs alive as he could and protect the paint and did a really good job.”
 
Arizona State Men’s Basketball Forward Duke Brennan
On hearing his family scream for him at the game:
“I have a ton of family in California. Northern California, Southern California, a ton of family up in Oregon and throughout the whole west coast. It’s one of the reasons why I committed to the Pac-12 because I have family in almost every spot we go to.”
 
On getting his first career start:
“I was really excited. Pre-practice we found out what the starting lineup was but I just stayed focused. I realized I needed to step up to the plate with Warren (Washington) out and be a big contributor.”
 
On being aggressive but still avoid fouls:
“Not getting in foul trouble was one of my main focuses this road trip. I knew I might get more minutes, but just staying out of foul trouble, and being an energy guy. I like to bring energy to get the whole team going and today I was able to do it from the start. That’s been my role as a true freshman.”
 
What is it like getting significant minutes as a true freshman:
“In my mind it was a lot at the start, but I was really settled into my role and the guys and other leaders on the team have gotten in my ear and helped calm me down as the season went on so it’s definitely really cool.”
 
On the grind of the road trip:
“This was our first OT win so just being able to establish that as a group knowing that we can win these games it’s super good to know that (we did this after) a hard-fought win against Stanford. It was a hard game on Thursday so to be able to come here and pull out an OT win is great for the team to be down in those hard positions and come out with a win at the end."