Arizona State Men's Basketball Quotes - at Stanford

Arizona State Men’s Basketball Head Coach Bobby Hurley
Opening Statement…
??This game was a staple of what we've done late in games; we've had a lot of success late in games. Look at the VCU game, Colorado -- other games like those, our defense has stepped up. We dragged them (Stanford) late in the clock, we guarded them well, we made our free throws. DJ (Horne) had a big three, Desmond (Cambridge) had a big three. We made enough plays to win.
 
On hitting four threes in the final five minutes…
I wouldn't say that [if they found a hole], but I know one of their guys fell down (on one of the three-pointers). Desmond Cambridge is one of those guys who when he's feeling it, can make tough shots. One of those was probably NBA range and a higher degree of difficulty. Those (three-pointers) came when they counted the most. But there were a lot of other underrated plays; Devan Cambridge's putback was at a real critical time that gave us a big energy boost, Duke Brennan was going all out on hustle plays, really good stuff.

On what worked for ASU…
We didn't protect the paint (early in the game when Stanford led for most of the first half). They were getting three-point plays, we started fouling, we didn't make shots to stop the bleeding. But as we settled down in the second half, I reminded them that we were down 10 in the first half and then we were up five with a minute to go in the first half. Things can change rapidly if we continue to stay in the fight. I thought our pressure bothered them, so that was a key. 

On rhythm of the game…
This game was textbook about how our season has been. Getting down at different stages, then getting up and finding a way. It was great that the guys fought as hard as they did and were able to get a win.
 
Arizona State Men’s Basketball Guard DJ Horne
On the importance of the win…
“A team like us, who has gone on a little skid, I think it was big for us. It definitely taught us a lot and we’ll learn from it for the rest of the season and use it down the line in more important games.”
 
On dealing with shooting slumps throughout the game but coming through late…
“They just started to pick up on us a little bit more on defense and started to pick up their intensity. Des and I are scorers. We have that scorer’s mentality, we feed off each other a lot and when we aren’t making shots, we try to do other things to help our team to win, but once we see a couple of shots fall, we feed off of each other and see shots falling left and right.”
 
On the team’s mentality playing a tall team without Warren Washington…
“Our mentality was going in we knew the guards would have to grab at least five rebounds for us to come out of here with the win. I think we did a good job on the boards against a team like that that is bigger than us.”
 
On being able to close out the game with strong shooting…
“It feels great because that’s winning time right there. Those last four minutes are a war and it showed a lot about who we are as a team and that we care a lot about one another.”
 
On the team’s resiliency after coming back tonight losing some tough games:
“We definitely have a positive energy because this time is one of those low areas because you’re waiting to get to March … so to come out with a win and to grind it out like we did, it’s big for us and it’s going to mean a lot for our season.”