Bobby Hurley
ON LOOKING FORWARD TO BIG-GAME ENVIRONMENTS:
“A lot of work has gone into this streak. From where we were to put ourselves in this position, is nice. I said after our last game that these are the games you want to be a part of as a competitor. We have had big-game environments during the last few years with the Kansas game and the Arizona games. This is on a similar level. I would anticipate it would even have an NCAA tournament vibe to it with what is on the line with the game. We still have plenty of season left, but it is an exciting game to be a part of.”
ON DEALING WITH SUCCESS:
“We just want to stay grounded and stay humble. We do not want to think we are better than what we are and keep practicing well. We need to emphasize all the things that we have done from a preparation standpoint going into each game. You do not want to think that you are better than what you are and I have not got any of those signals from how we practiced today.”
ON PAYTON PRITCHARD AND REMY MARTIN BOTH AT THE TOP OF THEIR GAMES:
“I think it is great fro college basketball. I am anticipating a tremendous turnout and crowd for this game. This game also has the subplot. It will be two teams that are desperately trying to push forward in the standings and try to win a PAC-12 regular season championship. I think that those two players that you mentioned embody how hard they try to win. If you asked Remy (Martin) if he would only score two points, but that he would win, he would take the win. I do not even think twice about that. I would also assume the same thing about Payton Pritchard.”
ON REMY MARTIN BEING NAMED NATIONAL PLAYER OF THE WEEK:
“It is a great honor and well deserved. The difficulty of winning two games on the road in the PAC-12, especially this year, is impressive. The conference is deep top to bottom and we take a lot of pride in that. The efficiency with how he has performed was great. His field goal percentage and shot making down the stretch in both games was impressive. So, he was deserving of that honor.”
ON REMY MARTIN’S LEADERSHIP ROLE:
“He is about the right things at both ends of the floor. He makes gutsy plays and big shots. He has done it all year.”
ON REMY MARTIN’S MENTALITY DURING WIN STREAK:
“We talk quite a bit. When we were 12-8 or whatever we were before the streak, we kept telling each other to stay the course and that we have enough to do it. We knew we needed to figure out how to win a couple games and then we could get on a run. I think he believes that and he has delivered. He has been a huge part of the success we have had.”
ON RESILIENCY:
“I like how we have found multiple ways to win games. Against UCLA, we had great offense. In the USC game, they had 24 turnovers as we hung our hat on our defense. On the road at Cal, I thought we had pretty good offense. We had a hard time stopping them. We stayed in the game, repelled some of their rallies, and we were able to find plays on offense to keep us in a safe distance. Each game has delivered something different and we have been able to figure out a way to win.”
ON CHANGE OF MENTALITY NOW COMPARED TO BEFORE THE STREAK:
“I think it is about what I had mentioned earlier: staying true to your preparation and routine, taking care of your body, making free throws, taking it upon yourself when you have an opportunity to help us get free points. We have had a consistent commitment to doing those things. We have had more guys playing well. Sometimes in these meetings with you guys, I have been hoping for guys to embrace their role to deliver a bit more. We are now having multiple guys playing well and thriving at doing the little things, especially with our combination at the four spot. Mickey Mitchell, Jalen Graham, Khalid (Thomas) before his issue and Elias (Valtonen) have really done a good job and we need production from that core of players.”
ON HAVING CONFIDENCE IN FOUR-SPOT PLAYERS:
“I think they have bought in and they have a firmer handle on what type of minutes they are going to get. They now know how they can maximize minutes and help us win. As a result of that, they are understanding and executing their role better.”
ON STATUS OF KHALID THOMAS HEADING INTO THIS WEEKEND:
“It is going to go down to the wire. I cannot really talk in detail about why it will, but it is not something personally that I feel is so bad that I am upset with him. But, there was a minor violation of team rules.”
ON HAVING CONVERSATION WITH REMY MARTIN WHEN TO TAKE OVER:
“It is him. He has such a feel. When I played the position, I had a feel for momentum in a game. I had my pulse on whether I needed to get someone a shot. I may have had an opportunity to make a play to help my team win. I think he fully understands and has taken command of that. Both he (Remy Martin) and (Alonzo) Verge have been signaling me that they have it going, especially in the Stanford game. It was hard to figure out which guy I should get the ball to between Verge and Remy. Remy has had an amazing track record at making big plays late in games. Some of the shots he made were just unreal. His shot off one leg, the drop off to (Jalen) Graham, and he threw another beautiful pass to Kimani Lawrence for three. So, it has been a mixture of him creating for himself and creating for others.”
ON REMY MARTIN’S LEADERSHIP OFF THE COURT:
“Yea, he has more of a voice. He is quite off the court, but he transforms himself when he is on the court to a guy with so much life and fire. Even today before we broke from film, he wanted to talk about end of game situations, why we did not do a good job getting stops late in that game and how we can fix that. So, he is really dialed into everything and he is trying to learn and be a leader, so we can avoid those situations in the future.”
ON DEFENSIVE SURGE OF LATE:
“It is always comforting to know that you have guys who will give energy and play hard at that end of the floor and that you have a recipe to be successful down there. You certainly want to be the aggressor in games and I think the way we have been able to pick up has forced pace at least. For example, in the Cal game, we did not turn them over as much as we had turned other teams over, but I thought at times when we picked them up, it forced them to shoot quickly. Cal is a team who likes to run the clock deep into possessions and control the game more. There are benefits that go even further than just turnovers that may not necessarily show up, but help us to achieve the pace that we are looking to play at.”
ON FINDING MULTIPLE WAYS TO WIN:
“In basketball, you are not going to be perfect. There are some teams who might be able to say that they are a great shooting team. Although I have a lot of confidence in our guys to shoot well and make shots, I think the data shows that we have not been able to put that together consistently enough to be labeled a good shooting team. So, we have to try to crash the offensive board or generate turnovers. There are other ways that you can negate some nights when you are not shooting the basketball at your best. I think we have a number of guys, though, who are capable of making it.”
ON EMERGENCE OF ALONZO VERGE:
“He is everything that I thought he would be right away and I did not have enough patience to wait to see that materialize. He has put together a great stretch. He has done it during the past six or seven games. I knew that it was there, but I think some of it is learning to play together with Remy (Martin). On his team last year, he average 30 points per game and he had the ball basically every time they went down the court. It is a little bit different now as there more guys that need to touch the basketball. It was an adjustment for him, but he has kind of lived up to what I thought he would be. I thought we would not miss a beat on offense with him while losing Lu (Luguentz Dort). I knew that we would lose some physicality on defense and some of the other great things that Lu did, including his athleticism. But, Zo (Alonzo Verge) is such a unique guy and he can score it from so many different ways, so it has been great to see him put it all together.”
ON 942 TRYING TO BREAK STUDENT ATTENDANCE RECORD AFFECTING TEAM PLAY:
“I think our guys feed off of a great environment and a great crowd. A number of our players have in a lot of big games here, on the road, and in the NCAA tournament. So, those types of crowds would really give us a big lift. There is so much at stake in this game and this week that we hope that with the position we are in and all the hope that we now have postseason, that everyone will show college basketball on Thursday and Saturday night what Arizona State support is like. I am hopeful that it will happen.”
Alonzo Verge
ON PLAYING OREGON AFTER NOT SCORING IN LAST GAME AGAINST DUCKS:
“I am looking forward to it a lot actually. I feel like I have something to prove, but I always feel like I have something to prove. I am in a totally different mind space now compared to when I first played them. I am excited, pumped up, and really looking forward it.”
ON VIBE AROUND CAMPUS HEADING INTO BIG GAME:
“Everyone on the team is excited and ready to go. We are just trying to stay level-headed and stay focused. We need to remember how we got here, how we got to where we are at now, keep the same mindset and not waver away from that."