QUOTING BOBBY HURLEY AS HE PREVIEWS OREGON STATE (JAN. 15, 2019)
ON AREAS THAT NEED TO CHANGE HEADING INTO THIS WEEKEND:
“We just have to pinpoint an area that we can lock in on that we need to get better at. It seems that we have been a bit all over the place in terms of different things just breaking down. We have to be a little more consistent. Some nights it was shot selection. It was turnovers and free-throw shooting against Stanford. It was transition defense against Utah. For the Princeton game, it was shooting percentage and missed layups. We have hurt ourselves in some of our losses. On the road, you cannot do what you did in the first half against Cal, get down big, and hope that things will work out. We also cannot start the second half the way we did against Stanford. We knew they would be ready to play and they needed the win. They were 0-3 and they played a lot of good teams. They played Kansas right down to the wire in Kansas. Stanford has some players and they were desperate. It was a two-point game at one point. We watched the film Sunday morning and showed the guys what we needed to address. We have just got to play better. We cannot start the half down 14 without scoring a point. We had chances to score, but we just did not capitalize and we had turnovers. We just have to try to be a little bit more consistent. That is what we have been talking about.”
ON SPECIFIC AREAS THAT NEED TO BE IMPROVED UPON SCHEMATICALLY:
“I think it will come down to decision making, execution, taking care of the ball and getting a good shot. That will help our defense a lot. Despite giving up a lot more points against Stanford, I still think defense is a strength of our teams. We have to rebound a little better. Those are the strengths that we will have to continue to stress. We just cannot put our defense in a bad spot because we have bad shots or turnovers.”
ON HOW CHALLENGING OF A GROUP THIS IS TO PLAY UP TO EXPECTATIONS:
“The expectations were created based off of the results. I have a lot of confidence in our roster and the guys in the locker room in terms of the way they were performing in July. But, we were selected sixth in the Pac-12, but then we did more than our fair share in the non-conference. This is not the Big Ten, Big 12, or the ACC where you could be 2-2 and still feel as if there is a lot of season left and be positive. You cannot think like that this year with the way things have played out in our league. Our winning percentage in the non conference was so low that it puts more pressure on you to have a good conference regular season. So far, we are behind in that regard and we have to do better.”
ON INABILITY TO SETTLE IN WITH STARTING LINEUP:
“The one time I emphasized it was just for Remy (Martin) and Lu (Luguentz Dort) to learn something. Now, I think that we will be able to lock in on a group. Hopefully, everyone will get comfortable in a role. That is important to not juggle and search all the time. You would hope that you could just have one lineup that is just normal and everyone would understand when they would come into the game.”
ON WHAT THE STARTING FIVE WILL BE FOR THIS WEEKEND:
“Practice will determine a lot of that and what I see this week.
ON IMPORTANCE OF ROLE WALK-ON PLAYERS BRING TO TEAM:
“They are undervalued and under-appreciated. They are not on scholarship and work hard every day. Our guys are good kids and good students. They picked me up in the last minute and 30 seconds of that Stanford game. It was the best basketball we played in that whole game.”
ON CONVERSATION ABOUT PLAYING IN MARCH WITH TEAM:
“I have touched on how important it is to protect our season. We have had some great wins. The Mississippi State win and Kansas win proves that we can beat elite competition. So, we know what we are capable of. We just need to try to make sure that we do not dig a hole for ourselves. In our league, we cannot afford to be 500. Last year for us, we were sub-500 and sweating it out. Still I felt like we had a legitimate argument for getting in. Overall the league performed better in the non-conference, so that helped us out on Selection Sunday.”
ON KEEPING PLAYERS FOCUSED ON EACH GAME:
I think we have a lot of competitors in our locker room. I do not think they like how they felt after that game. It left a bad taste in their mouth. To get back in very earlier Sunday morning, watch it again and hit the floor that typically would be an off day leading into the next week, the response had been generally pretty good in practice. We did a lot of talking as well as watching the film. We met with a lot of players and spoke about what it takes to do this on a consistent basis and to be a team that is more dependable."
ON AREAS THAT NEED TO CHANGE HEADING INTO THIS WEEKEND:
“We just have to pinpoint an area that we can lock in on that we need to get better at. It seems that we have been a bit all over the place in terms of different things just breaking down. We have to be a little more consistent. Some nights it was shot selection. It was turnovers and free-throw shooting against Stanford. It was transition defense against Utah. For the Princeton game, it was shooting percentage and missed layups. We have hurt ourselves in some of our losses. On the road, you cannot do what you did in the first half against Cal, get down big, and hope that things will work out. We also cannot start the second half the way we did against Stanford. We knew they would be ready to play and they needed the win. They were 0-3 and they played a lot of good teams. They played Kansas right down to the wire in Kansas. Stanford has some players and they were desperate. It was a two-point game at one point. We watched the film Sunday morning and showed the guys what we needed to address. We have just got to play better. We cannot start the half down 14 without scoring a point. We had chances to score, but we just did not capitalize and we had turnovers. We just have to try to be a little bit more consistent. That is what we have been talking about.”
ON SPECIFIC AREAS THAT NEED TO BE IMPROVED UPON SCHEMATICALLY:
“I think it will come down to decision making, execution, taking care of the ball and getting a good shot. That will help our defense a lot. Despite giving up a lot more points against Stanford, I still think defense is a strength of our teams. We have to rebound a little better. Those are the strengths that we will have to continue to stress. We just cannot put our defense in a bad spot because we have bad shots or turnovers.”
ON HOW CHALLENGING OF A GROUP THIS IS TO PLAY UP TO EXPECTATIONS:
“The expectations were created based off of the results. I have a lot of confidence in our roster and the guys in the locker room in terms of the way they were performing in July. But, we were selected sixth in the Pac-12, but then we did more than our fair share in the non-conference. This is not the Big Ten, Big 12, or the ACC where you could be 2-2 and still feel as if there is a lot of season left and be positive. You cannot think like that this year with the way things have played out in our league. Our winning percentage in the non conference was so low that it puts more pressure on you to have a good conference regular season. So far, we are behind in that regard and we have to do better.”
ON INABILITY TO SETTLE IN WITH STARTING LINEUP:
“The one time I emphasized it was just for Remy (Martin) and Lu (Luguentz Dort) to learn something. Now, I think that we will be able to lock in on a group. Hopefully, everyone will get comfortable in a role. That is important to not juggle and search all the time. You would hope that you could just have one lineup that is just normal and everyone would understand when they would come into the game.”
ON WHAT THE STARTING FIVE WILL BE FOR THIS WEEKEND:
“Practice will determine a lot of that and what I see this week.
ON IMPORTANCE OF ROLE WALK-ON PLAYERS BRING TO TEAM:
“They are undervalued and under-appreciated. They are not on scholarship and work hard every day. Our guys are good kids and good students. They picked me up in the last minute and 30 seconds of that Stanford game. It was the best basketball we played in that whole game.”
ON CONVERSATION ABOUT PLAYING IN MARCH WITH TEAM:
“I have touched on how important it is to protect our season. We have had some great wins. The Mississippi State win and Kansas win proves that we can beat elite competition. So, we know what we are capable of. We just need to try to make sure that we do not dig a hole for ourselves. In our league, we cannot afford to be 500. Last year for us, we were sub-500 and sweating it out. Still I felt like we had a legitimate argument for getting in. Overall the league performed better in the non-conference, so that helped us out on Selection Sunday.”
ON KEEPING PLAYERS FOCUSED ON EACH GAME:
I think we have a lot of competitors in our locker room. I do not think they like how they felt after that game. It left a bad taste in their mouth. To get back in very earlier Sunday morning, watch it again and hit the floor that typically would be an off day leading into the next week, the response had been generally pretty good in practice. We did a lot of talking as well as watching the film. We met with a lot of players and spoke about what it takes to do this on a consistent basis and to be a team that is more dependable."