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Men's Basketball

Bobby Hurley Previews Stanford

Coach Bobby Hurley, ASU Basketball Media Availability Jan. 31, 2024
Arizona State Head Coach Bobby Hurley
On the team’s 1-4 record over the last five games:
Looking just at Oregon and the swing there, then thinking about what happened the week before, we were really good against USC, and played a winning game versus UCLA. The record is what it is, like you said in those five games. But I wasn't pleased with how we defended in either game really. Well, in the first half, we were fine. Versus Oregon, second half of that game. And virtually the whole game versus Oregon State. I'm not taking anything away from both of those teams. I mean, Oregon, they've made 12 or 13 shots in a row against us at one point in the second half, which if I did a drill with one of my better teams and asked them to make that many shots outside of the paint, we could be there a while just to get a team to make that many consecutive shots. So you know, but they played fantastic in that second half. And Oregon State's got some good young players. They’re 10-2 at home.They played very well. They jumped us early in the game. They were coming off the win versus Arizona, and we weren't able to climb back in the game. But we didn't get the necessary stops. We're allowing teams to shoot too high percentages against us. I think our ability to create turnovers is fine. And our activity at that end of the floor is fine. But we're not like sitting down and just getting stops and making people miss. And that's got to get better if we're going to win games, especially on the road.

On the team’s 8-1 home record:
Well we tried to re-emphasize that. You know, we're one game out of first place right now, despite what happened in Oregon. And we're right there. And now we're at home for two games. And it's a big challenge, because both of those teams, you know, we played them in the Bay. Both had double digit leads versus us in the second half. Stanford multiple times went ahead by 10, went ahead eight, and we stuck in the game. We were pretty resilient in that game. And we were able to fight back and find a way to win. And the same thing with Cal, I mean, we were down big in that second half. So these are two teams that are very good basketball teams. And we have to play very well in order to have a chance to win. Home isn't going to be enough.

On the team’s approach this week watching film:
We tried to focus on positive examples on defense. And then some of the issues at that end of the floor and just kind of dial into our communication, and multiple efforts and those types of things. And then we also watched some of the shots that we missed, particularly from three. And the majority of them were pretty clean. They weren't four shots or contested shots that you know, the percentages should significantly drop. So we have to step into shots and make them because teams aren't going to let us attack the paint if you can't prove that you can shoot the ball. 

On Shawn Phillip Jr.’s Continued Development:
Shawn Phillips was one of the bright spots in the Oregon State game. He was able to attack the basket. He posted up aggressively and was going after the offensive glass. If we could get more of an inside presence like that from him on a relatively consistent basis, that would give our offense more balance. If he continues to play well, we can throw the ball inside and play inside out. This whole season, really the only way we played inside out is through Jose Perez posting up guards. It'd be nice to see that we could develop a guy that we trust and we could throw the ball into a little bit.

On Jose Perez’s fit within the team:
It's a tough situation for him. When you don't get the whole summer with your teammates to build that chemistry connection, it can be difficult. He's done a great job. Recently, he was really good on offense for us. Particularly in a game that we struggled at Oregon State. And he had two very good games on that end of the floor for us. He's great and his experience with all the college basketball he's played shows. He's a unique type of player who brings something different to what we bring on the floor.

On Frankie Collin’s donating to his former elementary school:
That's impressive, that he’s not thinking about himself. He’s thinking about others and giving back. There's been a lot of people that have helped him and given him a chance to get to where he is. So it's nice to see that he's trying to get back. 

On the injury status of Brycen Long and Zane Meeks:
Brycen is working through the medical stuff and testing some things. And we're hoping to have more answers for Brycen. And as far as Zane, there's been no new changes.

On how important it is to play well this time of year:
We're in the hunt and we're right there at the top of the conference. It's a lot to play for, and I'm sure most of the teams in the league think they're still in it based on how tightly packed everything is. There's still hope that we could go on a run and make a surge. In my last two years here we played very well in February. We’re hoping that we can recapture some of that here as we go through this month.

On the importance of having fan support for the final stretch:
It's huge. It's really big to create that environment. It was awesome versus USC and hopefully everybody sticks with us and realizes, ‘hey, we had a tough week.’ But we're still right there. And these are two huge games for us at home. And so we're hoping for a big, big turnout, because a lot could happen by the end of this week, positively or negatively.

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