Dec. 10, 2005
Quoting ASU Head Coach Rob Evans Opening Statement:
"There are not going to be a lot of people that you are going to beat when you allow a team to shot 72% in the second half and almost 70% the entire game. We cannot beat a junior high team with the defense we played today. This is the way they practiced all week and it showed today."
Attitude during Week:
"It's a step back for this basketball game; perhaps we can do some teaching now. I did not like the attitude in practice this week. They (team) were not receptive of our teaching this week. I told them during the week that they were setting themselves up for a defeat with the way they practiced. Maybe now they will listen."
Criticism after game:
"We expect criticism every time we lose and we will continue teaching and coaching, and hope they will listen."
Final minutes of play:
"The turnovers didn't hurt us as much as not playing smart. We had a three point lead with two minutes, took a quick shot, and then we came down and took another. We called a timeout and told them to run the motion offense and it was bad play on their behalf."
On defeat:
"They don't have anything to measure up to. They played a Minnesota team that they should have beat. Sometimes you must have a devastating defeat in order for the players to give themselves back to the coaching staff, and this week they didn't do that."
Quoting UVSC Coach Dick Hunsaker
"I've been at Utah Valley State for four seasons. My first year we opened the season at Glendale CC (in Arizona). A year later, our transition year into a four-year college, we played Southwest Bible College over in Arizona. Last year, we hosted Grand Canyon College up at Utah Valley. For us to come in and play the Sun Devils, I thought we took a huge leap as we worked on climbing the mountain here in the Valley of the Sun.
"It was a special game and a special moment for our program. We caught ASU sandwiched in between a tough loss to Minnesota, Iowa coming up, finals week for their student-athletes, and without the physical presence of Serge Angounou. I'm well aware that we caught them at a time where they were not at their emotional height and they were a little bit shorthanded. Rob Evans does a great job and is a terrific fundamentally sound coach. We just caught them at the right time for us and at this stage of the game, frankly they are a little bit light in the pants. They have to establish themselves a little bit more in physicality on the court. They tried and worked at it throughout the course of the game, but they really missed the presence of Serge.
"We fought and have gotten better. We're coming off of two very good wins. Sacramento State's name has no cache value, but they are a bonafide program and are a very good team. We pulled out a very good win there and then we beat in-state rival Weber State. Our kids came down here with the confidence that they could compete in play. It's that old adage that if you let a team like Utah Valley State stay in the game, stay in the game, stay in the game, sometimes those things called meteorites drop out of the sky for you.
"This was a real tribute to our players. There is no fluff about this. We had Whataburger for our pre-game meal last night. These moments are special and to have a memory like this is a very special thing for our players. We couldn't be happier. I feel bad for Rob Evans and his team because this is a tough loss. Hopefully they are able to rebound and bounce back."