Jan. 27, 2011
Ty Abbott On the loss in general: It just came down to those plays in the end. They made plays and their guys had big shots. Rick [Kuksiks] had to do it by himself towards the end.
On offensive possessions: We got Rick some good shots towards the end and he was going for us. We started to key on him, then we stopped moving. Once we got Rick open, it was like, what do we do now? We just have to keep with our motion and keep grinding with our shots.
On the final play of the game: I caught it clean. It was a pretty tough shot. That's something you play around with doing at the end of practice or something. I just tried to give it my best shot. They came with help in the middle, that's when I tried to drop it to Kyle [Cain] on the baseline. That was all me right there.
On free throws: We have to get up there and knock them down. Those two big ones in the end and one in the first half as well, for me. You count those three right there, and that's the game.
Rihards Kuksiks On defense in the post: I think we didn't do too good of a job. [Nikola Vucevic] got 26 and 12. That's a lot of points in the paint. When he tried to catch the ball in the post, they had a guy come and double team him.
On getting back in the line-up: We had a good practice week. I just feel comfortable now. I'm just trying to help my team. My teammates got me open and passed me the ball. All I have to do is make a basket.
Coach Herb Sendek On last possession of the game We thought we had a mismatch with Ty [Abbott], so we thought if we got him and the ball into the post, that it would create either a scoring opportunity for him or perhaps a kicking opportunity for someone else. We drew the foul, and he made the two free throws. Prior to that, obviously, Rick had the hot hand and allowed us to stay in the game.
On The Overall Balance of the Team Balance is always good. Their team basically had the same thing with three guys leading the way. Rick had his best week of practice. He's really worked through a high ankle sprain, and his IT band in his knee has been bothering him. He was terrific all week in practice. We put him back in the starting line-up and he really played a terrific game for us. Ty and Trent [Lockett] chipped in for us as well.
On low post play It's obviously a concern, but I have every expectation, because of the character quotient of our team, that we will be resilient, and our guys will continue to work hard and pull together. That's a product of having really good guys on your team. We all share it, we all feel it, but we're all going to go through it together. We're not going to run from it.
On Final Play of Game We didn't have a really good angle because the ball was kind of low on the sideline. It's hard to ascertain what Jamelle [McMillan] was able to see in that situation, and you're dealing with .5 seconds. At .5, you literally have to take a very quick, almost rushed shot. It's not a great position of strength to be in.
USC Coach Kevin O'Neill On the game in general: We've been in 8 one- or two-point games, and we're now 3-5. It was big for us to do that. Arizona State is very difficult to play. They fought really, really hard. [Rihards] Kuksiks made big shots. But our team kept fighting through some things, and kept playing hard. Even after a lousy start to the game where we didn't play very well at all, we fought very hard and gave ourselves a chance to win. We feel fortunate to get a road win.
On the intensity of the game: Arizona State needed to win too. When you have two teams playing desperately, you get that kind of intensity, which I thought both teams had really well all night. We just came off of a twopoint loss at home to Cal. So we need to get something going here. It's the first of a three-game road trip, so it's a huge win for us, obviously.