Jan. 28, 2012
Recap | Box Score | Notes | AP Photo Gallery
OPENING STATEMENT FROM COACH SENDEK
"I thought the key to this afternoon's game was the sport coats and the tennis shoes. But it's a special day, Coaches versus Cancer awareness and its wonderful to see all the coaches across the nation uniting for a really special cause. So we were glad to do that and honored to do that. As far as the game goes, I thought the key for us was our movement of the ball. I thought we shared the ball and played together and made each other better throughout the game; especially some terrific possessions in the firs half. If you said at the halfway point of the PAC-12 season `What is the single most improved area for this basketball team?', I would have to say our ball movement, our passing, our ability to play together. You can go back and look in the rear view mirror; we were a team that obviously suffered from an awful lot of dribbling and ball sticking. And I thought today it was just fun to watch. It's reflected in a couple numbers. We shoot, once again, 54.5% so if you throw out our missing shots Thursday night, that's been a pretty steady drumbeat, very efficient offensively. Field goal percentage, adjusted field goal percentage, [and] 3-point field goal percentages have been really on the upswing. It's also reflected in assist numbers: Jon Gilling, 7 to 1 at the forward spot, assisted turnovers, his career high in assists. But it was a great team win, a number of guys stepped up and contributed. Jordan Bachynski I think put his third consecutive good game together - although he suffered from tremendous foul trouble, he was 5-for-5 in the field- and really set the tone early for us going inside. I thought Carrick [Felix] really played a good all around game, dropped his turnover, came up with four assists, made some shots for us. I think Chris Colvinarguably played his best game as a Sun Devil. Obviously his career high in scoring, but much more importantly he's settling in and starting to get more comfortable with what we're doing. So, a good team win this afternoon."
ON THE BALL MOVEMENT
"I think our guys are just starting to understand better; they're starting to get more comfortable with what we're doing. That, and the two-by-four we keep hitting them over the head with."
WAS IT THE BEST GAME OF THE YEAR
"I mean I don't know if [today was] the best, we've had other good games that we've played, but perhaps this had more possessions. But to me, it was fun to watch, I love watching basketball like that in the first half that we had."
ON PREGAME CHAT WITH CARRICK
"I just wanted a hug and Carrick is such a great guy. All the fires that needed to be lit were done yesterday. We really challenged our guys, we felt we didn't finish possessions and play with the scope of awareness like I said Thursday night on defense, so we really challenged them yesterday. And today was just a hug."
ON GOING TO CARRICK EARLY TO GET HIM GOING
"I honestly don't know if we did any more or had any special plan done. We'll take the credit if you want to give it to us. But I think Carrick's really being in a good place and playing assertively. He was in a good place so the opportunities came about because of that more so than any grand plan that we had."
ON THE WIN ENCOURAGING THE TEAM
"Yeah, this is great. This is why you coach; this has been challenging, exhilarating, and a lot of fun. Because, let's face it, this group has been through a great deal and they're perseverance can serve as a great example to all of us...we all have our struggles in life. But they're a fun group to be with. We keep telling them the truth, it's not all rose petals. We hit them right between the eyes with things we're trying to do better and hold ourselves accountable. So it's gratifying on a day like today where they finally get some taste of reward for all of their effort and perseverance."
ARE FIELD GOALD PERCENTAGE AND CHRIS' (COLVIN) RELATED?
"Absolutely. If you're going to be a good shooting team, chances are you first have to be a good passing team. Because shots that come in the rhythm of the shots that you tend to make at a higher percentage. So if you know where your shots are going to come at the passes on time on target, if the offense is in sync, your shooting percentage goes up. When guys are maybe passing up good shots like they were today for better shots, your percentage goes even higher. And then there are nights like we had Thursday night that no matter what you do, you just miss the shots. That's always part of it, too, and I thought that really was a greasy spot for us on Thursday. But, I loved the ball movement, loved the patience and the discipline that we're growing on offense."
ON FIGURING OUT WHERE THE TEAMS STANDS AFTER THE PAST MONTH
"I guess right now we're not spending a whole lot of time doing that. I think the message to myself and to the extent I can convey it to the team, is to really stay in the present. Just stay in the precious present. And we can't be anywhere else anyway so that's what we're trying to do. Like, today was everything. Today demanded all of us, and then the same thing as we now move forward. Just trying to stay in that precious present is, I think, really important. Especially when you've taken some rib shots like we have."
WILL HE KEEP JORDAN IN THE STARTING LINEUP
"Well, it's always evolving it seems. You know, some teams you're able to have the same starting lineup from the first game to through the last game. Other times it's more fluid and as we've had injuries and other things to contend with we've had to adapt and adjust. But Jordan started because he earned it. We're always evaluating what's happening in practice, who's playing well in games, what combinations are giving us the best chance given the opponent and the match ups. And the way Jordan has played against Utah, Washington and Washington State, he's really coming on. So that's why he started and we'll see what happens moving forward."
ON CHRIS (COLVIN) STAYING IN THE GAME AND NOT COMING OUT MUCH
"Well, it's never one possession and out. When I'm evaluating what's happening it's done with the backdrop of what's happened all week in practice. So you may only see one possession and out. I may see what has happened Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday in practice, then one possession. So I don't ever take a guy out one possession and out. Sometimes it's something just totally egregious. But, with the opportunity he's had, he has become more comfortable and he's playing better. And I think all of us bring to this moment the sum total of all of our experiences. So that `tough love', to use your words, has been a part of the trail. So we bring the good, the bad, and the ugly, to the present and to the extent we can learn from our experiences and keep working hard. We bring all that to now and I think Chris has done that."
ON FORCING MORE TURNOVERS THAN THE OPPONENT FOR THE FIRST TIME THIS YEAR
"Yeah, there was a number of firsts on the stat sheet, that's a big one, and it's not because we didn't turn it over. We still had 16 turnovers, our goal was conservatively 12 or less, if we're really good it's 10 or less. Today though, I'm going to take a couple of the turnovers. I'm going to take the two illegal screens, those are mine, because we've been emphasizing screening so much. And I'm going to take the two, especially the last 5-second dribble out, I got to do a better job of helping our guys understand what we're looking for there. So if you take those four away, we were better in that area. And most significantly we were able to force some, which makes a big difference, too. It's not just how many you commit it's how many you force. And what's been so difficult for us has been the differential."
ON PERFORMANCES OF CARRICK AND MOTUM
"Carrick just really played with great tenacity and made a play. Motum is a tremendous player; he came to Washington State with Coach Bennett three years ago as a very celebrated and heralded prospect. When I shook his hand after the game, I got a kink in my neck. You don't realize how big he his and a couple of the shots he made with great size, right over a challenged hand. But in the final analysis, we were able to hold him to 34."
ON CLOSEOUT AND ROTATION IMPROVEMENTS
"[Today improved] a little bit. Outside of the turnovers, we still don't have real good defensive numbers. You still don't get the feel when you watch our team that `Man, those guys are hard to score against'. We gave up 47 percent from the field, 41 percent from the three, we foul too much. We had seventeen personal fouls, we want to play with less than twelve. Although you can nitpick and maybe find areas to say `Good Job', like Carrick's possession at the end and the fact that we forced more turnovers, when I'm watching us, I don't ever get the feeling like, `Good luck, we're hard to score against.' We're not there yet defensively, and as much as our conversations have seemingly gone to offensive. I've been hitting the defense pretty hard as something that needs real improvement."
ON DEFLECTIONS INCREASING
"They've been at an all-time low this year; they were better, much better tonight. Coming into this game we're only averaging 16.5 deflections a game. With the way we're playing a possession game right now...even if we had 15 a half -- thirty, that would be outstanding. So, we're almost half of where we need to be when it comes to deflections.
QUOTES FROM SUN DEVIL Carrick Felix
ON GETTING INTO THE FLOW OF THE OFFENSE
"I definitely have to thank my teammates for giving me good looks. I just have myself in a good frame of mind right now and just ready to go on the road next week and get two more wins."
ON THE FLEX OFFENSE
"All we are doing is executing. Playing slow and just playing with what the defense gives us. Chris is a big part of that just setting up the offense and is doing a great job at it."
ON THE FIRST HALF OF CONFERENCE PLAY BEING DONE
"We have been through a lot. Excuse my language but we've been through Hell and back, but we have all been there together. We believe and we can only keep going forward. We battle everyday in practice and work hard everyday. I believe that everything happens for a reason and I think it is going to pay off in the end. We just need to keep working, keep grinding and keep believing."
ON THE TEAM'S FRAME OF MIND WITH ALL THE ADVERSITY
"We are at a good point right now. Without Trent it is hard. Trent is a great player, he is a leader so it is hard, but when he jumps back in it will continue to be the same. It will actually get better and we are excited to get him back next week and get on the road looking for two more wins."
QUOTES FROM SUN DEVIL Chris Colvin
ON THE DIFFERENCE NOW AND BEFORE
"Just confidence. Coach had confidence in me. Trent went down so I knew I had to step up. It was either step up or move on and I chose to step up. My team gave me confidence to do it and I just came out and did what I needed to do."
ON LOOKING FOR HIS SHOT
"I looked for it a lot today. One thing we were doing was passing the ball and making the open passes and then making the open shots. The extra pass, coach really stressed to us in practice and we wanted to carry it into the game. It definitely played dividends for us."
ON PLAYING AGAINST THE TWO BIG MEN
"Their presence alone sometimes guys will avoid driving it to the rim or trying to post up just because they're seven. Sometimes you avoid them. Their presence on the court helps them out."
ON BROCK MOTUM'S GAME
"We looked for him a lot and he played 38 minutes. We did a good job. I'm really pleased that we did get Brock the ball. I think we need to do that as frequently as possible."
ON ASU'S OFFENSE
"For them to have 37 points in the first half, that's too many. Also they had too many three point shots, they hit six for twelve in the first half. The credit goes to them. They made shots. They were making threes like Arizona did. I thought we did better but not good enough to get it done in the second half."
QUOTES FROM WASHINGTON STATE'S BROCK MOTUM WHO HAD 34 POINTS
ON HIS CAREER HIGH
"If I had zero points but the win I would be way happier than this, losing. I don't know, its just winning is the only thing."
ON THE BALL MOVEMENT IN EACH HALF
"We might have made some adjustments at half time but we didn't do anything different. We tried the same plan as the first half, just to move the ball and attack their big guys off the bounce and I thought we did a good job of that but they hit a lot of shots. They hit some crucial shots. We didn't execute as well as we could have down the stretch."
ON PLAYING AGAINST THE SUN DEVIL ZONE WITH TWO 7-FOOTERS IN THE GAME
"It Is hard but when you stretch the zone its just as ineffective as it would be without the seven-footer. You would have the perimeter to exploit the mismatches more. I think we did a good job of that for the most part. We could score, its more about defense, us getting stops every time. Every time they get inside or that open look they shoot a really high percentage and that was the main thing. It wasn't our offense. Our offense was fine. I thought it was just our defense."
ON WHAT NEEDS TO IMPROVE DEFENSIVELY
"I can't pin point one thing exactly but I know they had a few second chance shots that we shouldn't have allowed. They executed really well and through us out of whack a little bit but I don't know. I'm going to have to look at some film. I don't know off the top of my head."
ON THE TEAM'S EFFORT TO GET THE BALL
"When you penetrate the zone, they're going to shift and you can attack behind the zone or turn their heads and yeah, I think the guys looked in but I just do the same thing every time. We just need to adapt to different defenses and see what happens. Whatever the coaches want to do to win, I don't care, I'll do it."