On if they had a good practice today:
"Good practice today, yes. Our guys had good energy. I think they enjoyed the home surroundings. The ball was going in the basket quite a bit today, so it’s just nice to be back in our routine practicing here. It was a long eight days with three straight road games. I think the guys are enjoying that and getting back to class this week too. We’re getting some students back on campus, so it’s good. We had a good day today.
On the big picture takeaway from the past three road games:
"We didn’t shoot particularly well in the first two when we were in the thirties. Then we were 8-for-24 from three versus Utah, but we did climb those numbers back up to 44%. I like the way we’re trending and we need to get back to being more efficient on offense and execute a little bit better on offense. We showed some good signs of that, but I just loved that we competed and all three (games) were tough environments, and we’re learning to play as a highly ranked team knowing that our opponents will give us their best shot. We were court-stormed, so there's a lot of new things happening here that have not happened at Arizona State.
On shot attempts during road trip:
"I thought I didn’t do as great of a job against Colorado of getting more movement in our offense against their zone, and we did some things in practice leading into Utah that helped get some more movement which I think our offense functioned better. We cant’t just stand and move the ball around with no movement against zone defense, and we did better against Utah. I was really pleased to see Shannon (Evans II) play the way he did at Utah. It’s hard when you’re in a slump, and you’re not seeing the ball go, in to drag yourself out of that. I’m really happy with his effort and then Kodi (Justice) was another guy, especially in the first half, his plays on defense and his dunk in the open court really got us going in that game.
On practicing with a sixth defender to counter zone:
"No. We’ll usually do that some for teams that will try to be real physical, press, and pressure you. We actually are spending more time working against zone because you would think if teams scout us, especially after watching the Colorado game, that it would be more effective against us. So, we’ve gotten more repetition against zone this week and we will leading into this game.
On the team benefiting from having an extra day to prepare for Utah’s zone defense:
I think it was just good physically. We were in an overtime game in Colorado and guys played heavy minutes. To have more of a recovery day in between was helpful and then we had a good practice on Saturday.
On how G Shannon Evans II's performance affects the team's energy:
We’ve been built that way this year. It’s the reason why we have had the success that we've had. We’ve had five or six guys in double figures in games, so we have to just get back to having more guys playing well on offense. Shannon certainly has the fire and the passion when he gets a game going, and it kind rubs off against everyone else. It was nice to see him play that way at Utah.
On how this road trip prepares team for rest of conference play and into postseason play:
"It’s a good feeling to have gotten three of them done with already knowing that you’ve got 15 and nine of those 15 are at home. That’s key. Utah is a top-60 team right now, so to get a road win at a top-60 is big for us as we move forward through the conference.
On Kimani Lawrence’s return to the court this weekend:
"I thought he had some better moments against Utah. He had a nice drive, a three-point play, and a couple offensive rebounds. For him, it’s even harder for him than it was for Mickey (Mitchell) when he came back, because Mickey was never injured. He was getting full reps through an extended period of time. Kimani had to sit out for those weeks, so it;s going to take a little longer, but he looked better in practice today and he’ll continue to get better and his role will continue to grow.
On how team has reacted to dropping in poll:
"You read things and you see that we’ve dropped and that’s the headline. We’re still number 11 in the country. It’s not that bad. Eleven has been pretty good to me. I like 11, so that’s fine. We’re excited with where we are and what we’ve done. There is still a lot of basketball left to be played. We can’t focus on where our season is going to be a month from now or what we did last week. We really have to lock in every day to get better and take these games one game at a time.
On if they are doing anything to tone down the fouls:
I watched the film, and that’s really all you can do: watch the film and make adjustments. We have to do a better job within the game of adjusting to how that game is being officiated. There have been games where more contact is going to be allowed and other games will be a tighter called game. Maybe we didn’t get that point across in the best way to our players so we could avoid that. Statistically, it just doesn’t match up, so I’m struggling to figure that out. We didn’t foul people anywhere near the level of what we’re getting called for in Pac-12, so we have to adjust to that and make some changes.
On if he feels like the officiating is different this year than it has been in the past:
"On the road, it’s always tough. There’s always adversity. You don’t feel like you’ll always get the same as if you’re at home. It’s hard for me to make that judgment where it was worse last year or not.
On if Romello White is learning what he can do inside as he plays more:
"Yes, it’s his nature to be physical. We looked at his fouls and talked with him about it. Majority of it was his fault and is correctable. Hopefully he’ll make some adjustments.
On if his nucleus of senior guards make effectively combating zone defense easier:
Yeah, I mean you can already see we felt more comfortable at Utah having played against Colorado. I think the other times we’ve faced zones this year, we’ve shot people out of zones really fast and then they didn’t want to go back to it again because our perimeter shooting has been so strong. We didn’t do that well enough either in Colorado, so they were able to stick with it through most of the game. We have to step into shots and make shots, and we’re more than capable of doing that. The movement we got at Utah was much better.
On what challenges Oregon presents:
"They have good size across the board. They have big guards, they have really good athletes and they have a shot-blocking presence. (Payton) Pritchard is one of the highly regarded guards in the conference. They’re a program that has expected success and is used to winning, going to the tournament and going deep into the tournament, so they’re going to have a winning mindset coming in. We’re focused on ourselves, getting better and preparing."
On what Kimani Lawrence brings when he is at full strength:
"He’s not a guy that is ball-dominant, that needs the ball in his hand all the time. He’ll go get an offensive rebound, basket cut for the layup, or get out in the open court. He’s extremely long, he’s got great wingspan and uses that effectively. He’s comfortable playing in the paint or away from the basket. He’s a very versatile player.
On if more seating in the arena felt different during practice:
I just reminded the guys early in practice. I didn’t realize it right away when I came in, and I looked and saw it and stopped our initial warmup drill that we did and I brought everyone over and I said, “Look man, this is what you guys have done. You should be proud of that. Now there’s such an increased demand and you guys have done it.” I think it’s outstanding. I can’t tell you how much we appreciate having a lively, energetic, packed Wells Fargo. It was such an advantage against Vanderbilt and Pacific. We look forward to carrying that over into Pac-12.
On how Kodi Justice dunking affects the team’s energy:
"He doesn’t do it too often. Kodi’s going to get mad at me that I said that. He’ll do anything to help you win. He’s a warrior. He made a couple good instinctive plays and he’s got that capability to go in there and make a play like that."
On why F Romello White is struggling to begin conference play:
Again, he had no chance against Utah – in all fairness – to play well. He was in there for six minutes and every time he went in he was whistled and then he was back out. I kind of throw that game out, for me. We talked to him about his fouls. Hopefully, he’ll be able to stay in the game for an extended period of time and get into rhythm and be able to play. Other than that, he’ll be fine. He’s a freshman. You’re going to go through times where you may not be at your very best. He had a little bit of a foot that he was dealing with in December, so managing his practice time. He wasn’t getting the reps other guys were getting. He’s over that, so he’s a full go all the time. I think he’ll build on that on the practice floor and get things going.
On how comfortable White is growing against teams that play zone defense:
"He’s got to be himself. He’s got to run the floor and try and get something in the open court. He’s got to get offensive glass. He’s got to look for the ball and try to demand the ball and be a big target in there. He’ll get his opportunities.
On how important F Mickey Mitchell has been to the team:
"The stat sheet means nothing when you talk about Mickey. You know as a coach that a guy has a great impact on a game when you don’t want to take him out. That’s how I’m feeling about what he’s doing on the floor. He battled (David) Collete because he’s strong and he’s tough and tried to get him away from the basket and rebounds. Guys like playing with him because he’s a good passer and he’ll find an open teammate.
SHANNON EVANS II
On getting out of shooting slump:
“It felt great, it was tough for me. I’ve been in the gym almost every night getting up shots. My work ethic stayed the same, but the game shots weren’t falling. Mentally it was kind of tough but i got great teammates around me, a great coaching staff so they all kept me level headed and Utah’s shots was going down so it felt good.”
On drawing from own experience
“I’ve been in slumps my whole year. Everybody goes through it. I talked to James (Harden) the day before the game and he was just saying it happens, everybody goes through it you’re not the only player that goes through it. I’ve been through slumps in my career before so I just tried to find a way to get a way out of it. You got to try to get easy baskets at first and stay in your shot not really back pedal out and things like that. The first shot at Utah I kind of just wanted to over exaggerate my form and stay in it and pulls and things like that. It kind of went in for me, so the basket got a little bit bigger. Once I made one I knew it was over, I’m hot after one shot.
On pre game rituals changing
“Never, never. If I'm scoring 50 or scoring zero I do everything the same.”
On emotions
"It's frustrating because you want to win so bad, you want to win. That's our only goal is to win. You’re in a shooting slump and your team starting to lose two games, you’re like man. You’ve got people throwing shots at you saying this and saying that. All this negativity. What do you do? You can either fold or rise to the occasion.”
On ever doing too much
“No, I'm an aggressive scorer i've been doing it my whole life. It’s what I do.”
On zone
“Not really it's more of my shot, just staying in it, being consistent with it and things like that. I feel like it's all about me at that point, me making shots. I feel like Kodi he always makes big shots, that's what he does. I feel like Kodi really carried his weight. Tra definitely carried his weight. I feel like I wasn't really doing what i should, as I expected. I feel like it was really on me. It was really just trying to find a way to get out of that, what can I do? Can i get a layup first, get to the line for some free throws going? I saw the first one go in at Utah, and i'm like alright im out of it now.”
On facing the zone
“People want to play the zone because they can't guard us with three guards on the court at one time, it’s hard it’s real tough. People want to zone us and do things like that. I feel we just got to to keep making shots, they have to go back to man. When they go to man it's over.”
On takeaways from conference games
“Keeping that fight we have all year. We’ve been in tough games, every game felt like a tough game and we know how to win. Just staying together through the tough times and coming out on top.”
On two days in between Colorado and Utah
“Our coaches do a great job with that, they want us to relax and think about other stuff. They want us to go to the movies and things like that to get away from basketball for a little bit. I think things like that help and just relax and focus on other stuff, give basketball a rest.”
On Kodi’s first dunk
“That was funny. Kodi has sneaky bounce. I was kind of excited for him. He dunks all the time, in warmups, practice. In a game you don't really get a fast break and if you do you’re really tired cause you’re playing heavy minutes.”
On Romello’s development"
“It's amazing. Just to see him where he came from when he first got here to now. I feel like he probably feels like he should do more, which he should I'm not just going to cut him slack. Which he will do more. Its amazing to watch someone’s journey and their process and what they go through it's great to watch.”
On Utah game foul trouble bringing flashbacks from last year"
“That was tough,that was so tough. I was just telling Mickey just play smart. Play smart. Before you know it i was going to be playing the four. I was going to be the power forward and i'm six foot and that wasn't going to work. I was telling Mickey please be smart.”
On game stopping due to large amount of foul calls:
“You just have to keep fighting through adversity. You can't plan stuff like this. Stuff like this is not scripted, you just have to fight through it. The only thing you can do is fight so that's all we did. Keep pushing, keep pushing, keep pushing and stay together."
KODI JUSTICE
On first career dunk:
“We joked around about it, like me and Austin (Witherill) kind of joked. He's like “When are you going to dunk, we know you can dunk.” I’m just like “It’s not worth three points.” I always joked about it but i had my opportunity so i was like alright i guess I''ll dunk it.”
On how dunk felt:
"It was cool. It was cool to get it out of the way so Austin can stop razzing me about it. I'm athletic enough so it wasn't shocking to me."
On having a home stretch:
"We’ve had a great stretch. This team’s different to say it's great to be home or away. It's just great to be around the guys home or away. It’s great to get back to see the crowd and we know they are ready for conference play. They dropped the wall down so we have more seats and our fans are just fired up for conference play and it's exciting to get back here.”
On first few games of conference play on the road:
"I think we already knew what we were getting into with tough road games in our non-conference; at Kansas, we’re on neutral site against Xavier, Kansas State. We knew it was going to be difficult but we had to weather the storm because that is probably the hardest start you can ask for in conference play three games on the road, probably playing the three hardest places. We just knew we had to stay together, keep battling and that regardless of where we are at its going to be a long conference so we can get too high or too low."
On elevation:
“It was a little difficult at Colorado. You felt it especially in the second half but you adjusted to it quickly."
On zone:
“Teams are trying to take away the three or take away from us getting to the foul line. When they plan man we get both. They are trying to take away one or the other. Teams are trying to stop one. I wouldn't say it affected us, we have to figure out ways to get easier shots. But i still feel like we are getting good shots, we’re are getting to the rim, getting to the free throw line. We just keep working through it having a better feel with zone."
On busting the zone:
“You can attack corners, you can attack the middle, it all depends on what type of zone people are playing. People have switched it up going from man to two-three to one-three-one. We just have to see what it is quickly and get to a play. There are times we’re slow to detect what kind of zone or if they are in man. We have be able to pick up what is quickly and attack it from there.”
On what he tells younger players after back to back losse:
“They’re young but they are super mature so it's easier for me and the other two seniors to know they are going to be ready for practice, we don't have to worry about them with their heads down or trying to do too much because they are super mature. They’re motivated, they’ve played in tough environments already in high school with Remy (Martin) and Kimani (Lawrence). You already expect them to be able to bounce back and not really need much from us as older guys because they have experienced it all. They’re right there with us, they are pushing us to be better and we’re pushing them to be better so it’s just a great balance between us.”
On foul trouble against Utah:
“You can say yeah. I felt like it didn't bother us too much. We had to play with lines we didn't practice with much but we are a scrappy team and we are going to find a way to win.”
On extra seating in WFA:
“It's great to be the reason why we have this crowd out here. To be able to say we did this and to be a kid thats from here. I’ve seen so many up and down years, it was difficult. ‘When are we going to make the tournament, when are we going to win a a conference game.’ Just to be able to say we’re doing this, starting this, it's a great honor."