Arizona State Head Coach Bobby Hurley
Opening Statement:
I thought our defense again was really, really strong and we’ve got to clean up the rebounding a bit, but I’m happy to see 21 assists and 25 made field goals. That shows unselfishness and the guys moving the ball.”
On tonight being a statement game:
“I think we’ve been more dominant. We’re one rebound away from being undefeated, and the way we’ve won lately shows that there is a lot of potential here with this group. It’s exciting and hopefully we can keep building off that confidence.”
On what has kicked into gear on offense:
“Frankie really wants to find his teammates and he is great at finding guys. Six assists, I think, at halftime. We had good cutting off the ball, we had good movement off the ball and Devon Cambridge a couple of times, DJ Horne had a nice back cut in the second half. And then it was good to see Warren get some touches and be productive. That's where you could take further steps in your offense if you can play through him and play inside out a little more.”
On Marcus Bagley’s status:
“I’ve had a really good couple of games and guys are playing well and our perimeter is really playing at a high level and I wasn’t going to disrupt anything tonight.”
On Enoch being back on Sunday:
“Enoch is working through illness and missed those games in New York due to that. We anticipate that he will be back on Friday in practice. The guys will have the next 48 hours to be able to get with their families. We usually haven’t had this opportunity in the past, so we will get back to work on Friday.”
On the momentum from the Michigan game being a problem tonight:
“We play these teams like Tarlenton State who played really hard. Texas Southern played hard. We knew we had to be ready to play or else they could embarrass you by their effort and certainly we didn’t want to be in a situation like that. So we discussed a lot, we made the guys aware that they had a high double figure lead vs Colorado and beat a Pac-12 school already, so they had our full attention.”
On having depth and being able to have a strong lineup:
“I’ve been kind of consistent with saying that. I think the last two years, not 100%, excuses, plus a lot of it we were distracted with injuries for two years. So when you’re building a roster, you’re saying let’s not allow that to happen again, so let’s make sure that we can sustain not having one guy or two guys because there’s multiple guys that can help us. I think it promotes a real competitive environment where guys have to be productive if they want their role to expand and earn their minutes. Nothing is going to be handed to you. So I think that is a positive to what our roster looks like.”
On Jamiya Neal’s first game as a Sun Devil:
“I’m happy for Jamiya. It’s unfortunate, the timing of his injury and missing all of that time, so I wanted to be careful of his minutes. But he’s going to upgrade our defense, and we are already playing pretty good defense. Even he said to me, just now, it felt different and not like practice. It’s his first game, but I think he’ll continue to grow and develop.”
Arizona State Guard DJ Horne:
On coming off the big win and going into tonight with momentum:
“I think that win out in Brooklyn was very big for us, it was definitely an eye opener for our team on how good we can be when we all really lock in. I think it was good for us, we’ll definitely look at that and it’ll catapult us for the rest of our season. As far as the turnaround we enjoyed the win while we were there and when we got back we still enjoyed it but we knew we had another game coming up so we knew to come back to earth to get ready for this one.”
On what has led to more offensive success:
“I think time, and we have a new team again. Guys trying to feel their way out in a jersey and I think it's starting to come out around now. I don’t really think we even tapped into how good we can look offensively. Just the way we’ve been doing now and stacking good wins and good games as a team, I think we’ll just keep getting better.”
On sharing the ball around which equals 21 assists:
“Guys are sharing the sugar man. It’s fun to see when everyone is out there smiling. I feel like that’s what we’ve been emphasizing. Everyone plays as a team, if everyone does that everyone will eat.”
On Frankie Collins and DJ in the backcourt:
“I think me and Frankie (Collins) have the potential to be the best backcourt in the country. I’ve been telling him that since he got here. I’ve been coming in every day putting in the work and I feel like we’ve done that and continue to do that. The summer was very big even though we didn’t really play on the same team a lot we we’re going against each other so it got us ready for the season. Now that we’re on the same team now I feel like we’ll keep getting better.”
Arizona State forward Devan Cambridge
On the mindset coming into tonight after the win vs. Michigan:
“Yeah, it was definitely a conversation. We said we can’t be comfortable. That win is over with, and we got to keep pushing forward. And we can't take our opponent for granted. And you saw, we lost Texas Southern that one game. So just kept applying pressure… we’re playing together now, feeling everybody out. You see, that's what happens when you play together.”
On his shooting performance:
“I've been getting extra shots of and just just believing in myself. It's just a different system.”
On the chemistry on offense:
“Like I said, we’re just playing together. I feel like we can compete with anybody. I think we had 22 assists tonight is you know, it’s just fun basketball and I know when we don't move the ball, it looks real bad. So that's been the emphasis. And like I said, it's good basketball when that happens.”
On the impact of Frankie Collins:
“He's had a bunch of assists. Yeah, you know, that's his main focus just finding everybody. He’s a point guard and he would rather pass the ball than score but he can do both. If he has to score it, he will. So, that's a big thing. He can make some very tough passes.”
On his stylish dunks on the fast break:
“Yeah, I'm disappointed in myself on the fast break. I took off too far. And I was trying to do this little signature dunk. And then I realized I was gonna miss it. So I didn’t do it and I’m mad at myself for that one.”
On the next steps as a team:
“Really, just keep doing what we're doing. Our communication on defense been getting a lot better. And rebounding … that's a major key. We struggled tonight on that.”
On playing at home:
“It’s so great to be back. We had a long road trip for a week. It’s just fun. I love playing in front of a home crowd. We got another one Sunday (and we’re) ready to do the same thing.”
On the team’s hot start:
“It gave us a lot of confidence (starting the game on a 12-0 run). Like I said: just play everybody, respect everybody, respect your opponent. We started up 12-0 but we just kept our foot on the gas.”