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PAC-12 MEN'S BASKETBALL TOURNAMENTMarch 15, 2019Bobby HurleyZylan CheathamLas Vegas, Nevada Oregon - 79, Arizona State - 75 (OT) BOBBY HURLEY: I thought it was an outstanding college basketball game. High-level game. I'm -- I don't have anything to be ashamed of, we don't, the way the guys competed and fought. And especially after not starting the game very well and having a huge deficit early to -- loved the response of the team and how we fought to get ourselves back in the game. I think that's a little bit of proof of just how we've been over the last several weeks and how hard it is next Thursday or Friday for a team to beat us because of just the grit and the will to win and got a bunch of winners and playmakers. So it's been a great thrill to coach these guys in this tournament, and hats off to Oregon. They've been playing very well. They made a lot of big shots late in the game. Amin's shot in the right corner was a huge turning point in the game. So I think this shows the people across the United States to watch the Pac-12 Tournament. Might have seen two high-level teams playing. So it may not be as bad as everyone thinks. Q. In the overtime period, they were really working to get the ball into their point guard's hand, Pritchard, and get some mismatches on the switches. What did you think kind of happened in that whole sequence and what were you trying to do? BOBBY HURLEY: I think the main thing that went wrong in overtime, to be honest, was losing Z, getting his fifth foul with four minutes to go. He's such a big part of us winning games. It's hard to overcome that as defense and everything he does to help us win. The one time we didn't do a good job of it was in regulation with I believe with Paul White. We allowed him to get open, and we didn't switch properly, and he a wide-open three. So that was the main one that hurt us. We were a little bit careless with the ball in overtime, and that's kind of what we were doing early in the game as well. So we reverted back to that where we didn't need to turn it over. Q. Coach, Remy Cleary wasn't at 100 percent. Just your thoughts on what he did tonight. BOBBY HURLEY: He gutted it out because he's a warrior, and he was probably 60 to 75 percent of what Remy Martin would normally be. But he was moving fairly well at times out there. And we're going to have six or seven days to get him -- to get him healthy. So we already spoke, and he doesn't think it's going to be an issue next week when we play him. Q. What specifically was the injury? BOBBY HURLEY: He tweaked his groin. At the morning we're calling it like a strained groin. He went in and got it taped, and then he came back out. As the game progressed, he started moving better and better as it became warmer and he got a little loose out there. I have complete confidence that he'll be fine. Q. The last possession in regulation, if you could walk us through that? BOBBY HURLEY: Yeah, well, we got the offensive rebound. We were -- there was a bit of a scramble. I know that Zylan attempted to call a timeout. The coaches can't call a timeout in that situation. Apparently the ref did not see him call a timeout. At that point the clock was winding down, and Rob just tried to make the best of what he could do with it. Q. When it comes to the motivation these guys have had, obviously so much hunger throughout this tournament. What does that say about them, of course, and moving forward for this program as a mentality? BOBBY HURLEY: These guys have proven time and time again that they're winners and they want the big game and the big stage, and that's what this was. It was a terrific night. Great tournament. Pac-12 does an awesome job of putting on a great event at T-Mobile, on ESPN. And I think they were up for the challenge, really played a high-level game. And that's really what it's going to take next week in the NCAA Tournament. If we're going to go, we're going to go like this. Someone is going to rip our heart out to beat us. We've got winners. We've got playmakers. We've got athleticism. We've got great competitors. It was a privilege for me to coach this group. Q. You guys got off to a terrible start, and yet you were able to maintain their surge, and you were in the game at halftime. What was the thought at halftime, that even though you didn't play well, you were still in the game. ZYLAN CHEATHAM: Basketball is a game of runs. We just tried to stay with it. Just tried to keep making plays, not get down on ourselves. It's a 40-minute game. I think we did that. We showed some good things in the first half. Q. Last night you said that there wasn't any uncertainty with the tournament bid. But not getting to the championship game, do you think that diminishes your chances at all to make it to the Big Dance? BOBBY HURLEY: Absolutely not. Again, you look at our résumé, we have 11 quad 1 and 2 wins. We're 11-6 versus those two quads. And there aren't almost any teams that are in the 8, 9, 10, 11 line that can say that. And the non-conference wins are important. We put ourselves -- we stuck our neck out and put it on the line to play Kansas and Mississippi State and Utah State teams that are having very successful season. And then we went in our league and won 12 games in a Power Conference and finished second. So when you put that whole package together, when the Committee looks at our season, our entire season, I think we'll be rewarded for being great in the non-conference, beating the No. 1 team in the country at one point during the season, and then having a very strong effort in the league. And then to lose in overtime like this and really playing at a high level, I think that that shows that we're playing very well at the right time of the year. Q. You saw Oregon early in the season, and you've seen them twice during the streak of theirs. What's different about that team, about Oregon? BOBBY HURLEY: I think that they've developed some cohesiveness. And I know that they had a lot of injuries, and they had a guy like Louis King back and get a few weeks of games under his belt where he gets some experience. He's a handful. He really kind of made some big plays. I think when we went up eight, he really hit some big shots in the second half. And then their guarding, they really were guarding with good energy and effort. They have a great shot block and presence around the basket. They've been playing great defense. This is probably the most successful anyone has been in terms of scoring on them over the last couple of weeks. FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports   |
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