PAC-12 CONFERENCE MEN'S BASKETBALL CHAMPIONSHIP

March 10, 2023

Bobby Hurley

Warren Washington

Jamiya Neal

Arizona State Sun Devils

Postgame Press Conference

Arizona - 78, Arizona State - 59

THE MODERATOR: We'll go ahead and get started with an opening statement from coach and then take questions.

BOBBY HURLEY: Well, I got to give credit right away to Arizona, how they played. Their interior players were outstanding tonight. There's a reason why they're considered maybe the best tandem on the front court in the country. They were really good.

They had other guys that were, that stepped up, made shots. Henderson was very good tonight, hit some timely threes.

I'm really proud of our team. I had a vision of, and I could see us cutting down the nets and it just didn't come to fruition. I thought we were in decent shape at halftime, although early in the first half we were stuck on 18 for a little bit. We struggled to put some points on the board. But we were within striking range and we were still there, five or six points with around six or seven minutes left. I think to a degree the three straight days may have taken its toll late and we kind of ran out of steam.

Our style, I don't think, is conducive necessarily to playing multiple days in a row, just how we press and how much energy we exert on defense. I think if we were a slower-paced slower-tempo team we might have had a better opportunity to have a chance tonight.

But again, they're an elite team and certainly it's going to be a hell of a game tomorrow night with UCLA and Arizona.

THE MODERATOR: Questions?

Q. Your team's done everything they can on the court now and it's up to the powers that be for the NCAA tournament. What are your thoughts going into Sunday?

BOBBY HURLEY: I respect the process. I've been through the process and I understand the evaluation process, and you respect other teams that have had good seasons and are being considered as we are. I truly believe, though, that if you take our three best wins and you compare them to other bubble teams, I don't think it's close. We've demonstrated that we could go away from our home court and win, and that's a major priority in the NCAA tournament. We have seven true road games, road wins, five, we're 5-1 on a neutral court. So we won 22 games in a power conference. I mean, how much more do you really have to do?

So I think these guys deserve it. And the other thing is there's quad 1 wins and then there are really good quad 1 wins. Any time you go on a neutral and beat Creighton or you beat USC on a neutral or you go to Arizona and win, I mean, those are serious wins. They're not sitting on your home court gobbling up a quad 1 game.

So I'm hopeful with all the things I stated that we would have a really, really good chance to get in the NCAA tournament.

Q. If by chance you're not selected to the NCAA tournament, have you thought about whether you would accept an invitation to the NIT?

BOBBY HURLEY: We're all in, assuming that what we've done, again, in a power conference, winning 22 games and losing 12, we're not a team that lost like 14 or 15 games and didn't even reach 20 wins. I mean, that's a lot of wins and a lot of good wins to deny us of that. So that's where our focus is right now.

Q. You touched on it a little bit there with cutting the lead down to four points or five or whatever, and then they had a couple more transition and Ballo kind of did his thing. Can you talk about that sequence? And also, Warren, your perspective on that.

BOBBY HURLEY: Yeah, Ballo's a handful. When they're making shots it gets really tough. Henderson was and Ramey's always a threat. We were able to plug the floor a little bit on Kriisa because he appeared to still have some affects with the shoulder. So we were not really guarding him like we normally would. So I think that had something to do with it, like just their effectiveness in the paint.

We won the paint at Arizona when we won there, and we weren't able to do it tonight, and that was a big part of the game. There were a couple transition plays that I thought were key. Frankie made a lot of plays out there for us and he's been great all year, the missed dunk, and then I think we had another possession in transition that we had a turnover. I think it was kind of in a back-to-back where they were getting a little shaky with turning the ball over and we weren't able to capitalize.

WARREN WASHINGTON: Credit to Ballo. He's obviously a really good player. He's a handful and I just felt like today he did a really good job and I felt like the last two matchups I definitely had the, I felt like I played better one-on-one. But credit to him. He's a great player.

Q. When you kind of look at the second half, Frankie seemed a little bit more aggressive to open up. Was that a message that you had spoke to him at halftime, to be a little bit more aggressive and attack the basket?

BOBBY HURLEY: Yeah, we were getting great production from that position. Jamiya came in in the first half and gave us a big lift, had some really good minutes, some shot making, good defense. He was good throughout the entire game, Jamiya.

But Frankie, at the end of the half, I wanted him to take like a 15-, 17-footer. He had it and he passed it up and we didn't get a shot, or a good shot at the end of the half. So I said, Hey, you got to trust your shot and take those shots if they give 'em to you. Don't let them disrespect you. I know you can make the shot. He trusted it and hit a few.

But he's got to do it because the defenses shouldn't treat him that way. He's too good of a player. He's got to trust his shot and take it.

Q. Can you expand on what Jamiya has done these last few days. He's played some of his best basketball this year.

BOBBY HURLEY: Yeah, it's about seizing opportunity, and he's done it. With Austin's unfortunate concussion stuff, Jamiya, I saw it the week of practice coming into Arizona at Arizona, and he just, he knew he was going to have a bigger role that, knowing that Austin was going to be out. And to his credit, he's always stayed ready. It was unfortunate because he was one of our best players in the off-season and he had a lower leg injury and he was set back early in the year, so he had to work his way and climb his way into the rotation, and he's done it and he's been very productive. He had a great tournament.

Q. Obviously this one didn't go the way you guys wanted to, but you guys have done a really good job throughout the season of winning close games. For example, two wins over Stanford by four points. You guys find ways to win close games. What's been the key to you guys being able to do that consistently throughout the entire season?

BOBBY HURLEY: We have a good mixture of youth and experience and guys that have been in these games before. Warren's been in a lot of big games, Devan at Auburn, transferred, Des, Frankie last year, and then we had the core coming back that were very motivated.

I think our conditioning is top notch. We work very hard in practice, so down the stretch in games we can close people out. We got clutch players that can step up and make plays down the stretch.

JAMIYA NEAL: Along with what coach said I would say togetherness. We're like brothers. I think we all have confidence in each other and we thrive on those moments because we're together, we're a real team. So I think that's what helped us in a close game just the togetherness.

WARREN WASHINGTON: I feel like our conditioning and the fact that we have grit, I feel like grit's like our identity. We've developed that over the year. I feel like those type of teams are always going to have an advantage in close games.

Q. Jamiya, obviously coach mentioned you seizing the opportunity with Austin not able to play. Can you kind of talk about how you go about practice and trying to keep yourself prepared so that when you get the chance you're ready?

JAMIYA NEAL: Well coach is always on me about going hard every day and going game speed. So just not trying to take no days off, no plays off and working hard at practice and being there for when my number's called.

Q. You have been to the First Four twice previously. So, not saying that's going to happen, but in the event that it does what have you taken from those experiences that helps you prepare this team?

BOBBY HURLEY: Well it's a quick turnaround. So tonight it's late Friday and obviously Selection Show Sunday and then the game would be early next week. So it's going to be when, hopefully, we are selected, to dive right into film and start watching tape of our opponent, getting our guys dialed in for travel. There's just a lot of logistical stuff that needs to happen like instantly. And then from there it's, you know, it's easy to motivate when you're in that tournament, it's so special there's nothing like it. So these guys are going to be hungry to play. So no matter where we go we're going to be eager to get out there on the floor.