NCAA MEN'S BASKETBALL CHAMPIONSHIP: FIRST ROUND - ARIZONA STATE VS TCU

March 16, 2023

Bobby Hurley

Jamiya Neal

Devan Cambridge

Ball Arena

Arizona State Sun Devils

Media Conference

Q. How are you feeling after all the travel? What's the last 24 hours been like getting here and getting settled?

DEVAN CAMBRIDGE: Extremely tired. I think we got in around 4:00, around that time, and I couldn't really sleep because I slept on the plane. Just trying to get that sleep back and everything.

Kind of banged up, too, body physically, but we got messages and things like that to take care of our bodies.

Q. What is the feeling after the way you guys played last night to obviously get here with a hot hand at the moment?

DEVAN CAMBRIDGE: It felt amazing. We've been underdogs all year, and I'm happy that we're clicking at the right moment. Everybody is locked in. I think everybody knows it's win or go home, so I feel like everybody is on the same page and mindset. Have to do those things that we struggled with during the season like simple things like boxing out, communicating.

I feel like everybody is doing those things, plus making shots. That was a big part of it. Extremely excited for what comes next.

Q. How does the travel and the fatigue of playing last night, red eye to Denver this morning, compared to last week when you guys were in Vegas having to play three games in three days?

JAMIYA NEAL: It's a little bit different because then we just go back to the hotel and rest. After last night's game, it was a very fast-paced game, then we had to go like a three-hour plane ride here, so it's just different from -- takes a little more toll on your body.

But I think if we just rest up and be prepared, we'll be fine.

DEVAN CAMBRIDGE: It's the same.

Q. Devan, have you even been able to see what TCU is all about, get to know them, watch film or anything?

DEVAN CAMBRIDGE: Personally, I played high school basketball with Damion Baugh, so I'm familiar with him. Miller, he was in the SEC with me at Texas A&M. I just watch good basketball. They're a good team, so I've been watching them all year. They're physical and they're going to try to bully us and things like that. They play a fast pace.

Yeah, I've had my eye on them throughout the year and I know a couple of guys, so I'm familiar with them.

Q. Your coach was a pretty good ball player. What do you know about Coach Hurley's career back at Duke?

JAMIYA NEAL: Actually about a month ago we watched his "30 for 30" as a team. We all watched his little "30 for 30." So just tried to pick -- like I said, he was a good player, he knows how to win. He's been here before, so he just tried -- I think sometimes he even gets caught up in the moment, like he has to explain it because it's like, we haven't did it, Coach, you have did it.

So Coach is like a player's coach for real. So just having the experience of a guy who's been there before, he can teach us a lot of things.

Q. Was that his idea or your guys' idea to watch that?

DEVAN CAMBRIDGE: Definitely his.

JAMIYA NEAL: Yeah, it was his idea, but it was fun, though, just seeing him get after it. It was just funny because sometimes he gets mad at us for complaining about calls. Just seeing him out there complaining about calls, it was funny, but definitely just seeing how hard he went, how much of a leader he was, it definitely inspired us to play better.

Q. Was there anything that you saw in how good he was that surprised you?

DEVAN CAMBRIDGE: Yes, like his physical stature. So just seeing him, to see him being like just a smaller guard and not being as built, then I watch that, it just like blew my mind how good he was at just making the right play. People talk about how fun it was to play with him. He just has like a dog mentality, so coming from Jersey, and then, yeah, I met his dad, so he was hard on him, so that's what I think where he's come from.

JAMIYA NEAL: For me it was the handle for sure. I didn't know Coach had it on a string like that.

Q. Devan was talking about you guys clicking at the right time here. Feels like you're clicking at the right time personally the last couple weeks. What's that felt like for you?

JAMIYA NEAL: It feels good. Like I've been saying the last couple weeks, my teammates have a lot of confidence in me. My coach has a lot of confidence in me. That gives me a lot of confidence. So just going out there and showing people what I can do, it just feels good, knowing that my teammates and everybody have supported me.

Q. You guys were able to really limit Nevada's leading scorer Jarod Lucas last night. Mike Miles of TCU is an explosive scorer, as well. Is the thought process in defending him going to be similar, or are there any changes for that?

DEVAN CAMBRIDGE: We haven't scouted much, but I know he's an All-American, and I think they're two different players. He's more of -- like he just can score in all types of ways. He's definitely one of our main focuses.

JAMIYA NEAL: He's better than Lucas. Let's just say that. He's better than Lucas. It's going to be a different approach because Lucas is a guy that just does it mostly off the catch. Miles is a guy that can get to the basket, he can score at all three levels. He's just a different type of player. He's one of the best players in the country. Those type of guys, you've just got to lace them up and just be ready to play.

Q. I've got to ask about that ring, Devan.

DEVAN CAMBRIDGE: Last year's SEC regular championship ring. I've been wearing it just so my team can see it. I feel like we've been winning. If you see it, you can achieve it, so I've been showing that around.

Q. When you guys won, did you get to pick how big it was?

DEVAN CAMBRIDGE: No.

BOBBY HURLEY: Got in about 4:00 a.m. Got the guys rested, and just super excited for the opportunity and to get on the floor here and get some shots up, get familiar with the new environment.

Quick turnaround, but just again, thrilled with the way my team performed in Dayton and the quality of the game and how well played it was from our end on both ends of the floor.

It's a good feeling when you have a group that has that confidence, and every game is different. Hopefully we got our guys ready to face a really aggressive, hard-playing, athletic, fast TCU team.

Q. Are you actually rested? Have you gotten any sleep?

BOBBY HURLEY: I got a few hours in the morning. I was able because of the plane ride to watch a couple of TCU games. I wasn't super familiar with them. We've strictly focused on Nevada, so I was able to do that and sleep a few hours, work out, meet with the team, start just laying out what the rest of the day looks like for them, and we'll just hit the floor here and get to watching some film and talking more about TCU when we get back to the hotel, and then from there just get the guys fed and get the rest we need, get ready for tomorrow.

Q. Is there an expectation this time of year that you might not get a lot of sleep no matter what the circumstances are?

BOBBY HURLEY: I mean, we've been on the road a lot. We've been traveling, and since the Arizona game at Arizona, we've been there, L.A., Pac-12 tournament, here, let's just keep going. We can sleep -- what's the thing, we'll sleep in May or something? Hopefully that'll be it. Jon Rothstein, sleep in May.

Q. The guys were just saying that about a month ago the team had a watching of your "30 for 30." Is that something you've done with teams before?

BOBBY HURLEY: I just wanted to get them a perspective of who I am and what the game means to me and what I had been through in my life. I don't know what they might take out of that. I was a battler. I battled through a lot of things. I'm good with my back against the wall, and I want them to be good with their back against the wall because that's what this tournament is going to ask from you.

Games like last night are not going to happen too often in this tournament moving forward. If you're going to continue to win, then you're going to have to rely on the grit, the resiliency you have, the toughness, and being able to make clutch plays. So we need to be prepared for that.

We won't play a team that's tougher than TCU or plays harder than TCU will play.

Q. For what it's worth, Jamiya said he didn't know you had the handle on a string like that. Was there any timing with that when you showed it to them?

BOBBY HURLEY: It might have been around when the anniversary is of my accident, and it's always a dark day for me. We actually played Creighton on that day, and I've never scheduled a game on that day if I can to avoid the feelings that I have usually, but I did it, and I just appreciated the guys that day, that we got it done and we won that game.

It meant a lot to me that we performed the way we did against Creighton and won on that particular day. But I think it was close to the anniversary it happened for me.

Q. A question for you on scouting and preparation. Last week when you guys were in Vegas, three teams, three games, three days, but you saw three of them in the regular season. Now short turnaround against a team you haven't seen this year. What does the preparation and scouting look like and what challenges does that bring?

BOBBY HURLEY: You're trying to dial in on a few things that you think you can identify that the team is trying to do offensively. You're certainly looking at what is their identity, what do they do well, what do we need to avoid doing poorly, and when you look at TCU, what jumps out at you is how they create turnovers, their activity, how physical they are on defense, very athletic.

So I think it's going to be a priority for us to take care of the ball and make good decisions. I mean, we could run -- we get up and down the floor and we're pretty athletic ourselves, but I don't think we want to get into a track meet with TCU tomorrow night.

We've just got to be very strategic about how we take advantage of transition basketball without just making it an all-out up-and-down game.

Q. You came out blazing last night, hot, great shooting. How do you kind of bottle that up with the long trip over here? I'm sure adrenaline kicks in right now, and just maybe the guys just basically playing with a chip on their shoulder?

BOBBY HURLEY: Well, you like that you're coming off a game where you played really well. It's close to as good as we played in combination on both ends of the floor all season. You throw in the Michigan game and maybe at Oregon where we were close to what we did last night.

But as far as I'm concerned, and I told them that, draw any positives you can out of last night, any confidence building that you want to bring to the table, but it's over, and we have to move on.

We have a new task in front of us and a big challenge ahead of us. But I think they understand that because, like I touched on after our game last night, we just played so many good teams the last few weeks. We haven't had a break. There's another one in front of us tomorrow night.

Q. Just curious, in all the things that have been going through your mind and how close you were on the bubble, did you ever think if we don't make a 60-footer at the buzzer, we might not be here at all? Also, about that shot, you were talking about coming through clutch. That's more of a minor miracle, but is that the kind of thing that can spur you into believing anything can happen?

BOBBY HURLEY: Yeah, I think if it was done in a game where two teams were really bad and you threw in this miracle shot or whatever, then you may not feel as good about it. But, like, that was a hell of a game. It was 89-88 against a No. 2 seed in the NCAA Tournament.

To play that well against a team that good in that environment in Tucson where it's just as good a college environment as you're going to find. So certainly we took a lot out of that game.

I don't really think of -- I've always felt like this team is an NCAA Tournament team, that we've done it multiple times both in the non-conference and against great competition in the Pac-12.

So I think the committee saw that, and I think we were very deserving of being in the tournament.

Q. I want to take you all the way back to 1990 and let's take the result itself out. You guys played in the last Final Four in a basketball arena obviously down the road at McNichols. You obviously play the Buffs a lot, but does it conjure up any memories -- the game notwithstanding, but when you come back to Denver for the NCAA Tournament?

BOBBY HURLEY: I was just really -- I could get fairly negative, right, and I was trying to be as positive as I can, and now dragging that up, oh, man, I wasn't even thinking about that. So I'm going to have to erase that from my memory somehow.

Yeah, that was a dark day. I had won so much up to that point in high school, and I got to the championship game as a freshman, and this is what I'm supposed to do, right, go win a championship, and I got punched in the mouth that night. It was embarrassing and humiliating and all those words. I had to pick myself up off the ground after that, but it was bad memories for that one night certainly.

But I'm hoping that we can take a different path these next couple days.

Q. From a coaching perspective, was there anything in your playing days either from your dad or Mike Krzyzewski when they were coaching you and you didn't get it at the time, but now when you're a coach you look back and you go, oh, okay, now I get it? Are there one or two things like that?

BOBBY HURLEY: I just think, forget about like X's and O's; I've been exposed to some of the best coaching in my life, and I've been blessed to have that. So I feel totally confident about my abilities with X's and O's, right, but just it's more about the relationships and just my dad was trying to help kids, and that was his mission.

An inner city coach, players had maybe one parent in their lives, didn't have a father figure or someone to provide the discipline they need and get them on the path they need.

I saw so many people he helped over years and years. And Coach K, the same thing. Coach K was the guy when I had my car accident he was sitting -- he flew across the country to see me. It's always bigger than basketball.

I really focus on relationships with my players, and I want my players to enjoy playing basketball for me at Arizona State.

Then I want to be invested in their lives, and I want the best for them, and I think the common denominator between Coach K and my dad and what I try to do is I believe in those things.

Q. You guys are 6-1 in neutral site games this season. The only time you lost was in that Pac-12 tournament. What's been the key to success in these neutral site games like the NCAA Tournament?

BOBBY HURLEY: It's the players. It's the roster that we've assembled. It's been a two-year project. We were at ground zero two years ago with -- I lost my right-hand man, Rashon Burno, who's going to be a great coach at Northern Illinois. I had players go to the NBA Draft. I had guys graduate. I had guys take a run at the transfer portal for the first time and didn't have much to work with.

We brought in some guys that are committed to Arizona State that helped us last year take a step, and now those guys were a big part of taking another step. We added the right transfers that are about winning, that are experienced.

And when we dove in in recruiting and talked to Warren Washington and Des Cambridge from Nevada, they wanted to play in the NCAA Tournament. That was their goal. We talked about the nucleus of guys that were committed to that, guys coming back like DJ Horne and Alonzo Gaffney and guys like that.

And then we added Frankie Collins who played in the NCAA Tournament and Devan Cambridge who has done all the little things you look for as a coach that help you win basketball games, and he's a guy that had NCAA Tournament experience.

When you put all that together, then you travel and go away and you have guys that have that experience, they don't need a home court environment to make it happen for them, and these guys are committed to winning and doing whatever it takes to win.

Q. I know Des mentioned last night that obviously the defense is always there for you guys, but when you do that offensively, you're extremely hard to stop. What's been the common denominator in the games where you guys have found it offensively?

BOBBY HURLEY: I think it comes down to balance and trying to get a lot of guys playing well. If we have a number of guys that are making shots and a good rhythm on offense, then we're more difficult to defend.

Across the board, guys were coming in and making plays, making shots. We've got DJ and Des going early. We were getting touches to Warren. Warren made some great passes on back cuts. Jamiya Neal came in and made a big impact on both ends of the floor. And Alonzo Gaffney, the blocks and the three-pointer, he had a great stretch for us.

We have that many guys playing well, we're a very dangerous team.