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

March 17, 2023

Bobby Hurley

DJ Horne

Warren Washington

Ball Arena

Arizona State Sun Devils

Media Conference

TCU 72, ASU 70

BOBBY HURLEY: Just heartbroken really for my guys. Played a winning game. It was a heck of a game to be a part of. Credit TCU for doing things out there that they've been doing. Heck of a team, and it was outstanding basketball game.

And just, again, I'm just heartbroken for these guys, giving me everything they had all year. Just really advanced Arizona State basketball and played winning basketball all year, played unselfishly, played resilient, battled and fought. It would take the last shot to put us away.

I'm just extremely proud and have all the respect in the world for our effort tonight.

Q. You had a few missed free throws late and also a couple shots that you typically maybe like or hit, and then there were a couple calls that went against you guys. Can you sort of summarize what you thought were the key elements of the end game?

BOBBY HURLEY: Well, what we've been able to do most of the year is use our defense to create some offense, so points off turnovers, their guard play is really good, and they have guys that can handle it and are good with the ball.

So we couldn't turn them over like we have a lot of teams this year. So the points off turnovers was something you looked at.

You could really point to the free throw differential in a game like this, and again, Miles is a heck of a player in the Big 12. We knew on scouting he was going to drive it, and we talked to our guys knowing that they were going to be very aggressive drivers to the point.

He really initiated a lot of contact and was able to get himself to the free-throw line.

The other area that we didn't do the best job was just defensive rebounding. We gave up too many offensive rebounds, second-chance points. Really the stat is the free throw differential.

Q. DJ, I wanted to ask about the three-pointer right there at the end. You took it really early in the shot clock, and obviously it was a great shot, and you had an open look. Can you talk about that play and how it materialized?

DJ HORNE: Yeah, you know, Coach put the ball in my hands with the time we had left in the game, and I just felt confident that I could bring my defender down and get a good shot. And I wanted to do it with some time left on the clock in case I did miss, give us another look at it before the time ran out.

Q. Between the Arizona buzzer beater and the run in the Pac-12 tournament and winning probably one of the biggest games in your time here against Nevada the other night, there's certainly been a lot of positives up until this moment, and certainly a great game played tonight. Where do you feel that the state of this program is entering the off-season and trying to get back here to the tournament after a really good run?

BOBBY HURLEY: Did you watch the game? That's the state of the program.

Q. Coach, this season obviously not ending the way you wanted it to, but there was a lot of positives that this team can take moving forward. What can you say about reflecting on this current roster and what these guys have meant to you all season?

BOBBY HURLEY: Well, I mean, they're fighters. They've won a lot of different ways. You saw us win the way we did against Nevada. We've had huge comeback wins. We've won a lot of close games this year, just it didn't work out for us tonight. But that was an exciting game. That's what Arizona State basketball looks like.

Some of the plays that were made out there by these guys, the shot making, the dunks, the commitment to playing hard on defense. We held a very good basketball team to 35 percent from the field, and generally when that happens, we're going to win that type of game.

Unfortunately we couldn't overcome the free throw differential.

Q. You guys got off it a rough start, but then you guys got the bench in, and they kind of went on a little bit of a run. What can you say about your bench today and all year?

BOBBY HURLEY: Look, I'll start with Luther Muhammad because that kid started last year early in the season, lost his job, wasn't shooting well. Had some really good games for us early, went through a bad phase, and as a senior, like he did not mail it in.

That kid, down the stretch, was big in these games, didn't give up, and just played with like a ton of heart our last couple games and made plays out there.

I have so much respect and love for how he stuck with things. Alonzo Gaffney, what he's done the last few weeks, just his activity and his defense and the block at the end of the first half and just the plays that he's making, and Jamiya has grown. He came in again when we were struggling early and made big shots to help us get back in and is playing great defense.

The bench has been super for us. Duke Brennan even coming in and made some free throws. They did a great job, and these guys deserve a lion's share of the credit for what they have done in the game. DJ put the game together tonight, and Warren battling in the paint, challenging shots and making things happen.

But it's disappointing, and I just don't have much more to say. I feel awful for these guys because you hate to see them lose like that. But they put their heart and soul into it, so it makes it even feel worse.

Q. For Warren and DJ, Bobby talking about you guys playing winning basketball and how much fun you were having, when it ends so fast like that, how do you process it?

WARREN WASHINGTON: I still haven't honestly processed it yet, so kind of going through it right now. It's tough, man. I love these guys, went to war with them every game, and I felt like we all played for each other.

And at the end of the day, everybody wanted to win on this team, and that's what I love, man. Yeah, it's rough, obviously, and that's just the way it is. We're all competitors. It's going to be tough right now, but it's going to pass, and we're going to get through it.

Q. DJ, you were kind of standing there at the end near mid-court. Was that just like a "I can't believe we didn't win that game" kind of moment?

DJ HORNE: Yeah, basically just all the emotions running over you and everything. When you're so close to completing a job like that and you just don't get it done, it hurts.

Q. Coach Hurley, after the shot was made there for TCU to go ahead with a second or so left, still had a time-out. Did you think to use it at all?

BOBBY HURLEY: I thought about it as the ball was flying through the air when Frankie had it. That one you can put on me because I knew I had a time-out, and maybe we could have threw it to half court and flipped it to a guard and they would have taken a dribble and gotten about 20 feet closer. Yeah, that's certainly something I'll think about.