What Bobby Hurley said after Arizona State's impressive win over Grand Canyon
After a rocky start to the season the Arizona State men's basketball team suddenly looks like the real deal.
The Sun Devils (3-1) soundly beat a talented and experienced Grand Canyon team on Thursday night behind a breakout game from freshman Joson Sanon and contributions up and down Bobby Hurley's revamped roster.
"I can't believe how much better we've gotten in less than three weeks," Hurley said after the game. "To see what we're doing, particularly at the offensive end, I think it's been real positive."
Sanon, a 6-foot-4 shooting guard, had 21 points on 5-of-7 shooting from downtown to help lead ASU to an 87-76 victory over a GCU team that has four starters back from a team that went 30-5 and upset Saint Mary's in the first round of the 2024 NCAA Tournament.
Transfer portal additions Basheer Jihad (18 points, 5 rebounds, 5 assists), and Alston Mason (16 points, 5 assists) helped the Sun Devils pull away in the second half to give Hurley his 200th career victory.
Here are the highlights of Hurley's postgame press conference:
Hurley on the atmosphere at the Footprint Center:
"I thought it was a really fun game to be a part of. I think it's great for the city, for the State of Arizona to see two teams of that caliber just go at each other. I thought it was quality basketball. They've got some really good pieces and as they get (Tyon) Foster back into the flow of what they're doing I think they have obviously big upside to get better, as we do. I think it was just an exciting environment. It was a great crowd."
Hurley on his team's rapid improvement:
"You just don't know when things will click all the time, and until you get tested you don't clean up a lot of little things that you need to clean up in order to get out of your own way to become a better basketball team. Working with the guys all summer into the fall, I saw the potential of what they could do individually and and I think now we're doing it in a more cohesive way, in a more team way. You're seeing the extra passes, the one more passes, and we're sharing the ball and playing the right way. "
Hurley on freshman Joson Sanon's huge game:
"It looked like I was watching him in a gym in April ... in Rock Hill, South Carolina ... Joe was just playing with the ultimate confidence. He's such a gifted kid. When he gets in a zone like that like he's virtually unstoppable because he could get to the basket, he could shoot right right in your face, he could go off into the mid-range. We were trying to get him the ball when he was in the game because he had that look. We had the ultimate confidence he was going to make a play."
Hurley on Arizona State's improved 3-point shooting:
"We were pretty good at Santa Clara. I mean we made 15 threes, so I'm not surprised ... our percentages were better [vs. GCU] but to get 11, I think that is kind of normal for us. I think somewhere in that range we would be game in and game out if we play the right way. But certainly we we also went inside and we got Shawn Phillips [involved]. I complimented him after the game. He had a really good first half ... and set the tone in the paint."
Hurley on ASU's big second half:
"I told them at halftime I felt pretty confident about what we were doing, we just had to take care of the ball. We had 11 turnovers at halftime. ... And then we had to keep them off the free throw line. We were fouling too much. ... I said outside of that, I think we're the better basketball team and we've just got to go out and and prove it in the next 20 minutes."
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Ben Sherman has been covering the sports world for most of his journalism career, including 17 years with The Oregonian/OregonLive. One of his favorite memories was covering the 1999 Fiesta Bowl - the first BCS National Championship Game - at Sun Devil Stadium.