How ASU Men’s Basketball Can Take the Next Step
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TEMPE -- In today's edition of the Sun Devils Insider Podcast, we take a look at what the Sun Devils men's basketball team needs to improve upon ahead of a challenging non-conference slate.
To listen to today's podcast, view below.
Below is a partial transcript of Bobby Hurley's post-game press conference after Tuesday's win.
On Start to Season
"Nice to win, nice to get, obviously, a win on under our belt. To start. We we struggled at the end of last year, and I told the team, you know, we hadn't won a game in a long time. So, you know, we had two close exhibitions that go our way. Had a lot of stuff going on in those games, so the program needed to win today and just get off to the right start. So mission accomplished."
"There's a lot of work to still be done, especially today, defensively, we were we lost containment of the ball way too much. I thought we were too spread out on defense, not helping. When a guy did drive the ball, they got into the pain way too much. They scored 40 points in pain. So we can't really afford to do that as the water gets deeper over the next couple of weeks. And so we got, we need this practice time. And good thing, we have a few days till our next game.
On Shot Selection
"Thought it was fine. I don't think that was like an area or an issue or problem. It was like nine for 23 the ratio of those shots that we took relative to the shots in the paint. And it was pretty, pretty well proportioned."
On Mindset of Improving
"I just think we all, you know, want to be accountable, and we want to try and set a sort of bar at a certain level, and if we don't attain it, you know, yes, it's great to win, and I want them to feel happy that we won, but I also want to cautiously make them alert to the fact that the water is going to get deeper and and the mistakes that We made tonight, you know, are not going to be acceptable in some of our games."
On G Adante Holiman
"He's got an elbow. He He landed awkwardly in a in a workout in summer, and, you know, he we're working to get him back as best we can, but it's still, you know, he had a he had some work on the elbow, and he's doing his treatment and his therapy. We're not, we haven't set like a timeline for his return. It's going to depend on him continuing to progress."
Read more on why the Arizona State men's basketball team will exceed expectations in the 2025-26 season here, and three major takeaways following a gutsy win over Iowa State here
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Kevin Hicks is an Arizona State alumni and now serves as the Arizona State Beat Writer On SI.