California Head Coach Cuonzo Martin

Opening Statement
“Good team win against a physical team. We knew it was going to be a physical game the way they played. I thought our guys did a great job sticking together from start to finish especially when you lose a guy like Tyrone Wallace. A team that you don't want to play as a team, just a tough physical presence. A team hungry for a victory, but we knew it would be tough. A lot of credit to Sam Singer for doing a great job facilitating the offense.”

On Arizona State's performance
“They made plays. We had key guys get in foul trouble. I think when Kingsley went out we lost a presence around the rim. Our guys showed a tremendous amount of resiliency and continued to fight, compete and battle. I know Sam was exhausted after 35 minutes but we needed more and he stepped up big. Jabari made a big shot I thought Ivan did a great job around the rim. I don't know if it's so much as mental breakdowns on the last three games that we had. I just think it was a case and they made some plays.”

On preparing for Arizona
“They are obviously the team to beat since they won the league last year. I think when you have that level of experience that means you've been battle tested at some level. So I think for us it's playing as hard as we can play, executing our game plan. I haven't seen a lot of film but I've watched them from afar and they're obviously a really good team, very talented. We are ready to rumble. An ESPN game if I'm not mistaken so our guys will be ready to go and our fans will be ready to go. I think there's 50 tickets left so you have to buy them up quick.”

California Players

Ivan Rabb

On what this win says about the team
“It says we're tired of losing. At the end of the game it got away from us for various reasons, but we did what we had to do on defense and made the shots. That's how you win the game.”

On how Sam Singer played
“Sam did the same thing he does in practice every day. I know what to expect from him, especially in a game like this down the stretch. He continued to move the ball. In the first half, I think he had eight assists, and in the second half, he didn't have any but still took care of the ball. I'm sure he had a bunch of hockey assists, so I was definitely proud of him. We didn't lose a beat tonight without Tyrone (Wallace). He stepped up big time.”

On if he felt more pressure with Tyrone Wallace out:
“Yeah, but it's been something I've been ready for, too. He's a big component of our offense and our defense, and just leadership in general, so he definitely told me 'It's time to step up.' But he knows I'm ready for it, Sam was ready for it and our team was just ready. We were tired of losing so we stepped up big time and it feels good to get a win.”

Sam Singer

On assessing his first game as a starter
“I felt really comfortable out there. I've been a point guard my whole life so when Tyrone went out, it was nothing new to me. I just felt great, and it makes it easy when I have guys like Ivan, Jordan and Jabari who are going to make it easier on me by making shots and opening up the floor. So I felt great and confident.”

On why his offensive penetration from the first half disappeared in the second-half
“They changed the way they guarded ball screens. In the first half, they were hard hedging, which makes it a little easier to get around the big, and in the second half they started going under and it was more flat, which bought time for the guard to come back. So they made it a little more difficult to penetrate and they had a guard come back and recover a little more easily.”

Arizona State Head Coach Bobby Hurley

On the game
“We tried to work on our defense this week, and it didn't work in game play. They (Cal) still shot great percentages first and second half. I thought we had some good looks on offense, but we didn't make shots when were open. That ends up putting more pressure on our defense when we can't make shots. We dug a hole we couldn't get out of. The guys fought hard, but we just came up short. We were having a hard time stopping them so we tried zone and they made the breaks they needed to even when we closed off the lane for Rabb to shoot in.”

On size of Ivan Rabb
“Ivan is long and he's a competitor. For a guy who is really not that physically strong yet, he's a fighter and in no way is he soft. He really caused us problems tonight.”