I just interviewed Wyking Jones in advance of tomorrow's game against Stanford in the Pac-12 Tournament. Below are full quotes from my interview with him.
“Yeah, I mean I think that’s what we’re hoping will happen. That the guys will see that as an opportunity to kinda get an upset, come in and play above expectations.”-Wyking Jones on his guys relishing the underdog role.
“All five guys have to crash. The way that they can hurt us the most is by getting offensive rebounds. So, when the shot goes up all five guys on defense have to crash the boards and make sure to try to put a body on somebody so they don’t get no easy put back opportunities, which they did do in game two, really hurt us, so that’s been a point of emphasis for us this week in preparing for Stanford.”-Wyking Jones on the importance of winning the rebounding battle.
“I think the biggest factor for them is Dorian Pickens. When he gets going from three, they’re really really tough to beat. They’re already a very talented, very good basketball team, very well coached. But when he gets going from three, it makes it really tough to beat them and so I think that you really gotta focus in and make sure he doesn’t get open looks from beyond the arc and offensive rebounding, we just talked about it. That’s important and then Daejon Davis, you gotta make sure that you keep pressure on him and can’t let him get going as well.”-Wyking Jones on what he’s learned from their two games against Stanford.
“For me, this is the last opportunity for us to really do something positive towards the season, so we’ve been preaching today the non-conference season is over, the conference season is over, now this is a new season. This is an opportunity. It’s 0-0 at this point. Everybody is fighting for the same thing, and it’s one game elimination for everybody, so it’s an opportunity to finish the season off on a high note.”-Wyking Jones on the opportunity that the Pac-12 Tournament presents for his team.
“I think we’re in a really good mental state. We went down into Arizona and played those guys tough. That’s possibly a final four, national championship team and we were able to play well in a hostile environment, and so we feel really good about going into this game and the momentum that we take.”-Wyking Jones on the mental state of his team.
“Well, a lot of times when we get good looks at threes, it’s from penetration. It’s a drive and kick. Drive and kick situations is where we are most open and so it’s all from our guys being able to get in the lanes and find open shooters from the three. That’s the key to us shooting the ball well.”-Wyking Jones on what his team needs to do to find success shooting from beyond the arc.
“I’m so very proud of Nick for the accomplishments in the classroom as well as the heart, the effort, the energy he brings to this team and the leadership that he brings to this team, and he’s an invaluable part of our program. I’m very happy for him and very excited for his future.”-Wyking Jones on Nick Hamilton being named to the Pac-12 All-Academic team.
“Yeah, I mean I think that’s what we’re hoping will happen. That the guys will see that as an opportunity to kinda get an upset, come in and play above expectations.”-Wyking Jones on his guys relishing the underdog role.
“All five guys have to crash. The way that they can hurt us the most is by getting offensive rebounds. So, when the shot goes up all five guys on defense have to crash the boards and make sure to try to put a body on somebody so they don’t get no easy put back opportunities, which they did do in game two, really hurt us, so that’s been a point of emphasis for us this week in preparing for Stanford.”-Wyking Jones on the importance of winning the rebounding battle.
“I think the biggest factor for them is Dorian Pickens. When he gets going from three, they’re really really tough to beat. They’re already a very talented, very good basketball team, very well coached. But when he gets going from three, it makes it really tough to beat them and so I think that you really gotta focus in and make sure he doesn’t get open looks from beyond the arc and offensive rebounding, we just talked about it. That’s important and then Daejon Davis, you gotta make sure that you keep pressure on him and can’t let him get going as well.”-Wyking Jones on what he’s learned from their two games against Stanford.
“For me, this is the last opportunity for us to really do something positive towards the season, so we’ve been preaching today the non-conference season is over, the conference season is over, now this is a new season. This is an opportunity. It’s 0-0 at this point. Everybody is fighting for the same thing, and it’s one game elimination for everybody, so it’s an opportunity to finish the season off on a high note.”-Wyking Jones on the opportunity that the Pac-12 Tournament presents for his team.
“I think we’re in a really good mental state. We went down into Arizona and played those guys tough. That’s possibly a final four, national championship team and we were able to play well in a hostile environment, and so we feel really good about going into this game and the momentum that we take.”-Wyking Jones on the mental state of his team.
“Well, a lot of times when we get good looks at threes, it’s from penetration. It’s a drive and kick. Drive and kick situations is where we are most open and so it’s all from our guys being able to get in the lanes and find open shooters from the three. That’s the key to us shooting the ball well.”-Wyking Jones on what his team needs to do to find success shooting from beyond the arc.
“I’m so very proud of Nick for the accomplishments in the classroom as well as the heart, the effort, the energy he brings to this team and the leadership that he brings to this team, and he’s an invaluable part of our program. I’m very happy for him and very excited for his future.”-Wyking Jones on Nick Hamilton being named to the Pac-12 All-Academic team.
