Earlier today, Cal men’s basketball head coach Wyking Jones spoke to the media in advance of this week’s contests against Arizona (Wednesday at 6:00 PM PST) and Arizona State (Saturday at 7:30 PM PST). Both games air on Pac-12 Networks. Below are a transcription of what he said and a video of the press conference.
MODERATOR: We’ll start with a practice update from Wyking Jones and then you can ask some questions.
Wyking Jones: “Well, we had Sunday off after a tough road trip and getting back late Saturday night. Yesterday’s practice was competitive. Guys got after it. We’re looking forward to tomorrow and Saturday.”
Q: How do you prepare for a twin towers situation with [Dusan] Ristic and DeAndre Ayton?
Jones: “Well, you just have to make them play in crowds. You have to try to make them play in crowds. We’re an undersized team, we go with a smaller lineup the last couple of games and so we just have to make sure we crowd those guys. If you leave someone out to try to guard those guys one-on-one then obviously it’s going to be tough.”
Q: As we saw in the Washington State game and we’ve seen it a few times before where guys can get hot from three, particularly in the corners against the zone, you said it’s the length. Is there any way to make up for that lack of length in the corners when you’re in the zone?
Jones: “It’s not the length, it’s just our five man has to come out sometimes. Sometimes what they do is they catch us on the bump. So, the way a zone works is when you throw the ball to the wing that back, that bottom guy, covers it until the guard bumps him to the corner and so, but if the bump is slow, if the guard doesn’t bump right away, and the wing is supposed is gonna be late, then the five man has to come out and so our five men have to do a better job of if we are in those situations they have to be the one to close out and leave the lane.
“Because what happened was, against Washington State, they went five out when they saw King in the game, come into the game, and so King’s basically sitting in the lane guarding nobody and so you’re not going to be able to cover the bumps because they’re just swing, swing, swing; wide open three because the wing it takes too long for the wing to get from guarding wing getting bumped by the guard to get to the corner and so King should have covered that. He should have been able to recognize that he was not guarding anyone. They were five out and that oh, okay. I’m gonna have to be the one to cover the corner because the wing is going to be too late.
“Just simple math. And he’s had to hear about it quite a bit from me the last couple days and so Marcus did a better job of getting out when he saw those situations and so we just have to continue to work on it.”
Q: Marcus was in foul trouble.
Jones: “Marcus was on the bench the majority of the game and so we had to go with some different lineups.”
Q: Is there anything that you can do to make sure that he [Marcus Lee] stays out of foul trouble or is just on him playing smart?
Jones: “No. It’s just on him playing smart. 100 percent. It’s just on him making the right decisions, being a veteran, being able to feel, after the first foul, ok, let me not put myself in a situation where I’m going to pick up a second. Let me continue to play defense. Let me continue to compete and work, but let me not try to take a charge where that’s a 50-50 play. That’s up to the ref’s discretion on how he wants to call that. Let me not slap down when a guy goes to shoot the ball in the post. Let me just wall up and make him score over me as opposed to trying to slap down on the ball and get a steal. That’s a conscious decision that he makes. He’s gotta be smarter in those situations.”
Q: Are you seeing or gone up against a big man with the skillset of [DeAndre] Ayton?
Jones: “No. There’s nobody. You’re talking about a guy that’s probably gonna be the number one pick in the draft as a freshman. Skillset and size, the strength is, he’s an animal, he’s a monster. So no, I haven’t. I don’t know if you’ve seen anyone like that in the last 10 years in college basketball. So, he’s a special one-of-a-kind kind of talent and he’s 20 & 10 a game on a really good team.”
Q: What can you do?
Jones: “You have to make him play in crowds. You have to make him play in crowds. You can’t expect one person to be able to guard him. So, like anybody else you gotta make him play in crowds. I don’t think anybody’s tried to, in all the film I’ve seen, no one’s tried to guard him one-on-one. You have to make him play in crowds.”
Q: It looks like he [DeAndre Ayton] is pretty good at finding an open man, too.
Jones: “Yeah, yeah, yeah. And you dealt with that. You live with that with the kick outs. Trust your rotations to get out to guys when he kicks out, but yeah, you’re not going to stop him. You just don’t want him to go crazy. You don’t want him to get 30 & 20.”
Q: How do you keep the team engaged, focused when you’ve lost four in a row and you get down by 20 at times. How do you keep them caffeinated in terms of in practice?
Jones: “You just gotta keep reminding them that we’re building. We’re building. We’re building for something better and greater down the road and so, they’re not the type of kids that are going to throw in the towel. So, it’s really not that difficult to keep them engaged. They’re still ready to come to practice and compete and still ready to play games, I mean, the outcomes are the outcomes, but at the end of the day they’re still college basketball players, they’re still going to compete. They’re not just going to throw in the towel. I mean, they’re still men. So, that part is not difficult. They’re high character young men, so they’re going to do their job.”
Q: You talked about how your team sometimes does better in underdog type of roles and everything. You guys competed hard against Wichita State and they’re obviously an elite level team, is there anything that you can sort of draw from that experience as you head into this week?
Jones: “I think that’s more of just an individual mindset from our guys. I think that there’s not as much pressure. I think that some guys perform better when they know that the world thinks that they should probably get whooped. Some guys react and perform better in those environments, in those situations and so I’d admit that we have some guys like that and so, I expect us to come out and compete and work and we’ll see how it goes.”
Q: Washington State was the one team picked below you guys in the pre-season Pac-12 poll. Was that a surprise that they got out to as big of a lead as they got out to?
Jones: “I wouldn’t say it was a surprise when they have a guy shooting the ball the way that Franks was shooting the ball. I mean, that was the difference right there. You’re talking about a guy who broke a shooting record from a program that’s been playing basketball for a long time. So, when you’re up against that, I think that was the difference. That’s what opened up the game.”
Q: Justice Sueing had a big game against Washington and he’s had a really strong freshman season. How much of his performance has surprised you? Did you expect this from him? Just your thoughts on his performance as of late.
Jones: “He was hurt a lot of the preseason. You know, he was out for six weeks and so. A month and a half, that’s a lot of time out and so when he came back, he started off playing good basketball from game one and so I’ve just kinda grown into knowing that he’s talented. He’s talented. I always knew he had talent. I think what separates him is his demeanor and composure. He’s not easily frazzled or he doesn’t show bad body language when things don’t go well. He continues to play and continues to work and I think freshmen sometimes, they fall into that trap of three plays didn’t go well for me and now I guess that just means I’m going to have a bad game. He can make mistakes but still continue to make plays even after having a spell of not playing well and so I think that that’s what kinda separates him. He continues on his path, he stays focused.”
Q: How much do you see that kind of body language from your guys? Three plays didn’t go your way and hang your head and shrug your shoulders.
Jones: “I see them. I mean, that’s just college basketball. At this point, I see it from not just us, but from everybody. We talk about it a ton, we address it, and I just saw something on Twitter where Calipari is talking about it with his team. It’s just body language. For me it’s, we tell our guys it’s a sign of weakness. It looks like you, it’s a sign of weakness and so it’s just something that you just have to address and then when you see it you have to let them know that you see it and to kinda get them to snap out of it, but as guys mature you see it less and less.”
Q: Did you see it against Washington State?
Jones: “I did, yeah. I did.”
Q: Did you let them know ‘Hey, pick your head up’?
Jones: “Yeah, and the difference was I saw it against Washington State, but I didn’t see it against Stanford. I didn’t see it so much against Stanford.”
MODERATOR: We’ll start with a practice update from Wyking Jones and then you can ask some questions.
Wyking Jones: “Well, we had Sunday off after a tough road trip and getting back late Saturday night. Yesterday’s practice was competitive. Guys got after it. We’re looking forward to tomorrow and Saturday.”
Q: How do you prepare for a twin towers situation with [Dusan] Ristic and DeAndre Ayton?
Jones: “Well, you just have to make them play in crowds. You have to try to make them play in crowds. We’re an undersized team, we go with a smaller lineup the last couple of games and so we just have to make sure we crowd those guys. If you leave someone out to try to guard those guys one-on-one then obviously it’s going to be tough.”
Q: As we saw in the Washington State game and we’ve seen it a few times before where guys can get hot from three, particularly in the corners against the zone, you said it’s the length. Is there any way to make up for that lack of length in the corners when you’re in the zone?
Jones: “It’s not the length, it’s just our five man has to come out sometimes. Sometimes what they do is they catch us on the bump. So, the way a zone works is when you throw the ball to the wing that back, that bottom guy, covers it until the guard bumps him to the corner and so, but if the bump is slow, if the guard doesn’t bump right away, and the wing is supposed is gonna be late, then the five man has to come out and so our five men have to do a better job of if we are in those situations they have to be the one to close out and leave the lane.
“Because what happened was, against Washington State, they went five out when they saw King in the game, come into the game, and so King’s basically sitting in the lane guarding nobody and so you’re not going to be able to cover the bumps because they’re just swing, swing, swing; wide open three because the wing it takes too long for the wing to get from guarding wing getting bumped by the guard to get to the corner and so King should have covered that. He should have been able to recognize that he was not guarding anyone. They were five out and that oh, okay. I’m gonna have to be the one to cover the corner because the wing is going to be too late.
“Just simple math. And he’s had to hear about it quite a bit from me the last couple days and so Marcus did a better job of getting out when he saw those situations and so we just have to continue to work on it.”
Q: Marcus was in foul trouble.
Jones: “Marcus was on the bench the majority of the game and so we had to go with some different lineups.”
Q: Is there anything that you can do to make sure that he [Marcus Lee] stays out of foul trouble or is just on him playing smart?
Jones: “No. It’s just on him playing smart. 100 percent. It’s just on him making the right decisions, being a veteran, being able to feel, after the first foul, ok, let me not put myself in a situation where I’m going to pick up a second. Let me continue to play defense. Let me continue to compete and work, but let me not try to take a charge where that’s a 50-50 play. That’s up to the ref’s discretion on how he wants to call that. Let me not slap down when a guy goes to shoot the ball in the post. Let me just wall up and make him score over me as opposed to trying to slap down on the ball and get a steal. That’s a conscious decision that he makes. He’s gotta be smarter in those situations.”
Q: Are you seeing or gone up against a big man with the skillset of [DeAndre] Ayton?
Jones: “No. There’s nobody. You’re talking about a guy that’s probably gonna be the number one pick in the draft as a freshman. Skillset and size, the strength is, he’s an animal, he’s a monster. So no, I haven’t. I don’t know if you’ve seen anyone like that in the last 10 years in college basketball. So, he’s a special one-of-a-kind kind of talent and he’s 20 & 10 a game on a really good team.”
Q: What can you do?
Jones: “You have to make him play in crowds. You have to make him play in crowds. You can’t expect one person to be able to guard him. So, like anybody else you gotta make him play in crowds. I don’t think anybody’s tried to, in all the film I’ve seen, no one’s tried to guard him one-on-one. You have to make him play in crowds.”
Q: It looks like he [DeAndre Ayton] is pretty good at finding an open man, too.
Jones: “Yeah, yeah, yeah. And you dealt with that. You live with that with the kick outs. Trust your rotations to get out to guys when he kicks out, but yeah, you’re not going to stop him. You just don’t want him to go crazy. You don’t want him to get 30 & 20.”
Q: How do you keep the team engaged, focused when you’ve lost four in a row and you get down by 20 at times. How do you keep them caffeinated in terms of in practice?
Jones: “You just gotta keep reminding them that we’re building. We’re building. We’re building for something better and greater down the road and so, they’re not the type of kids that are going to throw in the towel. So, it’s really not that difficult to keep them engaged. They’re still ready to come to practice and compete and still ready to play games, I mean, the outcomes are the outcomes, but at the end of the day they’re still college basketball players, they’re still going to compete. They’re not just going to throw in the towel. I mean, they’re still men. So, that part is not difficult. They’re high character young men, so they’re going to do their job.”
Q: You talked about how your team sometimes does better in underdog type of roles and everything. You guys competed hard against Wichita State and they’re obviously an elite level team, is there anything that you can sort of draw from that experience as you head into this week?
Jones: “I think that’s more of just an individual mindset from our guys. I think that there’s not as much pressure. I think that some guys perform better when they know that the world thinks that they should probably get whooped. Some guys react and perform better in those environments, in those situations and so I’d admit that we have some guys like that and so, I expect us to come out and compete and work and we’ll see how it goes.”
Q: Washington State was the one team picked below you guys in the pre-season Pac-12 poll. Was that a surprise that they got out to as big of a lead as they got out to?
Jones: “I wouldn’t say it was a surprise when they have a guy shooting the ball the way that Franks was shooting the ball. I mean, that was the difference right there. You’re talking about a guy who broke a shooting record from a program that’s been playing basketball for a long time. So, when you’re up against that, I think that was the difference. That’s what opened up the game.”
Q: Justice Sueing had a big game against Washington and he’s had a really strong freshman season. How much of his performance has surprised you? Did you expect this from him? Just your thoughts on his performance as of late.
Jones: “He was hurt a lot of the preseason. You know, he was out for six weeks and so. A month and a half, that’s a lot of time out and so when he came back, he started off playing good basketball from game one and so I’ve just kinda grown into knowing that he’s talented. He’s talented. I always knew he had talent. I think what separates him is his demeanor and composure. He’s not easily frazzled or he doesn’t show bad body language when things don’t go well. He continues to play and continues to work and I think freshmen sometimes, they fall into that trap of three plays didn’t go well for me and now I guess that just means I’m going to have a bad game. He can make mistakes but still continue to make plays even after having a spell of not playing well and so I think that that’s what kinda separates him. He continues on his path, he stays focused.”
Q: How much do you see that kind of body language from your guys? Three plays didn’t go your way and hang your head and shrug your shoulders.
Jones: “I see them. I mean, that’s just college basketball. At this point, I see it from not just us, but from everybody. We talk about it a ton, we address it, and I just saw something on Twitter where Calipari is talking about it with his team. It’s just body language. For me it’s, we tell our guys it’s a sign of weakness. It looks like you, it’s a sign of weakness and so it’s just something that you just have to address and then when you see it you have to let them know that you see it and to kinda get them to snap out of it, but as guys mature you see it less and less.”
Q: Did you see it against Washington State?
Jones: “I did, yeah. I did.”
Q: Did you let them know ‘Hey, pick your head up’?
Jones: “Yeah, and the difference was I saw it against Washington State, but I didn’t see it against Stanford. I didn’t see it so much against Stanford.”
