ASU’s head coach addresses the readiness of his team going into Pac-12 play next week, the status of Mickey Mitchell and comfort level with his rotation

On how he feels his team is better prepared for the grind of the Pac-12 season?

“Playing better in the conference has been a point of emphasis. From a pure basketball standpoint, we’ve got mobility and versatility on our roster. We’re a much-improved defensive team over last year and we are one of the better rebounding teams in the country. When you don’t have your best stuff on offense, this team finds other ways to be competitive in a game and we’ve shown that on numerous occasions already this year.”

When it comes to the defense and rebounding how much of a role has forward Zylan Cheatham played in those areas?

“Zylan from a coaching standpoint is one of the best players in the country to have on your team. His leadership, his communication…his athleticism he’s in the top 1%. You can play him all around the floor. He can rebound and fast break, he can fill the lane faster than anybody and finish at the rim. On defense he can guard multiple positions and he’s our best rebounder. So, he checks a lot of boxes that you need in order to be successful and win basketball games.

On the status of injured forward Mickey Mitchell

“His back flared up again as he was getting back (to playing) and it’s been very tough. We got to the point where we need to get him completely healthy. He’s working hard with his treatment and physical therapy to get himself to the point where he can get back to practice. It just wasn’t working the other way we were trying to get him out on the floor. He plays extremely hard and has a great IQ for the game and he would help us. But we need him 100 percent for him to play the way he needs to play. There is no timetable (for his return) and we’re not sure when that will be. But we hope that at some point this year we will have him back.”

It’s been often said that it’s easier for a team to correct its mistakes after a win compared to a loss. Do you feel that this will be the case after such a statement win over Kansas?

“It was encouraging that we could shoot 27 percent from the field and be down eight points. It showed that our defense kept us in it and within striking distance. We went to the offensive glass and did enough on offense and certainly have to get better and better on that end of the floor with our field goal percentage. I think because we had so many guys out at different stages in September-October and leading into the season… that area will improve as the season progresses. That has some real upside to get better as we get healthy and just used to playing together. I think Rob Edwards is a good example of that as he starts to feel more comfortable, we’ve been seeing the guy we saw all of last year in practice and throughout the summer.”

Pac-12 play is usually the time of year where the rotation shrinks. You played the same eight players the last two games. Is that the rotation that you are set on?

“At the moment (yes) and circumstances can change that. There are some guys that are ready…Vitaly Shibel has been the odd man out and he started some games for us last year and can do some nice things on the floor. We have to keep guys like that ready when their number is called. But overall, I like how we can go big, or like you saw in the Kansas game we had Zylan at the 5 with four guards. So, we have different looks, different ways we can attack.”

His thoughts on the type of crowd he had for the Kansas game (third largest in school history) and what that can mean for home court advantage moving forward?

“It was an awesome scene and pretty special. You don’t have chances like that too often, having the number one team in your building. I know I have gone through it my first two years, some really rough patches that we had to suffer through. Now we are at a point with our roster and what we have done in recruiting, trying to put up a team that can stand up in that type of game.

“You want to be able to deliver for your fans and hopefully we are generating new fans and people are excited about what we’re doing. It was an electric environment and it was very intense. It was a pretty high-level game especially in the second half when you have that many talented basketball players on the floor for both teams. For us to win the way we did…being down 7,8 points multiple times and still able to make that push in the second half, I thought our crowd had a lot to do with it. That really energized our team.”