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Wyking Jones talks Maui Invitational

Earlier today, the non-conference portion of the Cal men’s basketball schedule was revealed along with the draw for the Maui Invitational, which will be played November 20-22, the week of Thanksgiving. Cal will open up the Maui Invitational against Wichita State with Marquette and VCU on their same half of the draw. On the other half of the draw, Notre Dame will open up against Chaminade while Michigan will take on LSU.

Shortly after the draw was announced, the Maui Invitational held a teleconference with all of the coaches, allowing the media to ask questions about the event and upcoming season. Below is a transcription of what Cal head coach Wyking Jones said during the teleconference as well as what Wichita State head coach Gregg Marshall said about Cal.

If you want to listen to the entire teleconference, click here. Wyking Jones comes on around the 40 minute mark while Wichita State head coach Gregg Marshall comes on around the 53 minute mark.


“Well first, we’re just excited about being invited to the tournament. Year in year out everyone kinda looks at the Maui Invitational as being pretty much the premier tournament around the holidays and we’re just excited to be a part of it, having to open up against Coach Marshall and Wichita State, that’s going to be a great challenge for us. Year in year out they’re always very competitive, one of the top programs in the country the last couple years, had a great season last year, defensive minded team, and it’s going to be a great challenge for us.” –Wyking Jones’ opening statement.


“It’s going to be an unbelievable way to get their feet wet. Just to kinda see what we’re working with. Like Coach Odom said, unbelievable atmosphere, it should pump our guys up, they should be ready to go. We have a young team, but we got some veteran guys in Kingsley Okoroh and Marcus Lee. They’ve been through some fires. Don Coleman playing for us last year in limited minutes is going to get a chance to really prove himself this year and our freshmen, we have six freshmen. I think they’re going to be ready, I know the atmosphere is going to be exciting, it’s going to be an unbelievable way to kinda see what we’re working with. Throw our guys into the fire and see how they react.”-Wyking Jones on the atmosphere of the Maui Invitational and how it can help his guys get their feet wet against tough competition.


“No I wouldn’t. At some point we were going to have to play one of the top teams and so why not start off with those guys? Let’s see what we’re made of. Let’s see what we’re made of. One of the top programs in the country, let’s see what our guys are made of, let’s see what kind of toughness we have. I’m excited about starting off with Wichita State.”-Wyking Jones on whether he would have preferred not going against a tough opponent like Wichita State in their opening game.


“A team that was 31-5 last year, won a ton of games, a team that year in and year out have been very very good, playing at a very high level the last couple years under Coach Marshall. I guess you could say that they would definitely be one of the top teams in the tournament and like I said before, for us, we’re definitely going into that game as an underdog, but it’s a great opportunity for our guys to kinda prove themselves and get their feet wet and be thrown into the fire and see what we’re made of.”-Wyking Jones on whether or not Wichita State should be considered the favorites going into the tournament.


“Well, I think that those are teams that we kinda see year in and year out, Saint Mary’s and San Diego State because they’re in our region. Being able to play into the Maui Invitational and playing against possibly Marquette, VCU, and starting off with Wichita State, those aren’t teams that we would normally see in a pre-season schedule and so those aren’t guys that my players will particularly know. They know San Diego State’s roster, they know Saint Mary’s roster, they know all the other teams that we’ll play that are kinda local and so game preparation is going to be key, getting as much film and prep on each team as we can, I think that’s going to be what’s most important going into a tournament like this. Just the preparation, getting with familiar with those teams in a short period of time.” –Wyking Jones on how the Maui Invitational fits into their non-conference schedule.


“Well it gets us prepared. It gets us ready for that. To have to play against teams at this level it will give us kind of a sneak peek of what we’re going to see once we start conference. But like I said before, throwing our guys into the fire and kinda making them figure it out and me as well as a coach. Just having to figure it out in a short period of time. Pretty much three games in three nights.” –Wyking Jones on how this tournament prepares them for Pac-12 play.


“Well, what we’re doing in the weight room is, we’re kinda going back to more of the old school kind of football way of lifting with my new strength and conditioning coach Jordan Jackson. A lot of strength and conditioning nowadays is more about kinda leaning guys out and kind of more, I guess you could say more almost like stretching and creating more flexibility. We’re kinda doing more going back to bench pressing and doing squats and curls, and more of the traditional kinda ways of lifting weights. At least that’s what we’re doing in the summer to kind of build our guys up, build a little bit more muscle in our guys. As far as preparing for the style of play, I have so many young guys that I’m kinda slowly but surely kinda getting them acclimated to the style. With so many young guys, you’re really just putting in your offense and the basics on defense, has been what we’re focusing on. I’ve put in a press, we work on it, but at the end of the day, we only get 2 hours a week to be on the court, so we’re just kinda slowly but surely getting them acclimated to the different style of play.” –Wyking Jones on what they are doing differently in strength and conditioning to acclimate to his fast paced style of play and also how things are coming along in terms of implementing that style.


“I’m looking forward to playing Cal. I don’t think I’ve ever coached against Cal. Obviously, they have a new coach from a very successful regime. They have a tremendous recruiting class, so despite losing some very talented players to the draft, they have a great recruiting class coming in, so it should be a great challenge.” –Gregg Marshall on playing Cal.


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