Ben Howland on Klay Thompson, etc.

From Ben Howland’s conference call with the media today:

On Klay Thompson:
Ben Howland: “When we arrived at the airport we were told he’s being suspended. I know he’ll miss this game tomorrow, and obviously he’s a great player. I know him, he’s a great kid. We wish him nothing but the best. Wonderful family, a good kid. I’m disappointed for him and his family that he won’t be able to play tomorrow.”

On how he expects Washington State to respond:
BH: “I’ve also seen teams like ourselves – who were without Josh Smith for the Cal/Stanford games – and sometimes things happen where it inspires them even more. We know with or without him, it’ll be a difficult game for us.”

On what he expects WSU to do schematically:
BH: “What it means is (Faizel) Aden, a very good player, will end up getting more shots and more looks. (DeAngelo Casto) played great last night, 10-for-11 against USC, and their bigs are as good defensively aas anyone in our league.”

On Malcolm Lee’s status after going down with cramping against Washington:
BH: “He’s OK. This is something that happened more often last year. The last time he cramped up like this was early on in our season.”

On the status of Reggie Moore, who injured his ankle against USC:
BH: “I saw the sprain in the film, but I don’t know his status.”

On having dealt with a similar situation to Thompson’s as a head coach:
BH: “My best player my first year as a head coach was killed in a car accident. I would say that’s much worse than what were dealing with now. That was unbelieveably tramatic and difficult.”

On the game being a let-down after the Washington loss:
BH: “I certainly hope not. We need to win this game tomorrow. Last game of the season; amazing, it seems so long ago that we played them. This is a very important game for both teams.”