Postgame Quotes - UCLA 102, UCSB 62
POSTGAME QUOTES
UCLA 102, UC Santa Barbara 62
Pauley Pavilion (Los Angeles, Calif.)
December 14, 2016
UCLA Head Coach Steve Alford
opening statement
“I’m really proud of the guys. We have talked about comparing this to the Riverside and Kentucky week where we had the UC Riverside game prior to Kentucky and now we have UC Santa Barbara prior to an Ohio State matchup. These are very similar weeks and very similar situations in the leagues and playing BCS schools on the weekend. We had to do some things to get past both and we did that in those two games and we accomplished this one tonight. I thought we had really good energy to start with. We were extremely efficient offensively. Defensively we were much better defending the three tonight. We let the board play get away from us in the second half but we had ten blocks so I guess we have to start working on rebounding our own blocks because they probably got all of our blocks back and those are offensive rebounds. You can always find stuff. 27 assists, 8 turnovers – it’s a lot of fun watching this team and coaching this team. We move on now. We have a major test with our third Big Ten team coming up on Saturday.”
on being aware of possible triple-doubles
“I would like to say we pay attention to that but we don’t. It all centers around our guys being selfless. So I am not going to leave guys in to get something in a 40 point game with three minutes to go. I think we took TJ out with four left and Lonzo out shortly after and Lonzo hadn’t had a break the whole half. You are looking at 33 in 30 minutes in a 40-point game. That may come later or it may not. 25-10-8 and 13-10-7 and a 40-point win is pretty good production.”
on coaching a team being up by a wide margin
“Well it’s hard. I am a coach but I am a former player. I have been in games like this. I have had coaches barking at me and barking at my teammates to get in a stance, get a defensive stop and do what we are supposed to do defensively. That is a lot of coach talk. As a player that can get hard to do when you are in a game that has gotten to the level that this one has. I give our guys credit. We gave up 30 the first half and 32 the second. They shot 38 percent the first half and 25 percent the second. The backboard got away from us but defensively all in all if you look at numbers, they look pretty good. Offensively it’s off the chain again. I thought Ike was tremendous inside and I thought G.G. made some progress tonight. So we have been fortunate. I thought when Ike was out, we were able to get Tom going and get G.G. some minutes and now Tom has been out for a few games, hoping to get him back for the weekend, and I think it has been good for G.G. and Ike. They have grown and matured in the last couple games. So that’s good if we can get this front line healthy, we are just going to add to the weapons we have. To win two games and score in the hundreds, win by 20 in one and win by 40 in the other, and to not have Tom Welsh, that is encouraging. He is a big part of what we do both offensively and defensively.”
on TJ Leaf and his skills as a freshman
“It’s impressive and he is playing at a high level right now. I thought he gained a lot of momentum coming out of the Nebraska game. I think that was really the first big school that had bodies that kind of matched ours and he saw what he can do. I just remember him saying, “I get this. I know what I can do.” Not that he was not very good before that because he was doing a lot of good things before that. I just think it triggered an extra bode of confidence for him of doing it against high level players and high level athletes. He is a high level athlete, not just with his skills but he is athletic. He is a great ball fake guy. He does a really good job of pass fakes and shot fakes. There are not a lot of stretch fours getting eight assists and one turnover. I told him I thought the play of the game was when Aaron Holiday got a steal full court and saved the ball, TJ had a wide open shot and TJ was just like no this guy stole us the possession so he should benefit from it. So TJ threw the ball to Aaron in the corner and Aaron missed it. TJ got it and threw it back to Aaron. That is the kind of selfless plays that this team is starting to create and it’s fun. It’s fun to watch and it’s obviously fun to coach and TJ has a lot to do with that.”
UCLA Sophomore Guard Aaron Holiday
on staying focused with a big lead
“It’s just my mindset really. You just got to come out and play. That’s basically it.”
on improved free throw shooting
“I just locked in more. I stayed with my routine a lot more this game. That’s really helped me. I went 9-for-9, so that’s pretty good.”
on upcoming game in Las Vegas
“It’s going to be fun out there in Vegas. We are playing a good Ohio State team. It should be fun to go out there and see the arena. “
UCLA Freshman Forward TJ Leaf
on being close to a Triple-Double
“I don’t think me and Lonzo [Ball] really noticed it. We were just trying to play unselfish basketball, that’s just what we do. We like to move the ball, everyone one of us, and that’s what we were doing. We did that really well tonight.”
on experience versus Nebraska big men
“Against Nebraska, I kind of got beat up a little bit. I never played against multiple guys that big. I’ve played against one or two but not a whole team. I realized how to get rebounds against guys like that and how to do a better job of it.”
on upcoming game in Las Vegas
“It’s good to get our first game in the arena that will host the Pac-12 tournament. We are playing a really tough team and it will be a really fun experience.”
UCLA Freshman Guard Lonzo Ball
on playing with TJ Leaf
“TJ is great. He can do everything. He doesn’t have too many weaknesses on the basketball court. It helps that he’s also 6 foot 11. I love playing with him and he’s also a great friend of mine. It’s just fun on the court with him.”
on team’s unselfishness
“It’s just practice and mindset of Coach Alford, him being the head of the whole organization. He tells us to share the ball and we all share it. It helps that we are winning. Nobody has egos on this team. It’s fun just playing with everyone.”
on defensive effort
“It’s getting there. We obviously aren’t perfect yet. We talked about getting from good to great. We just have to rebound and [improve] ball pressure, the typical things. We have to stay focused.”
UC Santa Barbara Head Coach Bob Williams
opening statement
“They are incredibly gifted, very long and they shoot really well. They really run effortlessly and they’re playing and making the game easy. They pass and move and cut hard. At some times out there, they have five guys who can shoot the three. Their length is something you don’t see at our level.”
on where they go from here
“We play Iona in Vegas, then we have a Christmas break. We will just continuously try to get better as a team. Especially the way we started so badly, we’re setting goals to get better. I felt in the second half we got a little bit better.”
UC Santa Barbara Freshman Guard Clifton Powell
on tonight’s performance
“It was tough. It’s the kind of game that we know we have to play better. These are really great players. We just have to remember that we have to do the things we’ve been working on. We have to play better. We have to make shots, but it’s not easy. We just have to go out there and execute.”
what do they take from this game
“On defense, we were better on the wings, guards were able to get in the paint before, so that’s gotten a lot better. We just have to keep competing.”
UCLA 102, UC Santa Barbara 62
Pauley Pavilion (Los Angeles, Calif.)
December 14, 2016
UCLA Head Coach Steve Alford
opening statement
“I’m really proud of the guys. We have talked about comparing this to the Riverside and Kentucky week where we had the UC Riverside game prior to Kentucky and now we have UC Santa Barbara prior to an Ohio State matchup. These are very similar weeks and very similar situations in the leagues and playing BCS schools on the weekend. We had to do some things to get past both and we did that in those two games and we accomplished this one tonight. I thought we had really good energy to start with. We were extremely efficient offensively. Defensively we were much better defending the three tonight. We let the board play get away from us in the second half but we had ten blocks so I guess we have to start working on rebounding our own blocks because they probably got all of our blocks back and those are offensive rebounds. You can always find stuff. 27 assists, 8 turnovers – it’s a lot of fun watching this team and coaching this team. We move on now. We have a major test with our third Big Ten team coming up on Saturday.”
on being aware of possible triple-doubles
“I would like to say we pay attention to that but we don’t. It all centers around our guys being selfless. So I am not going to leave guys in to get something in a 40 point game with three minutes to go. I think we took TJ out with four left and Lonzo out shortly after and Lonzo hadn’t had a break the whole half. You are looking at 33 in 30 minutes in a 40-point game. That may come later or it may not. 25-10-8 and 13-10-7 and a 40-point win is pretty good production.”
on coaching a team being up by a wide margin
“Well it’s hard. I am a coach but I am a former player. I have been in games like this. I have had coaches barking at me and barking at my teammates to get in a stance, get a defensive stop and do what we are supposed to do defensively. That is a lot of coach talk. As a player that can get hard to do when you are in a game that has gotten to the level that this one has. I give our guys credit. We gave up 30 the first half and 32 the second. They shot 38 percent the first half and 25 percent the second. The backboard got away from us but defensively all in all if you look at numbers, they look pretty good. Offensively it’s off the chain again. I thought Ike was tremendous inside and I thought G.G. made some progress tonight. So we have been fortunate. I thought when Ike was out, we were able to get Tom going and get G.G. some minutes and now Tom has been out for a few games, hoping to get him back for the weekend, and I think it has been good for G.G. and Ike. They have grown and matured in the last couple games. So that’s good if we can get this front line healthy, we are just going to add to the weapons we have. To win two games and score in the hundreds, win by 20 in one and win by 40 in the other, and to not have Tom Welsh, that is encouraging. He is a big part of what we do both offensively and defensively.”
on TJ Leaf and his skills as a freshman
“It’s impressive and he is playing at a high level right now. I thought he gained a lot of momentum coming out of the Nebraska game. I think that was really the first big school that had bodies that kind of matched ours and he saw what he can do. I just remember him saying, “I get this. I know what I can do.” Not that he was not very good before that because he was doing a lot of good things before that. I just think it triggered an extra bode of confidence for him of doing it against high level players and high level athletes. He is a high level athlete, not just with his skills but he is athletic. He is a great ball fake guy. He does a really good job of pass fakes and shot fakes. There are not a lot of stretch fours getting eight assists and one turnover. I told him I thought the play of the game was when Aaron Holiday got a steal full court and saved the ball, TJ had a wide open shot and TJ was just like no this guy stole us the possession so he should benefit from it. So TJ threw the ball to Aaron in the corner and Aaron missed it. TJ got it and threw it back to Aaron. That is the kind of selfless plays that this team is starting to create and it’s fun. It’s fun to watch and it’s obviously fun to coach and TJ has a lot to do with that.”
UCLA Sophomore Guard Aaron Holiday
on staying focused with a big lead
“It’s just my mindset really. You just got to come out and play. That’s basically it.”
on improved free throw shooting
“I just locked in more. I stayed with my routine a lot more this game. That’s really helped me. I went 9-for-9, so that’s pretty good.”
on upcoming game in Las Vegas
“It’s going to be fun out there in Vegas. We are playing a good Ohio State team. It should be fun to go out there and see the arena. “
UCLA Freshman Forward TJ Leaf
on being close to a Triple-Double
“I don’t think me and Lonzo [Ball] really noticed it. We were just trying to play unselfish basketball, that’s just what we do. We like to move the ball, everyone one of us, and that’s what we were doing. We did that really well tonight.”
on experience versus Nebraska big men
“Against Nebraska, I kind of got beat up a little bit. I never played against multiple guys that big. I’ve played against one or two but not a whole team. I realized how to get rebounds against guys like that and how to do a better job of it.”
on upcoming game in Las Vegas
“It’s good to get our first game in the arena that will host the Pac-12 tournament. We are playing a really tough team and it will be a really fun experience.”
UCLA Freshman Guard Lonzo Ball
on playing with TJ Leaf
“TJ is great. He can do everything. He doesn’t have too many weaknesses on the basketball court. It helps that he’s also 6 foot 11. I love playing with him and he’s also a great friend of mine. It’s just fun on the court with him.”
on team’s unselfishness
“It’s just practice and mindset of Coach Alford, him being the head of the whole organization. He tells us to share the ball and we all share it. It helps that we are winning. Nobody has egos on this team. It’s fun just playing with everyone.”
on defensive effort
“It’s getting there. We obviously aren’t perfect yet. We talked about getting from good to great. We just have to rebound and [improve] ball pressure, the typical things. We have to stay focused.”
UC Santa Barbara Head Coach Bob Williams
opening statement
“They are incredibly gifted, very long and they shoot really well. They really run effortlessly and they’re playing and making the game easy. They pass and move and cut hard. At some times out there, they have five guys who can shoot the three. Their length is something you don’t see at our level.”
on where they go from here
“We play Iona in Vegas, then we have a Christmas break. We will just continuously try to get better as a team. Especially the way we started so badly, we’re setting goals to get better. I felt in the second half we got a little bit better.”
UC Santa Barbara Freshman Guard Clifton Powell
on tonight’s performance
“It was tough. It’s the kind of game that we know we have to play better. These are really great players. We just have to remember that we have to do the things we’ve been working on. We have to play better. We have to make shots, but it’s not easy. We just have to go out there and execute.”
what do they take from this game
“On defense, we were better on the wings, guards were able to get in the paint before, so that’s gotten a lot better. We just have to keep competing.”