Postgame Quotes - UCLA 111, Cal State LA 80
UCLA 111, Cal State LA 80
Los Angeles, Calif. (Pauley Pavilion)
November 1, 2017
UCLA head coach Steve Alford
opening remarks
“I’m really pleased with how we handled the style. The unfortunate thing is that we are not going to face this style where it’s just full fledge run and jump, either turn it over or throw it over for layups and threes. Unfortunately not a lot of half-court offense and not a lot of half-court defense that we needed because it was basically five-out motion with guards. We didn’t really get to work on pick and roll coverage either. I really liked what our guys were able to do. We talked about some adjustments at half time and I thought we had a really solid half. With those adjustments we had only given up one offensive rebound and one turnover. Those were positives. The last six or seven minutes is where we had our turnovers, but it was a 40-point game. Overall, I think we had a lot of guys do a lot of good things but as I told them there will be a much different style of play when we get to China.”
on Thomas Welsh
“That’s what you have to have your seniors do. I thought that both Thomas and G.G. [Goloman] were really good. They did a lot of good things. Tom is making shots now, he is making some threes. I think you’re going to continue to see a 7-foot-1 guy who can hurt you at the rim and also from 21 to 22 feet. Big positives.”
on the play of the backcourt
“I thought Aaron [Holiday] did a good job distributing and leading by doing the things he has to do. I though Jaylen Hands really had some good moments. Anytime you can get 11 assists in a game, I thought he did some really good things for a freshman. He did well playing alongside Aaron, and when we took Aaron out allowing him some of that freedom, too. I thought he handled it very well.”
on turnovers
“It was just a different press. A lot of the time there was four guys in the back court. We didn’t have tape either. We worked on press break but not on that type so really it was about figuring out going over the top and throwing it down the court. I don’t know the numbers but we shot a very high percentage from three and a very high percentage from point blank and that’s why we scored a lot of points. You’re going to take some turnovers with that because you had some bigs handling the ball in some spots where they shouldn’t have been handling it. If anything we will get out of it is some press break stuff. Overall I thought we attacked it pretty well for most of the night.”
on being ready for opening game
“I hope so. I think we are getting healthy. Hopeful to get Jalen Hill back as we have seven or eight days to get him healthy. We have an off day tomorrow, practice Friday and board a plane on Saturday and we lose a day going. Monday through Thursday next week even with everything going on we have to get better in that window and stay healthy. We’re pretty healthy as this is the tough part of practices. We’ve had about 26 practices and have been going pretty hard and the guys have handled it well and have come out pretty healthy. I’m hoping that we start the season almost full force. If that’s the case you can see we are pretty deep. We just played a team that basically pressed for 40 minutes and I don’t think we wore down at all. I though our depth was really good and that’s something that as the year goes on because if we stay healthy we will be able to wear some people down.”
on return of Prince Ali and Alex Olesinski
“It’s really good to have them back. I thought Prince, in particular, was really good today. He had good leadership. It was good to have someone out there that has been in the system, and he played hard. He was very efficient offensively and played very hard defeneisivley. Alex is coming along and has been practicing very well. He was a little out of sync with the catching and the handling of the ball, but he plays so hard. When you have someone like that coming off the bench with that kind of experience, it's good. Both of those guys, we're going to need them because of their experience. We have many young guys, so those are two vets who we can bring off the bench. Even though they didn’t play last year, they have been in the system and they understand what we want to do in all phases.”
UCLA senior center Thomas Welsh
on what he learned
“I think we learned a lot. It’s very important to have a game like this so the freshman can know what it’s like playing here and get a feel for the atmosphere. We got a lot of really good film from it and a lot of things we have to improve upon from this game, but it was great for the freshman to get initiated.
on style of play
“It was different. But every team is different so we are going to take and learn from what we can tonight. They are a team that is great on the drives so we will look at film on that and try to make some adjustments.”
on how freshman played
“I think all the freshman played really well when they got out there. They all play hard and are extremely talented. It was a great night and a lot of fun.”
on shooting 3-pointers
“I’m extremely confident in it. I wasn’t expecting them, I was just trying to get open and take the best shot I can. I wasn’t focusing on that. Just focused on shooting in a good rhythm and if it goes in, it goes in and if it doesn’t, it doesn’t. It felt good to knock down the first two.”
on rebounding
“I thought we improved but I think there is still room to improve. Especially for us on the defensive glass and keeping teams off the offensive boards. But that is something that can always be improved upon by watching film, working hard and getting everyone to crash the glass.”
UCLA freshman guard Jaylen Hands
on playing in Pauley Pavilion for the first time
“Kris (Wilkes) and I talked about the first four minutes being a little jumpy, but after that you just get used to playing basketball like we always do. It was really fun – the atmosphere and all these people here.”
on when he felt the jitters were gone
“I probably would say around my second stint. The first four minutes you’re just so excited; you’ve been thinking about it all day and the weeks before. After you get the first stint you just relax and play basketball. That’s all it is.”
on what he likes most about playing with Kris Wilkes
“In transition you always know someone’s there. You just throw it up so he can catch it. He’s a real competitor.”
on being ready for the opener
“There’s always work you can do, but I’m really excited to get back to practice on Friday and get better at rebounding and get better at shooting free throws. We’re a good team. Every time we go out there we get better, so I’m really excited.”
UCLA sophomore guard Prince Ali
on getting back on the court after sitting out last season
“I’ve been sitting out for awhile, so it felt amazing, to be honest with you. Just to get back out there and play in front of these fans, it felt amazing.”
on not being able to contribute last season
“Obviously it was tough at first. I kind of got used to it and just embraced the role, which was coming to practice and working hard. I had a chance to guard players like Bryce and Zo, Isaac, Aaron. It helped me a lot.”
on how this year’s team compares stylistically to last year’s team
“We still play fast. We still play very, very fast. But a little bit more athletic. But it’s definitely fast, and we’re still trying to get up and down.”
on what he learned during his year off
“Watching that team last year was a good learning experience because of the way they spaced the floor. I got to watch how Isaac and Bryce did things and how they spaced, how they cut. That was really big for me. I also learned how to position myself better.”
on if the team is more vocal this year
“All you have to do is go by the locker room. The music is blasting, people are talking a lot more. It’s fun. It’s a lot of fun.”
Cal State LA head coach Jim Saia
on playing in Pauley Pavilion
“It was really great. I have great memories here at Pauley Pavilion. I spent seven years here. It was great to see Coach Lavin calling the game and Tracy Murray was here as well. I felt the game was very entertaining. There was a lot of pressing and running. This is how we are going to play at Cal State L.A. This game was definitely a learning tool for us. We just have to go back to the drawing board.”
on where they go from here
“Like I said before, we have to go back to the drawing board. We have to work on our press coverage and our press breaking. This is a whole new group here, so we’re learning as we go along. We made UCLA turn over the ball twenty-four times. We also turned over the ball too much, so we’re going to have to go back and work on that as well.”