Postgame Quotes - Arizona State 88, UCLA 79
POSTGAME QUOTES
Arizona State 88, UCLA 79
Tempe, Ariz. (Wells Fargo Arena)
February 10, 2018
UCLA head coach Steve Alford
opening statement
“Those three guards hurt us. It’s a hard prep with just a day, and we knew this was going to be a difficult trip. It’s a tough trip, and we exhausted a ton of energy on Thursday night. I thought we had great effort Thursday night, and I thought our effort was good tonight. I wish we would have been a little nastier. I think they’re giving us what they have. We only have eight guys. I think five guys played 35-plus minutes, down in Tucson. We didn’t go to the gym yesterday and didn’t want to do a shoot around this morning in order to maximize rest and did all of our prep in the hotel. I thought the guys did a good job with that. Those three guards got away from us. Those three are very talented guards, and they had it going. There was a stretch in the first half where we had a pretty good rhythm, and we then had a bad stretch in the first half, offensively, where we took some quick shots instead of instead of working on getting the ball inside. That’s what we wanted to do because we thought we had an advantage there. They were able to build an eight to 10 points lead, and that is pretty much where it stayed the whole game. We were never able to overcome that five-minute stretch in the first half.”
on the play of UCLA’s Aaron Holiday
“It’s tough and it’s hard on him. You’re going against [Allonzo] Trier in the last game and then [Tra] Holder tonight. We want him to be the leading scorer, value the possession and get the ball where it needs to go. He is playing 37-38 minutes. It’s difficult. I thought he got in sync early, in terms of getting the ball to where it needed to go, and he was in sync late. But we understand what he’s going through. He’s getting the toughest assignment every night, and we can’t give him a break on that. I think he fights. Was it one of his more outstanding games? No. But we certainly understand.”
on UCLA winning at Arizona and losing at Arizona State
“Anytime you lose it’s a lost opportunity. Losing at Michigan was a lost opportunity. Losing at Stanford was a lost opportunity. To be able to win on the road in this league means you’re taking advantage of an opportunity. I assume that there won’t be many teams that go in and win in Tucson – that have played there or that have to play there in the next few weeks. I don’t think that a lot of teams will win here, either. This split becomes vital if we go home and take care of business against the Oregon schools. This is a big week. We have to get rest tomorrow, and then we have to get after it on Monday because what we did this week sets up next week where those two teams have already beaten us. We have to figure out how to hold serve at home. If we do that, it sets up the last three-game road swing.”
on whether UCLA wanted to use a smaller lineup throughout the game at ASU
“No, not really because they’re not very small. They play two bigs a lot, too. We thought G.G. [Goloman] has been playing well, and that he’s able to guard a guard, so we thought that was an advantage for us. You go small, what does it do? You’re still guarding those three guards with the same people. It’s not like we’re going to be able to run around and trap any of them or do anything different. It affects more offensively when we do that because I thought we had an advantage inside. We just got away from it.”
UCLA junior guard Aaron Holiday
on chasing ASU’s guards throughout the game
“No, I wasn’t tired. They just played better than us tonight.”
on the difference in the game
“We did not guard their dribble drives very well. Offensively, we weren’t able to get anything going. That’s pretty much it.”
on the difference for him, between guarding players against Arizona and Arizona State
“It’s not really much different. Obviously, ASU’s guards are quicker than [Allonzo] Trier, but Trier can get to the basket whenever he wants and make all the shots. They’re both pretty similar. They both can hit open shots and get to the basket.”
on UCLA’s offensive drought to end first half
“We for sure didn’t make enough shots to win. Offensively, the ball got stuck a lot, so that’s my fault. But at the end of the day, we have to learn from it and move on.”
on splitting the series at Arizona and Arizona State
“I’m not happy. We should have gone 2-0. But, at the end of the day, we got one win and that helps us a lot.”
on UCLA looking to enhance its resume for the NCAA Tournament
“I feel good. I think we’re going to get it done. We are a great team. We play together and we will figure it out because we are a great team. I think we are going to get it done.”
UCLA senior forward G.G. Goloman
on whether he felt today’s game was a “letdown”
“Yes, it is a letdown. We just come out here and try to win, but it didn’t happen. So yes, it’s a letdown but we have to keep moving forward. We need to learn from all the things we did tonight and from Thursday’s game and try to win these next two at home.”
on UCLA’s scoring drought in the first half
“No, I don’t think that was the game. Overall throughout the game, we made some mistakes especially defensively that led them to getting hot at home so that’s probably what caused everything.”
on the play of Arizona State’s guards
“They are three great guards. They made some big shots and made some big plays. We didn’t really have an answer for that tonight. That was the difference.”
on splitting the road series at the two Arizona schools
“Well, we missed a huge opportunity that we had with the loss tonight. But, we beat Arizona on the road and not a lot of teams will be able to say they did that, so that’s a positive. But overall. I don’t feel completely satisfied by it because of tonight – but the split isn’t too bad.”
Arizona State 88, UCLA 79
Tempe, Ariz. (Wells Fargo Arena)
February 10, 2018
UCLA head coach Steve Alford
opening statement
“Those three guards hurt us. It’s a hard prep with just a day, and we knew this was going to be a difficult trip. It’s a tough trip, and we exhausted a ton of energy on Thursday night. I thought we had great effort Thursday night, and I thought our effort was good tonight. I wish we would have been a little nastier. I think they’re giving us what they have. We only have eight guys. I think five guys played 35-plus minutes, down in Tucson. We didn’t go to the gym yesterday and didn’t want to do a shoot around this morning in order to maximize rest and did all of our prep in the hotel. I thought the guys did a good job with that. Those three guards got away from us. Those three are very talented guards, and they had it going. There was a stretch in the first half where we had a pretty good rhythm, and we then had a bad stretch in the first half, offensively, where we took some quick shots instead of instead of working on getting the ball inside. That’s what we wanted to do because we thought we had an advantage there. They were able to build an eight to 10 points lead, and that is pretty much where it stayed the whole game. We were never able to overcome that five-minute stretch in the first half.”
on the play of UCLA’s Aaron Holiday
“It’s tough and it’s hard on him. You’re going against [Allonzo] Trier in the last game and then [Tra] Holder tonight. We want him to be the leading scorer, value the possession and get the ball where it needs to go. He is playing 37-38 minutes. It’s difficult. I thought he got in sync early, in terms of getting the ball to where it needed to go, and he was in sync late. But we understand what he’s going through. He’s getting the toughest assignment every night, and we can’t give him a break on that. I think he fights. Was it one of his more outstanding games? No. But we certainly understand.”
on UCLA winning at Arizona and losing at Arizona State
“Anytime you lose it’s a lost opportunity. Losing at Michigan was a lost opportunity. Losing at Stanford was a lost opportunity. To be able to win on the road in this league means you’re taking advantage of an opportunity. I assume that there won’t be many teams that go in and win in Tucson – that have played there or that have to play there in the next few weeks. I don’t think that a lot of teams will win here, either. This split becomes vital if we go home and take care of business against the Oregon schools. This is a big week. We have to get rest tomorrow, and then we have to get after it on Monday because what we did this week sets up next week where those two teams have already beaten us. We have to figure out how to hold serve at home. If we do that, it sets up the last three-game road swing.”
on whether UCLA wanted to use a smaller lineup throughout the game at ASU
“No, not really because they’re not very small. They play two bigs a lot, too. We thought G.G. [Goloman] has been playing well, and that he’s able to guard a guard, so we thought that was an advantage for us. You go small, what does it do? You’re still guarding those three guards with the same people. It’s not like we’re going to be able to run around and trap any of them or do anything different. It affects more offensively when we do that because I thought we had an advantage inside. We just got away from it.”
UCLA junior guard Aaron Holiday
on chasing ASU’s guards throughout the game
“No, I wasn’t tired. They just played better than us tonight.”
on the difference in the game
“We did not guard their dribble drives very well. Offensively, we weren’t able to get anything going. That’s pretty much it.”
on the difference for him, between guarding players against Arizona and Arizona State
“It’s not really much different. Obviously, ASU’s guards are quicker than [Allonzo] Trier, but Trier can get to the basket whenever he wants and make all the shots. They’re both pretty similar. They both can hit open shots and get to the basket.”
on UCLA’s offensive drought to end first half
“We for sure didn’t make enough shots to win. Offensively, the ball got stuck a lot, so that’s my fault. But at the end of the day, we have to learn from it and move on.”
on splitting the series at Arizona and Arizona State
“I’m not happy. We should have gone 2-0. But, at the end of the day, we got one win and that helps us a lot.”
on UCLA looking to enhance its resume for the NCAA Tournament
“I feel good. I think we’re going to get it done. We are a great team. We play together and we will figure it out because we are a great team. I think we are going to get it done.”
UCLA senior forward G.G. Goloman
on whether he felt today’s game was a “letdown”
“Yes, it is a letdown. We just come out here and try to win, but it didn’t happen. So yes, it’s a letdown but we have to keep moving forward. We need to learn from all the things we did tonight and from Thursday’s game and try to win these next two at home.”
on UCLA’s scoring drought in the first half
“No, I don’t think that was the game. Overall throughout the game, we made some mistakes especially defensively that led them to getting hot at home so that’s probably what caused everything.”
on the play of Arizona State’s guards
“They are three great guards. They made some big shots and made some big plays. We didn’t really have an answer for that tonight. That was the difference.”
on splitting the road series at the two Arizona schools
“Well, we missed a huge opportunity that we had with the loss tonight. But, we beat Arizona on the road and not a lot of teams will be able to say they did that, so that’s a positive. But overall. I don’t feel completely satisfied by it because of tonight – but the split isn’t too bad.”