UCLA 69, Stanford 67
February 5, 2015
UCLA head coach Steve Alford
on Stanford guard Chasson Randle taking the game's final shot
“Well, you have got to go to him. We knew that it was going to be either him or [Anthony] Brown. We just wanted to call a timeout to set our defense. At least by setting our defense, it makes it a little more hard. It's not a clean pass, so his dribble was tripped up a little bit and it was an off-balanced shot versus him getting his feet set, and he still almost made it. That's how good he is. Everybody in the building knows that it's going to him and he gets a very good look at it. I'm just really proud of our young team. It's a very young team and to get a road win in here is huge for our guys.
on what he is thinking when he sees Chasson Randle take the final shot at the buzzer
“Miss. I mean, please miss it. I'd like to say that our guys deserved it, but they deserved it too. You get down 20 at home and then you fight all the way back – that says a lot about the character of them, as well. I have an awful lot of respect for this [Stanford] staff and this team. I'm just really proud of our guys. To do what we did through the first 30 minutes was extremely impressive, and you've got to hang on. We missed some free throws. We got a little stagnant offensively. They started to make everything, and that's not easy to withstand a run like that. Our guys found ways to do it. I'm proud of them.”
on changes that Stanford made in the final 10 minutes to close the gap
“They started to make shots. I'd say, with 10 minutes to go, they were probably shooting 30 percent or less. Hopefully, some of that had to do with our defense. Sometimes though, when you are down like that, you'll throw gameplans out and you start to make some shots. Roscoe Allen made a couple of corner threes, they got a free throw blockout possession, they started to drive it really hard even in our zone. I thought that in the first 30, we did a terrific job defensively and with mixing the defenses. It made it hard on them. They just got hot. Obviously, we are going to look at tape. I'm sure we had some breakdowns, too. That's going to happen. But, to get that win was huge for our guys.”
on why Stanford was able to reduce UCLA's double-digit lead late in the second half
“We're playing Stanford at Stanford. There is only one other team that has won in here this year, and that's Arizona. They're ranked in the top five in the country. So, they're going to keep us scoreless for a stretch there. I'm shocked that we didn't go scoreless there for eight minutes. We had them down 15 in the first half and down 20 in the second half. That is an incredible amount of work for our young guys. So, I don't care if we win by 20 or by half a point. Our guys did a lot of good things and put themselves in a situation to win. With Tony Parker, he's won his last six games. The only two that we have lost, since we got back from Utah and Colorado, was on that Oregon trip without Tony. So, we have won six straight when we have had a full roster. That is what we're excited about. That's what we are building on. And now we have a big one at 5 o'clock on Saturday with Cal.”
on what has changed for UCLA in the last month
“We are healthy. Hopefully we are gaining some momentum and getting some more confidence. I think that winning two games in a row at home after having lost five and winning at USC and leading that entire game gave us a lot of momentum. Then he [Tony Parker] got injured, and that's taking a big piece of us. He is one of only two upperclassmen on this team, and he is our starting center. We had to go up without him to the Oregon schools and we took a couple of steps back. He got back healthy and we have been able to win three more in a row. That's what I told him in the locker room. I told him, 'That is how important you are to us.' We've won the last six games in which he's suited up. This one was huge and it sets up Saturday.”
on UCLA guard Isaac Hamilton
“I said this to him in the locker room. I said, 'Hey, your offense is nice. But, what you are doing for us defensively, that is what means the world to us.' From what he did against Utah, and then Colorado and the job he did on [Askia] Booker, and then tonight – I don't think that there's a better guard in this league than Randle. This was probably one of [Randle's] his worst games of the season and Isaac had a lot do to with that.”
on adjustments that UCLA made after Stanford's 10-0 run to close the first half
“We just wanted to attack them, to drive and get to the rim. And we did a great job with that. Bryce did a good job with the ball screen in the second half. We got Isaac some good looks. We just wanted to make sure that we were running our offense, and we wanted to make sure that we were attacking the paint and getting good looks. I thought we did that.”
on how UCLA's players handled the game's final stretch
“They handled it great because they found a way to win. Anytime that you are on the road and the home team makes a run like that and you can find a way to win, that's huge."
UCLA guard Bryce Alford
on seeing the team's 22-point lead reduced to single digits
“We didn't know that we were going to get that kind of a lead, but we knew that they were not going to just go away. There were still 11 minutes left when we got up by 20, and the time started to tick away and we got lazy. We can't do that and that's a lesson that a young team like this needed.
on what he means by being lazy
“We weren't attacking. The whole game, we had been in attack mode. Then we started to kind of hold the ball, a little bit, and you just can't do that. It's kind of like in football when guys go into prevent defense and all of a sudden you are scoring like crazy. You just can't relax at any time.”
on the final seconds and Chasson Randle's final shot attempt
“I was going to be sick if that went in. Going to the free throw line, that's what I live for, with five to 10 seconds left and you're trying to ice the game. Unfortunately, I didn't get it done and fortunately, a great player missed a shot.”
on how Stanford rallied in the game's final 10 minutes
“Credit to them. They played hard. Once we got up pretty big, they picked up their intensity and really started to attack. We just didn't make a whole lot of shots, and they were hitting a lot of shots. They went into that 1-3-1 and we kind of just stood a little bit and just passed it back and forth. We weren't attacking like we had been the whole game.”
on Stanford's runs at the end of each half
“We were up 15 in the first half and they got it down to six right before half. It's a good lesson for us. We played really well today for about 32 of the 40 minutes. We just didn't finish either half the way that we should have”
on what has changed for UCLA in the last several weeks
“Just effort, I think. Our intensity. You know, coach brought the starters into the film room on our own and say, 'Hey, I want more. I know that we're demanding a lot out of you guys with a lot of minutes and a lot of production, but I want more.' We have taken that on our shoulders. The bench has been a lot better. Tom has been great, and then G.G. and Noah, our energy is just at a high level right now.”
on getting a road win in a difficult environment
“It's big, you know, we had a huge monkey on our back going into the game at USC. I give a lot of credit to that [game], for us to be able to come here and win on the road. It's tough to beat anybody on the road, especially in the Pac-12. So to come in here and beat the team that was one game ahead of us, that's a huge win for us, so we are really excited.”
on the physicality of the game
“They're known for being a physical team. [Stefan] Nastic on the inside is a big, physical center and they have strong guards. With Reid Travis back, he's a big, physical person as well. They were trying to be physical with us, but I thought that we handled it pretty well.”
UCLA guard Norman Powell
on seeing a 22-point lead reduced to one point
“Just trying to get stops and win the game. At the end of the game, we had free throws not falling, and it felt like they were hitting everything. Coach brought us in and told us to get stops and we were trying different defenses, but we were just focusing on trying to get a win. When the game goes like that, you just try and stop the bleeding and get a win.”
on whether it matters to win by double digits or one point
“A win is a win, you know, ugly, pretty, blowout, close game, a win is a win, and I'm really proud of the way this team worked. They never quit. It's really tough. These guys had lost only one game in this building before us, and that was against Arizona. So, they're really good at home. To come out and get up by 20 and hold the lead for the rest of the game was impressive for us, and it just shows how well we have been playing. We really needed this win on the road.
on an extended scoreless streak for UCLA late in the second half
“We stopped driving the ball. They started to pick up in matchup and man zone. We weren't really driving the ball. We were playing on the perimeter. They got us down into the late clock. We need to improve on that and get better with it. We need to learn how to get good shots.”
on being able to finish his shots
“I just need to attack stronger. A lot of my shots were push shots, like a little spin floater, using a little body contact, trying to get it off the bank, and I've been successful with attacking the rim and going strong. I really focused on attacking the rim and not avoiding contact and finishing, going strong and finishing with contact in the second half.”
on what was so effective about UCLA's defense
“We are active, we're talking and the energy is up. We are not letting them or the environment bother us. We playing and trusting one another and that is what good defensive teams do. They talk and they trust one another. When you are in help and recover, that's what this team has been working on. Both at home and then the last three days preparing for Stanford, we were really focused on our defense and it's really shown in the game.”
on the strides that the Bruins have made during Pac-12 play
I couldn't be prouder of this team. They have never quit. When adversity hit us, we never got down on ourselves. We just needed to work harder in practice. To see the improvement and see us being able to carry it over to a game like this in a hostile environment on the road when we really needed a win, it's great. I love this team. I love the way that the team is working. Our guys just need to continue to build and go from here.”
on this win helping UCLA ascend in the standings
“Honestly, we are just looking for a sweep [at Stanford and Cal]. We need to get some rest and go over there and focus on Cal. They're playing USC right now, so we are just looking at trying to get a sweep and playing basketball. We aren't really worried about the standings. Right now, we are just trying to get a win.”
UCLA guard Isaac Hamilton
on his ability to be a catalyst in UCLA's win against Stanford
“It's just about getting good shots, making them, actually. It's a relief, but I've never given up. Just kept going. Watched a lot of film, and we got the win. I'm happy about that.
on whether he's made any adjustments to his shot recently
“No, it's just when to take it, when not to take it, when to give it up, when to pump fake, just simple things and minor adjustments. And I just made it.”
on what he did to defend Colorado's Askia Booker and Stanford's Chasson Randle
“After the first game, I watched a lot of film on both of those guys, they're really good scorers, shooters as well. I tried to make them as uncomfortable as possible. I tried my best to do that. And it kind of worked.”
on what he saw on film about Chasson Randle
“When he's coming off the screens, just to get into him and ride him out to the three-point line and kind of make him have to make plays off the dribble, to catch and shoot or coming off of curls or screens. Those are the kinds of adjustments I worked on.”
on if UCLA has turned a corner, defensively
“Of course. Our effort has been remarkable. There's a lot of help, and that's what it is – help defense. It's just about helping a teammate. That's what we were doing.”