Postgame Quotes: Utah 75, UCLA 73
February 19, 2016 | Men's Basketball
POSTGAME QUOTES
UCLA 73, Utah 75
February 18, 2016
UCLA Head Coach Steve Alford
“Tough one obviously; game we needed to have and we just couldn't get it going. The game, statistically, was pretty evenly matched. Utah's run to start the second half was just a little longer than ours. Our run just came a little bit too late. We waited until the six minute mark to put together a run. I thought the first 14 minutes of the second half was crucial and we didn't play very well. In the last six minutes we played well, but we came up short.”
On Jakob Poeltl getting away in the second half…
“He's really good, he's active. It's good for our bigs to be able to look at this and see the tape. We couldn't get Tony [Parker] going for whatever reason. I thought Thomas [Welsh] battled for the minutes that he was in there, [Poeltl] just got away from us in the second half. I thought Poeltl was really aggressive to start the second half and we didn't match that aggressiveness.”
On Jonah Bolden's activity…
“Jonah's been very active. I thought that was a good thing that he was active again tonight. He didn't get the rebounds he's been getting, but I thought he was very active. I thought defensively we were pretty good in the first half, but in the second half we had a lot of breakdowns. The first 10-12 minutes of the second half, that was the difference, but statistically foul shots were about the same, board play was about the same, assist-to-turnover was about the same and shooting percentage was about the same. But, their run lasted about 10 minutes and our run lasted about six minutes.”
UCLA junior guard Bryce Alford
On the late-game run…
“I guess that's how Pac-12 games are. They are a grind for 40 minutes. It doesn't really matter who makes the run, the other team just comes back. We came out flat the first eight minutes of the second half. I just wish we could have had the same intensity we had when we made the run for the whole game. This was a key game for us. We know about the RPI and where they (Utah) are ranked in the conference.”
On the first eight minutes of the second half…
“We are very inconsistent. We go through stretches where I feel we can beat any team in the country and there are other times when any team can beat us. The coaches do a great job of speaking to us at halftime and pumping us up. We just have to keep up the energy, even in bad times.”
UCLA junior guard Isaac Hamilton
On the explanation of the overall game…
“I really can't explain. We are a good ball club, we just have to come out and play with intensity.”
On if there was a lack of effort in the first eight minutes of the second half…
“Most definitely, they scored 26 points. We have to limit teams to one shot and then move the ball in transition.”
Utah Head Coach Larry Krystkowiak
“We talked about [getting our first win in Pauley Pavilion]. I know I'd never done it. It's been something that has eluded us and they made it interesting at the end. We talked about out-rebounding them, which we did. We've been a really good rebounding team on the road. Our assist to turnover ratio, 18 to 8, was pretty good. We didn't shoot the ball that well in the first half but I told our guys that we were getting pretty good looks. We just needed to keep doing what we were doing defensively. I thought our defensive effort, with the exception of their little comeback where we missed shots and didn't get back in transition, was pretty darn solid. Brandon [Taylor] had a heck of a game on [Bryce] Alford. He also had seven assists, no turnovers, and obviously the big shot at the end of the game. It's nice to see him have an impact like he did back here in his hometown.”
Utah sophomore forward Kyle Kuzma
“Jakob [Poeltl] and I are a great one-two combination. We work well with each other and we have great chemistry. It is great playing with him and we feed off of each other. Coach always says to pound the glass and play in-to-out. That helped us out today. “
