Postgame Quotes: UCLA 77, Colorado 53
February 21, 2016 | Men's Basketball
POSTGAME QUOTES
UCLA 77, Colorado 53
February 20, 2016
UCLA Head Coach Steve Alford
opening statement
“I thought that was a really good 40 minutes. I thought we had a great team effort with 21 assists, seven turnovers and with them pressing the last 10 minutes of the game I just felt we did a really good job. We shared the basketball, we got good shots, we shot a high percentage, we got some of those shots against Utah but didn't make them. Tonight, we made them. I thought our guards controlled things very well for us on both ends. Defensively, I thought it was the best we have been in some time. We held this team to 31 percent shooting, a good shooting team, a good scoring team. To hold them to 53 points and 31 percent shooting, I am very pleased what we did defensively as well.”
on starting Tony Parker
“We said it wasn't punishment for Tony [Parker], and this wasn't punishment for Tom. We talked as a staff to possibly put Tony in the lineup to ignite us, and they went to go talk to Tom. And Tom interrupted them and said 'I came to you guys today because I think it is a good idea to put Tony in the starting lineup.' That is who Tom Welsh is. He is a team guy, and you wish you had 15 of those guys. He is quality, not just as a player, but as a young man. For him to do that when he is playing as well as he is playing speaks volumes of who he is. It was something we were thinking about, but obviously Tom was thinking about it as well. Again, it is not punishment. It's just starting something different, trying to get a different look after losing a game, getting a different look late in the season. He is a senior, and I thought he responded very well. I thought Tom played very well as well. Getting 26 and 12 out them is what we need to get.”
on the defensive play
“It has only been 48 hours [since the Utah loss], so it's not like they grew up a lot. I thought against Utah we defended well, we just had a brutal start to the second half. We had an eight-minute stretch there where we gave up 26 points, and those are lessons we are trying to learn that just hasn't soaked in yet. Outside of those eight minutes, we defended Utah really well. It was a really bad eight minutes. I think we gave up 26 points in the first eight minutes of the second half, and that's hard to recover when you are playing a team like Utah. Tonight we did a much better job for 40 minutes defensively.”
on what it's going to take to be more consistent, going forward
“That is a tremendous question. I just don't know if I have the answer. I think there were about three to four [games] that could have gone the other way for us, and we would be sitting here at 18-9 and in really good shape. We are an awful lot like a lot of teams in the country. The question you asked for us, you can ask for the majority of the country. We just consistently haven't been able to get on a run and get the wins. I don't know what that is. I don't know if we got worn down a little bit in the non-league. I don't know. I thought it was a great schedule. I thought it was a year ahead, I have said that. There were no blowouts, so we couldn't get the bench the minutes I would have liked and gotten them developed and the starters a little more confidence. We got some key wins against Gonzaga, Kentucky. We have done some really good things, but everything was a battle. Those 13 games were all battles, and then you have to start on the road and get hit in the face with a double overtime game and start very lethargic against Washington State. We just never really got in a rhythm since then. We obviously are running out of games here. But we have to take it one game at a time and stay positive. This has been a great group. It is just trying to figure out the consistency of getting over the hump and getting those wins. The double-overtime loss to Washington, two-point loss last second here against Washington, the two-point loss to Utah, and in my mind we had Arizona. We have been right there where three or four games could have turned the other way. Now it is tougher on us and now the margin for error is obviously very, very slim.”
on the importance of this win helping the Bruins move forward
“There is no question. If we don't get the win here and have to go to the Bay Area, it would be really hard. So I thought this was a pivotal game because I think they knew they let one get away on Thursday. I think they knew it was just a tough eight minutes to start the second half, and it was a lesson well-learned. The first eight minutes of this second half were really good, so we didn't get both of them like we wanted to get this thing to 7-7 and 16-11. That obviously would've been the best case scenario for us with four games left. Now, we at least carry a little bit of momentum and some confidence going into a key pivotal trip. [This is our] Last chance to get some road wins and get some momentum coming back here for two difficult home games.”
UCLA junior guard Bryce Alford
on the urgency of Saturday night's game
“Yeah, we let one go on Thursday, so we knew how important this game was. Also, we wanted to have momentum going into the road trip.”
on UCLA's ball movement
“When we move the ball side to side anyone of us can make those shots. When we move the ball like that, I think we are one of the best shooting teams in the country.”
on Tony Parker starting in the frontcourt
“It was really a huge difference. It was really an unselfish thing for Tom do. We wanted to get him [Tony] started.”
UCLA junior guard Isaac Hamilton
on losing Thursday and being able to bounce back Saturday night
“It was real critical. I think this game and the next four are critical. We just are going to have to take it game by game.”
on facing pressure
“We just have to play with urgency, play like we are paranoid. We have to muster up some wins because every game is going to be a dogfight.”
on UCLA's crucial contests going forward
“Like I said before, we have to play with passion and urgency. When we play like that, we are a different team, both offensively and defensively.”
UCLA senior forward/center Tony Parker
on returning to the starting lineup
“It felt regular, just a regular game. I'm grateful to just hit the floor.”
on any conversation between him and Thomas Welsh prior to the game
Tom just told me (in Tom's voice) “I think it will be better for you to start, to get you going.' That is the way Tom speaks. He is like my brother, but it was like a regular game.”
on the difference between starting the game or coming off the bench
“You can get a feel of the game when you come off the bench. You can see what works or what won't work. It was about being aggressive, and I just had to come out and be aggressive. I missed my first couple of shots, but I just wanted to keep shooting.”
Colorado head coach Tad Boyle
opening statement
“UCLA shot around 50 percent. Isaac Hamilton was terrific with 17 before halftime, and we let [Bryce] Alford get it going. I thought the key to the game was to finish the half strong, but that last four and a half minutes is an important stretch, and they went on a 14-3 run and that was the ballgame. We broke down with defensive assignments. It wasn't one guy. It was a multitude of guys. We started trapping ball screens, we tried pressing, we started switching one through five ball screens and nothing worked. Our execution level wasn't very good in the second half. We got beat by a team who executed better than us. UCLA executed better for 40 minutes.”
on Colorado's offensive struggles
“It was hard for us to get to the free throw line. We couldn't get to the rim and finish. If you rely on the three ball, you have to shoot it well. We did early, but we didn't late. There were too many possessions without getting paint touches, and we are not very good when we don't get paint touches.”
on UCLA's game
“UCLA is a good team, and we knew that coming in. They average 78 points per game, and against us they scored 77. They are very inconsistent, but they are very, very good when they are shooting well.”
