University of California, Los Angeles, Athletics
Postgame Quotes: Missouri 81, UCLA 70
Missouri 80, UCLA 71
Columbia, Mo. (Mizzou Arena)
UCLA head coach Steve Alford
opening statement
“I really give Mizzou a lot of credit, because I thought they got us out of what we normally like to do in the second half. Our young basketball team will learn, we talked about that in the locker room. The first half we did the things we’ve been doing all year. We played with good pace, we shared the ball, we were pretty active defensively. In the second half, we just didn’t do those things. I think our offense, for the first time all year, really affected everything else. And we can’t do that. We’ll learn and get better from it.”
on what Missouri did to stop UCLA’s rhythm
“They mixed a little bit of zone and man just like we did all game. There wasn’t a variety of pressure, or those types of things. I think they just did a better job in the second half of defending, and they did a better job of moving the basketball. If you look at assists in the first half versus what happened in the second half, it’s obvious with the shots that were taken which team moved the basketball. And got the shots they needed to get.”
on Missouri’s guard trio of Clarkson, Ross, and Brown
“They’re very talented. Clarkson is very, very special. And he’s getting a lot of interest, and he should. He’s a very talented point guard. Then you’ve got the other two who can hurt you in a lot of ways – they’re big, they’re physical. It’s the first time we’ve really had to match physicality with our guards. I thought those three were a big part of their success.”
on what UCLA needs to improve
“Well, we had one assist in the second half. That hasn’t happened to us all year. That speaks of our offense. We had eight at half and finished with nine. It’s the first time our offense had more turnovers than assists, and we only had 11 turnovers. I’ll take 11 turnovers on the road. I think we handled it well, our offense just didn’t move. The ball stopped a lot and we couldn’t get it moving to make them defend screens. We had a pretty good rhythm in the first half, and for whatever reason lost that rhythm offensively in the second. That affected our defense. Those are the things that, without looking at tape, really come to mind.”
UCLA’s Jordan Adams
on being outrebounded, 47-30, by Missouri
“They just beat us there first, but we tried our best to get every rebound. Some of them didn't bounce our way. Hopefully in practice we'll continue to get better at that."
UCLA’s Kyle Anderson
on the difference between each half
"I just think they made shots in the second half. We didn't share the ball like we normally did through these first eight games. They came down on the other end and made shots and beat us up on the glass. They were more physical than we were, and you just have to credit Missouri. They were great in the second half and much better than us."
on UCLA’s poor shot selection
"[It was] not just three-point shot selection, it was shot selection overall. I think a couple guys including myself took some tough shots, which was not fair to our teammates and made it much easier on our opponents. That's not the basketball we play or played through eight games. We just got to better at that. We're a young team and that's going to come along."
Missouri head coach Frank Haith
opening statement
"Obviously, it was a great win for us. We played with great tenacity there in the second half. Our defense was outstanding. I think UCLA's offense is one of the most prolific in the country, and we wanted to take away the three-point line and they were 0-for-8 in the second half. I thought that was the difference in the game. Obviously, we were better offensively in the second half. We shared the ball and we played the way we were capable of playing. These three guys [Brown, Clarkson and Ross] played outstanding."
on the team's adjustment in the second half
"I thought we turned the ball over way too much in the first half, so they got a lot of live ball turnovers. So, there were a lot of buckets in the transition in the first half. Once we were able to set our defense and guard, we were going to be okay. This team has really improved defensively. I give it two things. Our execution in our offense and being able to set our defense. I thought we were just doing the little things. They are a great three-point shooting team, and we wanted them off the three-point line. Then, limiting them to only one shot was crucial"
on shutting down UCLA’s Kyle Anderson
"We wanted our guys to understand that when he started to play, he would get in the paint. That is what he was looking to do. He's looking to play above you, and drop balls off for the assist. I thought we did a great job of staying home, and not allowing him to have the ability to do that.”
Missouri’s Jabari Brown
on turnover problems in the first half and second half adjustments
“I think we were just trying to move a little bit too fast, not taking our time on some passes. They are long and athletic so they were in the passing lanes. We just had to slow down and take our time.”
on getting to the free throw line after driving the basketball
“Yeah, my shots weren’t falling from three early in the first half, and a little bit in the second, but I try to do a little bit of everything out there. I was just trying to attack and when they were pressuring, I was trying to get to the basket to punish them for pressuring.”
on if he feels pressure to score
“I don’t think its pressure, we just try to go out and do whatever we have to do to win games. There are games where Ryan [Rosburg] has 10 or 12 points, Tony [Criswell], Johnathan [Williams] like he did tonight. We just try to do what we have to do to win and rely on teammates to score.”
on the second half play of Johnathan Williams
“Coach lit a fire under him, telling him we need him. We just let him know we’re confident in him and he went out there and played inspired basketball.”
on coach lighting a fire under all the Missouri players
“Yeah, Coach told us what we needed to hear. He motivated us and I think he did a real good job of that. We just had to have a different outlook going into the second half and I think we did a real good job of that.”