Postgame Quotes – UCLA 114, LBSU 77
Postgame Quotes – UCLA 114, Long Beach State 77
November 20, 2016 – Pauley Pavilion
UCLA head coach Steve Alford
opening statement
“We talked about openers and any kind of homestand where the first and the last ones are always the most difficult. I thought this was the best we have played. We had great energy, great focus and did tremendous things offensively again. Defensively I thought this was the best that we have been. We gave up some threes that we need to look at but overall defensively we did the things that we wanted to take away, especially early in the game. The start of both halves were really good for us and we were a basket away again from having seven guys in double-figures. We are getting an awful lot of balance offensively, almost 3-1 assist-to-turnover ratio as a team which is phenomenal. I think the foul line is going to end up being a huge strength of ours because we are trending towards 80 percent as a team. So we can shoot the basketball. If we can get there, that can be a weapon for us moving down the road. Great energy to start the game and I am really proud of the guys. This wasn’t an easy homestand through four games and we will get a day off tomorrow and get ready for a big tournament down in Anaheim.”
on the play of freshmen Lonzo Ball and TJ Leaf
“It is a good blend. Obviously with what they are doing they have a high skillset. They are smart players and they can beat you in a lot of different ways. They can beat you on the backboard, they can beat you handling the ball, passing the ball and scoring the ball. With the guys around them, it kind of goes both ways. The guys they are playing with makes everyone look good. When you are sharing the ball and you are working at a common goal on both ends you can make everybody look good. I think that is happening. We have a lot of guys playing well. It is because we are sharing and doing things together.”
on ball movement being a factor tonight
“I think that is always a key for us, especially offensively. I thought a key to really what took us to another level as a team tonight was the way we defended. I thought in the first half we defended, we were active, we had 10 steals and probably had close to 20 deflections. That ignites our offense. Obviously we have a team that can score it and shoot the basketball so if we can get out and get our transition game going on top of that we are still going to be a work in progress on half-court offense we have a lot of things we need to work on and we will have time in December to work on those things. The defense really ignited our transition tonight. Our guys are outstanding sharing in transition. We are very good at half-court but we have to continue to prove it in half-court but in transition they share the ball like a team I have not seen. They just have a great knack for finding each other and sharing it and making the right plays in transition.”
on the growth and play of Lonzo Ball
“He is just a special talent. He can beat you. He makes two threes, has 11 assists, he rebounds the basketball, he is just a special passer. That just makes everyone else want to equally share it and so it has been really good this year in that our guards have very good assist-to-turnover ratios, they are all sharing it, they are shooting the ball at a higher level because I thought tonight was the best game in four that we had 40 minutes of taking really good shots. I have to look at the tape but I don’t think we had more than one or two that I would say were tough, difficult, highly contested shots. As we continue to learn and evolve offensively, that is going to help us because we do have a lot of guys that can shoot it.”
senior guard Bryce Alford
on playing with freshman Lonzo Ball
“It’s awesome. There’s so much less pressure on me as an offensive player. I get to do what I do best and run off screens and shoot the basketball. My efficiency will go up and my percentage will go up.”
on the offensive play
“As a group we know how talented we are. It almost comes easy to us because we know we can score the basketball. Sometimes we get in little ruts where we feel we can just go one and one and that’s when we don’t score the basketball. I think we are really starting to learn to play together and that’s when we get the best shots. It’s all about ball movement. It’s a lot about establishing the big fella' here [TJ Leaf] and Tom [Welsh] inside and making it a little easier for us.”
freshman forward TJ Leaf
On getting comfortable with each other
“We’re definitely learning how to play with each other, that’s something that’s helping a lot. We sometimes get too relaxed, like Bryce said. We score the ball so easily that we get a little too relaxed and don’t comes off screens as hard as we should and don’t screen as hard as we should. We will just work to get to that right mindset.”
Long Beach State Head Coach Dan Monson
on the play of UCLA
“They’re really good and we have a long way to go. They’re the best offensive team we’ve seen.”
on getting better
“We know now what we need to do. We are getting some resistance from guys not doing what they need to do. We’ve been exposed, which is why you play this schedule. And that’s a good thing, you want to embrace it. In the last two games, we’ve seen improvement, which is why you play this schedule. So you’re not in January getting to league [games] and saying, okay, we have to work on this, this and this. We know now what we need to work on. And what’s disappointing is, I thought we had a good practice yesterday but I didn’t see the growth that I wanted to.”
on the play of the freshmen
“I think all three freshmen are coachable and working, but they are just making freshman mistakes. I think it’s some of the older guys that had their own expectations that are trying to live up to that instead of the expectations of the team.”
November 20, 2016 – Pauley Pavilion
UCLA head coach Steve Alford
opening statement
“We talked about openers and any kind of homestand where the first and the last ones are always the most difficult. I thought this was the best we have played. We had great energy, great focus and did tremendous things offensively again. Defensively I thought this was the best that we have been. We gave up some threes that we need to look at but overall defensively we did the things that we wanted to take away, especially early in the game. The start of both halves were really good for us and we were a basket away again from having seven guys in double-figures. We are getting an awful lot of balance offensively, almost 3-1 assist-to-turnover ratio as a team which is phenomenal. I think the foul line is going to end up being a huge strength of ours because we are trending towards 80 percent as a team. So we can shoot the basketball. If we can get there, that can be a weapon for us moving down the road. Great energy to start the game and I am really proud of the guys. This wasn’t an easy homestand through four games and we will get a day off tomorrow and get ready for a big tournament down in Anaheim.”
on the play of freshmen Lonzo Ball and TJ Leaf
“It is a good blend. Obviously with what they are doing they have a high skillset. They are smart players and they can beat you in a lot of different ways. They can beat you on the backboard, they can beat you handling the ball, passing the ball and scoring the ball. With the guys around them, it kind of goes both ways. The guys they are playing with makes everyone look good. When you are sharing the ball and you are working at a common goal on both ends you can make everybody look good. I think that is happening. We have a lot of guys playing well. It is because we are sharing and doing things together.”
on ball movement being a factor tonight
“I think that is always a key for us, especially offensively. I thought a key to really what took us to another level as a team tonight was the way we defended. I thought in the first half we defended, we were active, we had 10 steals and probably had close to 20 deflections. That ignites our offense. Obviously we have a team that can score it and shoot the basketball so if we can get out and get our transition game going on top of that we are still going to be a work in progress on half-court offense we have a lot of things we need to work on and we will have time in December to work on those things. The defense really ignited our transition tonight. Our guys are outstanding sharing in transition. We are very good at half-court but we have to continue to prove it in half-court but in transition they share the ball like a team I have not seen. They just have a great knack for finding each other and sharing it and making the right plays in transition.”
on the growth and play of Lonzo Ball
“He is just a special talent. He can beat you. He makes two threes, has 11 assists, he rebounds the basketball, he is just a special passer. That just makes everyone else want to equally share it and so it has been really good this year in that our guards have very good assist-to-turnover ratios, they are all sharing it, they are shooting the ball at a higher level because I thought tonight was the best game in four that we had 40 minutes of taking really good shots. I have to look at the tape but I don’t think we had more than one or two that I would say were tough, difficult, highly contested shots. As we continue to learn and evolve offensively, that is going to help us because we do have a lot of guys that can shoot it.”
senior guard Bryce Alford
on playing with freshman Lonzo Ball
“It’s awesome. There’s so much less pressure on me as an offensive player. I get to do what I do best and run off screens and shoot the basketball. My efficiency will go up and my percentage will go up.”
on the offensive play
“As a group we know how talented we are. It almost comes easy to us because we know we can score the basketball. Sometimes we get in little ruts where we feel we can just go one and one and that’s when we don’t score the basketball. I think we are really starting to learn to play together and that’s when we get the best shots. It’s all about ball movement. It’s a lot about establishing the big fella' here [TJ Leaf] and Tom [Welsh] inside and making it a little easier for us.”
freshman forward TJ Leaf
On getting comfortable with each other
“We’re definitely learning how to play with each other, that’s something that’s helping a lot. We sometimes get too relaxed, like Bryce said. We score the ball so easily that we get a little too relaxed and don’t comes off screens as hard as we should and don’t screen as hard as we should. We will just work to get to that right mindset.”
Long Beach State Head Coach Dan Monson
on the play of UCLA
“They’re really good and we have a long way to go. They’re the best offensive team we’ve seen.”
on getting better
“We know now what we need to do. We are getting some resistance from guys not doing what they need to do. We’ve been exposed, which is why you play this schedule. And that’s a good thing, you want to embrace it. In the last two games, we’ve seen improvement, which is why you play this schedule. So you’re not in January getting to league [games] and saying, okay, we have to work on this, this and this. We know now what we need to work on. And what’s disappointing is, I thought we had a good practice yesterday but I didn’t see the growth that I wanted to.”
on the play of the freshmen
“I think all three freshmen are coachable and working, but they are just making freshman mistakes. I think it’s some of the older guys that had their own expectations that are trying to live up to that instead of the expectations of the team.”