Postgame Quotes - Arizona 96, UCLA 85
POSTGAME QUOTES
Arizona 96, UCLA 85
Los Angeles, Calif. (Pauley Pavilion)
January 21, 2017
UCLA head coach Steve Alford
opening statement
“Have to give Arizona a lot of credit as I think they played really well both halves. This was similar to Oregon in the fact that we scored in the 80’s but we just couldn’t get stops in either half. We couldn’t get into a flow to get into a rhythm defensively. Our defensive efficiency tonight was awful. We gave up 48 points in both halves so they were very efficient and hard to guard today. This is a valuable lesson. I thought we were making strides and putting some things together defensively over the last couple of weeks since Oregon, but we regressed tonight against a really good basketball team. Arizona played very well tonight. We will watch the tape and learn from it.”
on team’s defense
“We didn’t defend the dribble at all. I think all of our guards keeping their man in front. We were late with a lot of help. A lot of it has to do, and we’ve talked to them a lot about this, is stance off the ball to where we can help to the ball and that’s not happening. We aren’t reacting very well and a lot of defense is anticipating and we didn’t anticipate well We had no rim protection when we needed it. It’s not so much rim protection, it’s guys working well together in unison. I’m going to guard dribble drive as hard as I can because I know I have gap help. We just didn’t do that today. We really only had one stretch in the second half where we got into any type of rhythm at all and we couldn’t’ sustain it defensively.”
on impact of Allonzo Trier
“We didn’t know that he was going to play until late in the night so we didn’t game plan. We didn’t practice today with the 1 p.m. game. That’s obviously a big boost for them as he’s a very good player. That impacted their team in a positive way. They are a very good basketball team and they’ve yet to lose on the road. So that speaks highlight of who they are as a team. This is our first look at them. On film they looked good and in person they looked even better. They have a lot of good working pieces to what they do. They shot the ball well today and did some good things. We will try and watch some tape and grow from it.”
on learning from a loss
“We just have to keep drilling these guys in practice. Points have come so easy and the flow of the offense has come so easy. We played Thursday night and we scored 21 points in the first three minutes into the game. It has become a little too easy at that end. They need this. I mean you can be special, and come March you can be awfully special but your defense has got to grow. It’s not one, two, three guys. It’s playing defense with the same intensity and unselfishness that you play with offensively. It’s where this team has to grow the most. There’s not as much trust or unselfishness to help at the defensive end to help one another than what happens at the offensive end. Offensively you see assists. Defensively they don’t calculate assists but there is assisting to defense. And we don’t do that nearly as well.
UCLA Senior Guard Bryce Alford
on defensive struggles
“I think the main thing is we just have to talk more [on defense]. That’s the biggest thing. Just being able to hear that somebody is there [is helpful]. Having that voice in your ear saying “I got you on this side, I got you on that side”. Call where are screens are coming from. Stuff like that really goes a long way on the defensive end. Sometimes we get a little quiet on that end and that hurts us.”
on what the loss means to the team
It’s definitely better for something like this to happen now than later in the season. You never want to lose a game, especially a big one like this at home. They played very well today. They had a good game plan for us and they executed it to a tee. We just have to watch tape and learn from it and try to get better.
on where the team goes from here
You never want to lose a game, especially at home. The bigger picture is that it’s still early in the season and we have a lot of games to play. We’ve had a really good start. There aren’t a whole lot of teams that are 19-2 after 21 games. We have to remember what got us to this point and continue to be confident in everything we do. We’ll just try to move past this one and learn from it and learn from our mistakes.
on media attention
I don’t think any of us pay attention to [the outside media]. We have a great group of guys and the voices in the locker room are all that matter to us. What the coaches have to say, what our teammates have to say, that’s what we listen to. I think that’s why we’ve had a lot of success so far. We haven’t let our heads get too big from any praise and when we have a bad game like this we don’t get too down on ourselves. I think that’s why we’ve been known to be successful and we just have to continue to do that.
on team’s offense
We didn’t shot the ball very well today. It was not our best. Giving up 96 points, it’s hard to come away with a win. Maybe if we make a couple more shots, obviously, [it would be closer] since we lost by 11. I missed a couple shots I usually make, probably Isaac [Hamilton] a bit of the same and the whole team was a little off. But most of that comes from the defensive end and getting scored on constantly. That messes with your offense.
on rebounding from the loss
“If anything it makes us more sharp. The same thing happened at Oregon where we were undefeated, playing really well and ranked second in the country. We lose a tough one where we lose a late lead in that game and then we rally off five wins in a row off after that. We get two big road wins against strong opponents. If anything it just reminds us what we have to work on and what we have to do and how we got to this point. I don’t think it’s a negative. Obviously everyone loses games but we have to try to take positives from it and just move forward.”
UCLA Freshman Guard Lonzo Ball
on where the team goes from here
“We have to guard. That’s what we got out of it. Going forward, if we pick that up we’ll be fine.”
on defensive schemes
“We just ran out of time. We couldn’t sit in the zone for the last four minutes of the game. That would just eat too much clock up. We thought going to man defense would be better so we did that.”
on late run
“They responded. We will always play to win. We are always going to play until the clock hits zeros. Arizona played a good game.”
on slow start
“We didn’t hit shots. We were stagnant. We picked it up in the second half. The offense is not the problem.”
on their defensive adjustments
“I had the ball. I thought I could score. I was just trying to put it in the hoop.”
on impact of loss
“It’s a wakeup call. The places we want to go, we have to play defense. This is a perfect example right here. Arizona is a great basketball team. They showed it tonight.”
UCLA Senior Guard Isaac Hamilton
on Arizona’s defense
“I think this game they contested the three and ran out pretty hard. I tried to mix it up with the mid-range game. That’s just how they played, that was their game plan and they executed.”
on Arizona’s Trier being cleared
“I don’t think it really did too much. We knew coming in how he played last year. He’s a driver and an aggressive scorer. Like Bryce said, we just got to get stops.”
Arizona Head Coach Sean Miller
on the game
“I don’t know if we really shot them down. They’re as good as an offensive team as I’ve seen. For us, it was about taking care of the ball. Part of our defense was good offense. When we didn’t do that bad things happened. We had seven turnovers today, so that was key.”
on Allonzo Trier’s return
“It means a lot, especially for this team and his family. He has gone through a lot and he’s a really good player. Having one of your best players makes a difference. I don’t think we win without him.”
on Arizona being underrated
“I really don’t know about that. We just have to take it one game at a time. I saw them against Arizona State and they move the ball so well. Just because we won today doesn’t mean we really won anything. We have to take one day at a time.”
on beating the third-ranked team
“If we would have lost, a lot of people would have been upset. It’s Arizona, there are big expectations. We beat a really good team today.”
on where they go from here
“During the season we have injuries and other things that happen, but as a coach you have to have guys play with effort. I remind the guys that if you play with effort, you’re going to play.”
Arizona Freshman Guard Kobi Simmons
on the overall game
“We had a great week of practice and a great week to get our confidence. We just play like we do. We do what we do.”
on Allonzo Trier’s return
“It really opens up the floor. It gives us more depth. He’s really become a great passer and it really helps because the other teams have to focus on another great player. We know our destiny. It’s been very hard, but we wanted to come out and make a statement.”
on the game day atmosphere
“It was very hyped. Coach wanted to make sure we maintained our composure. We always felt like it was possible. We knew from day one that we had to come out and get respect. We take a lot of pride in defense. They were very eager to get up some threes, but we just stayed with the game plan.”
Arizona 96, UCLA 85
Los Angeles, Calif. (Pauley Pavilion)
January 21, 2017
UCLA head coach Steve Alford
opening statement
“Have to give Arizona a lot of credit as I think they played really well both halves. This was similar to Oregon in the fact that we scored in the 80’s but we just couldn’t get stops in either half. We couldn’t get into a flow to get into a rhythm defensively. Our defensive efficiency tonight was awful. We gave up 48 points in both halves so they were very efficient and hard to guard today. This is a valuable lesson. I thought we were making strides and putting some things together defensively over the last couple of weeks since Oregon, but we regressed tonight against a really good basketball team. Arizona played very well tonight. We will watch the tape and learn from it.”
on team’s defense
“We didn’t defend the dribble at all. I think all of our guards keeping their man in front. We were late with a lot of help. A lot of it has to do, and we’ve talked to them a lot about this, is stance off the ball to where we can help to the ball and that’s not happening. We aren’t reacting very well and a lot of defense is anticipating and we didn’t anticipate well We had no rim protection when we needed it. It’s not so much rim protection, it’s guys working well together in unison. I’m going to guard dribble drive as hard as I can because I know I have gap help. We just didn’t do that today. We really only had one stretch in the second half where we got into any type of rhythm at all and we couldn’t’ sustain it defensively.”
on impact of Allonzo Trier
“We didn’t know that he was going to play until late in the night so we didn’t game plan. We didn’t practice today with the 1 p.m. game. That’s obviously a big boost for them as he’s a very good player. That impacted their team in a positive way. They are a very good basketball team and they’ve yet to lose on the road. So that speaks highlight of who they are as a team. This is our first look at them. On film they looked good and in person they looked even better. They have a lot of good working pieces to what they do. They shot the ball well today and did some good things. We will try and watch some tape and grow from it.”
on learning from a loss
“We just have to keep drilling these guys in practice. Points have come so easy and the flow of the offense has come so easy. We played Thursday night and we scored 21 points in the first three minutes into the game. It has become a little too easy at that end. They need this. I mean you can be special, and come March you can be awfully special but your defense has got to grow. It’s not one, two, three guys. It’s playing defense with the same intensity and unselfishness that you play with offensively. It’s where this team has to grow the most. There’s not as much trust or unselfishness to help at the defensive end to help one another than what happens at the offensive end. Offensively you see assists. Defensively they don’t calculate assists but there is assisting to defense. And we don’t do that nearly as well.
UCLA Senior Guard Bryce Alford
on defensive struggles
“I think the main thing is we just have to talk more [on defense]. That’s the biggest thing. Just being able to hear that somebody is there [is helpful]. Having that voice in your ear saying “I got you on this side, I got you on that side”. Call where are screens are coming from. Stuff like that really goes a long way on the defensive end. Sometimes we get a little quiet on that end and that hurts us.”
on what the loss means to the team
It’s definitely better for something like this to happen now than later in the season. You never want to lose a game, especially a big one like this at home. They played very well today. They had a good game plan for us and they executed it to a tee. We just have to watch tape and learn from it and try to get better.
on where the team goes from here
You never want to lose a game, especially at home. The bigger picture is that it’s still early in the season and we have a lot of games to play. We’ve had a really good start. There aren’t a whole lot of teams that are 19-2 after 21 games. We have to remember what got us to this point and continue to be confident in everything we do. We’ll just try to move past this one and learn from it and learn from our mistakes.
on media attention
I don’t think any of us pay attention to [the outside media]. We have a great group of guys and the voices in the locker room are all that matter to us. What the coaches have to say, what our teammates have to say, that’s what we listen to. I think that’s why we’ve had a lot of success so far. We haven’t let our heads get too big from any praise and when we have a bad game like this we don’t get too down on ourselves. I think that’s why we’ve been known to be successful and we just have to continue to do that.
on team’s offense
We didn’t shot the ball very well today. It was not our best. Giving up 96 points, it’s hard to come away with a win. Maybe if we make a couple more shots, obviously, [it would be closer] since we lost by 11. I missed a couple shots I usually make, probably Isaac [Hamilton] a bit of the same and the whole team was a little off. But most of that comes from the defensive end and getting scored on constantly. That messes with your offense.
on rebounding from the loss
“If anything it makes us more sharp. The same thing happened at Oregon where we were undefeated, playing really well and ranked second in the country. We lose a tough one where we lose a late lead in that game and then we rally off five wins in a row off after that. We get two big road wins against strong opponents. If anything it just reminds us what we have to work on and what we have to do and how we got to this point. I don’t think it’s a negative. Obviously everyone loses games but we have to try to take positives from it and just move forward.”
UCLA Freshman Guard Lonzo Ball
on where the team goes from here
“We have to guard. That’s what we got out of it. Going forward, if we pick that up we’ll be fine.”
on defensive schemes
“We just ran out of time. We couldn’t sit in the zone for the last four minutes of the game. That would just eat too much clock up. We thought going to man defense would be better so we did that.”
on late run
“They responded. We will always play to win. We are always going to play until the clock hits zeros. Arizona played a good game.”
on slow start
“We didn’t hit shots. We were stagnant. We picked it up in the second half. The offense is not the problem.”
on their defensive adjustments
“I had the ball. I thought I could score. I was just trying to put it in the hoop.”
on impact of loss
“It’s a wakeup call. The places we want to go, we have to play defense. This is a perfect example right here. Arizona is a great basketball team. They showed it tonight.”
UCLA Senior Guard Isaac Hamilton
on Arizona’s defense
“I think this game they contested the three and ran out pretty hard. I tried to mix it up with the mid-range game. That’s just how they played, that was their game plan and they executed.”
on Arizona’s Trier being cleared
“I don’t think it really did too much. We knew coming in how he played last year. He’s a driver and an aggressive scorer. Like Bryce said, we just got to get stops.”
Arizona Head Coach Sean Miller
on the game
“I don’t know if we really shot them down. They’re as good as an offensive team as I’ve seen. For us, it was about taking care of the ball. Part of our defense was good offense. When we didn’t do that bad things happened. We had seven turnovers today, so that was key.”
on Allonzo Trier’s return
“It means a lot, especially for this team and his family. He has gone through a lot and he’s a really good player. Having one of your best players makes a difference. I don’t think we win without him.”
on Arizona being underrated
“I really don’t know about that. We just have to take it one game at a time. I saw them against Arizona State and they move the ball so well. Just because we won today doesn’t mean we really won anything. We have to take one day at a time.”
on beating the third-ranked team
“If we would have lost, a lot of people would have been upset. It’s Arizona, there are big expectations. We beat a really good team today.”
on where they go from here
“During the season we have injuries and other things that happen, but as a coach you have to have guys play with effort. I remind the guys that if you play with effort, you’re going to play.”
Arizona Freshman Guard Kobi Simmons
on the overall game
“We had a great week of practice and a great week to get our confidence. We just play like we do. We do what we do.”
on Allonzo Trier’s return
“It really opens up the floor. It gives us more depth. He’s really become a great passer and it really helps because the other teams have to focus on another great player. We know our destiny. It’s been very hard, but we wanted to come out and make a statement.”
on the game day atmosphere
“It was very hyped. Coach wanted to make sure we maintained our composure. We always felt like it was possible. We knew from day one that we had to come out and get respect. We take a lot of pride in defense. They were very eager to get up some threes, but we just stayed with the game plan.”