University of California, Los Angeles, Athletics
Postgame Quotes - UCLA 106, Central Arkansas 101
POSTGAME QUOTES
UCLA 106, Central Arkansas 101
November 15, 2017 (Pauley Pavilion)
ย
UCLA head coach Steve Alford
opening remarks
โThat was a tough one. I thought our guys did a lot of good things and found ways to win. I think the same thing happened in China against a really tough Georgia Tech team. Itโs not an easy schedule and its not getting any easier with three games in five days. We are asking a lot but we have to do a good job in preparation. There is a lot of room to grow for this team and thatโs what is exciting. We have a lot of guys even with that growth make a lot of really good plays and have some good things happen. But we have young players, five of our eight that played tonight did not play last year so they are learning what scouting reports are and why personnel matters and are learning quickly. We only have so long until the next game and then we go to Kansas City to play two really good teams. Your prep has to be accelerated and for young players it takes a while for that to sync in. And when that finally does youโll see their games go to the next level because they are such great talents.โ
ย
on fatigue possibly being a factor for UCLA
โThere has been a lot going on, but we donโt give excuses. We talked about that in the last three to four timeouts. It is what it is. Our schedule is the way it is, this China game was the last game on the schedule and we know how difficult our schedule is with the travel and the places we have to go and the teams we have to play. This is a team tonight that already played Baylor, they are getting better and Jordan [Howard] is special. They came in here and gave us their best shot. And for our guys not to succumb to โour legs are tiredโ and โwe were on a long tripโ would have been the easy way out. And I appreciate how Thomas [Welsh] and Aaron [Holiday] are such great leaders. They kept everyone together. I thought Prince [Ali] and Alex [Olesinski] were terrific off the bench. I thought the freshman did some great things. Those guys made some plays down the stretch. [Kris] Wilkes has 12 rebounds and has a huge block that might have saved the win. Jaylen [Hands] made one of two free throws just like against Georgia Tech in order for us to get to overtime. Chris Smith did a lot of good things on the back board. It was good play out of everybody and these guys stepped up their game when they had to step up which is really encouraging.โ
ย
on what Central Arkansas showed
โWell, I thought they did cut. They cut very hard, and I give them a lot of credit for that. They cut very hard, and they made some really good shots. They made some tough shots at times and I thought early in the game, they had a lot of wide open looks โ and I talked to the team about this afterwards โ itโs about understanding scouting reports. Itโs understanding why weโve got notebooks, why we give you personnel, why guys are shooters versus drivers. Or can they do both? Those are things that you just think young players, it takes some time. It takes some time to understand the importance of that. When you start getting lit up in Pauley Pavilion, itโll sink in. Those things will sink in and theyโll start understanding the importance. In high school, whether itโs AAU, theyโre probably not having the extent of a scouting report like they do on the collegiate level with all the tapes that we have and all the information that we can get and pass on. Itโs a learning curve. Itโs trying to understand that. I caught Aaron (Holiday) a couple times in the game like โHow do you not know heโs a shooter yet?โ As a coach, weโre saying the same thing, but as a 17-18-year old whoโs probably only in his second scouting reportโitโs going to take some timeโbut when you start giving up a lot of baskets in Pauley, youโll start concentrating a little bit more on scouting reports.โ
ย
UCLA senior center Thomas Welsh
on what he did in the offseason to improve
โI think a lot of it, Coachโs confidence as well. Just getting more experienced and knowing when to be, where to be and what times to be there. Just stayed in the weight room a lot, just trying to work on getting quicker feet, stronger and I think I made a lot of progress with it.โ
on if jetlag caused missed shots
โNo, I felt good coming into the game. I missed some shots. Itโs going to happen. Just keep shooting and I think Iโm going to make more than I miss in the long run. Just stay confident and keep trying to do what I do.โ
UCLA junior guard Aaron Holiday
on building team chemistry
โAt the end of the day, we are all brothers so we are going to have each otherโs backs no matter what happens. Obviously, it runs together because we lost three players, but we have to grow as a team and thatโs what we did.โ
ย
on if the team felt fatigued due to shorter bench
โWell, we started off with this [against] Georgia Tech, so itโs pretty much the same.โ
ย
Central Arkansas head coach Russ Pennell
opening statement
โThis was really a great game to watch from a fan perspective.ย There was a lot of up-and-down and a lot of scoring.ย Iโve been in the Pac-12 for a number of years, so itโs really great to be back here in Pauley.ย Our guys really played hard.ย The guys played their hearts out.ย We just came up short.โ
ย
on building on this performance
โWe really have an up-and-coming program.ย This is my fourth year here and little was done before I got here.ย We now have some players in our program who want to compete.ย Tonight is what we call โplaying to our standardโ.ย Now I understand that what we do on Sunday (versus Alcorn State), thatโs going to be the big question; if we take from tonightโs performance.ย Now, if tonight is the apex of our performance, then that means I have to do a better job in getting us prepared.ย It really doesnโt matter whatโs on the front of the jersey, we just have to play to our standard.โ
ย
Central Arkansas senior guard Jordan Howard
opening statement
โIt was a really great experience to play in this atmosphere. Iโm a West Coast guy, so it was good to have my family here. This is a very historic venue, and we were really excited to play in this place.โ
ย
on what they learned from tonight
โWe have to learn how to win close games. We had our opportunities. We just have to pay attention to the little details and close games out.โ
ย
on the overall culture of the team
โWhen I came in as a freshman, there was a losing culture. We basically cleaned house, brought in some new freshmen and created a new culture. The guys we have now really want to play hard and we also want to get our grades together. We all came in together, so now we understand what we have to do to compete against teams like this when it comes to the NCAA tournament.โ
UCLA 106, Central Arkansas 101
November 15, 2017 (Pauley Pavilion)
ย
UCLA head coach Steve Alford
opening remarks
โThat was a tough one. I thought our guys did a lot of good things and found ways to win. I think the same thing happened in China against a really tough Georgia Tech team. Itโs not an easy schedule and its not getting any easier with three games in five days. We are asking a lot but we have to do a good job in preparation. There is a lot of room to grow for this team and thatโs what is exciting. We have a lot of guys even with that growth make a lot of really good plays and have some good things happen. But we have young players, five of our eight that played tonight did not play last year so they are learning what scouting reports are and why personnel matters and are learning quickly. We only have so long until the next game and then we go to Kansas City to play two really good teams. Your prep has to be accelerated and for young players it takes a while for that to sync in. And when that finally does youโll see their games go to the next level because they are such great talents.โ
ย
on fatigue possibly being a factor for UCLA
โThere has been a lot going on, but we donโt give excuses. We talked about that in the last three to four timeouts. It is what it is. Our schedule is the way it is, this China game was the last game on the schedule and we know how difficult our schedule is with the travel and the places we have to go and the teams we have to play. This is a team tonight that already played Baylor, they are getting better and Jordan [Howard] is special. They came in here and gave us their best shot. And for our guys not to succumb to โour legs are tiredโ and โwe were on a long tripโ would have been the easy way out. And I appreciate how Thomas [Welsh] and Aaron [Holiday] are such great leaders. They kept everyone together. I thought Prince [Ali] and Alex [Olesinski] were terrific off the bench. I thought the freshman did some great things. Those guys made some plays down the stretch. [Kris] Wilkes has 12 rebounds and has a huge block that might have saved the win. Jaylen [Hands] made one of two free throws just like against Georgia Tech in order for us to get to overtime. Chris Smith did a lot of good things on the back board. It was good play out of everybody and these guys stepped up their game when they had to step up which is really encouraging.โ
ย
on what Central Arkansas showed
โWell, I thought they did cut. They cut very hard, and I give them a lot of credit for that. They cut very hard, and they made some really good shots. They made some tough shots at times and I thought early in the game, they had a lot of wide open looks โ and I talked to the team about this afterwards โ itโs about understanding scouting reports. Itโs understanding why weโve got notebooks, why we give you personnel, why guys are shooters versus drivers. Or can they do both? Those are things that you just think young players, it takes some time. It takes some time to understand the importance of that. When you start getting lit up in Pauley Pavilion, itโll sink in. Those things will sink in and theyโll start understanding the importance. In high school, whether itโs AAU, theyโre probably not having the extent of a scouting report like they do on the collegiate level with all the tapes that we have and all the information that we can get and pass on. Itโs a learning curve. Itโs trying to understand that. I caught Aaron (Holiday) a couple times in the game like โHow do you not know heโs a shooter yet?โ As a coach, weโre saying the same thing, but as a 17-18-year old whoโs probably only in his second scouting reportโitโs going to take some timeโbut when you start giving up a lot of baskets in Pauley, youโll start concentrating a little bit more on scouting reports.โ
ย
UCLA senior center Thomas Welsh
on what he did in the offseason to improve
โI think a lot of it, Coachโs confidence as well. Just getting more experienced and knowing when to be, where to be and what times to be there. Just stayed in the weight room a lot, just trying to work on getting quicker feet, stronger and I think I made a lot of progress with it.โ
on if jetlag caused missed shots
โNo, I felt good coming into the game. I missed some shots. Itโs going to happen. Just keep shooting and I think Iโm going to make more than I miss in the long run. Just stay confident and keep trying to do what I do.โ
UCLA junior guard Aaron Holiday
on building team chemistry
โAt the end of the day, we are all brothers so we are going to have each otherโs backs no matter what happens. Obviously, it runs together because we lost three players, but we have to grow as a team and thatโs what we did.โ
ย
on if the team felt fatigued due to shorter bench
โWell, we started off with this [against] Georgia Tech, so itโs pretty much the same.โ
ย
Central Arkansas head coach Russ Pennell
opening statement
โThis was really a great game to watch from a fan perspective.ย There was a lot of up-and-down and a lot of scoring.ย Iโve been in the Pac-12 for a number of years, so itโs really great to be back here in Pauley.ย Our guys really played hard.ย The guys played their hearts out.ย We just came up short.โ
ย
on building on this performance
โWe really have an up-and-coming program.ย This is my fourth year here and little was done before I got here.ย We now have some players in our program who want to compete.ย Tonight is what we call โplaying to our standardโ.ย Now I understand that what we do on Sunday (versus Alcorn State), thatโs going to be the big question; if we take from tonightโs performance.ย Now, if tonight is the apex of our performance, then that means I have to do a better job in getting us prepared.ย It really doesnโt matter whatโs on the front of the jersey, we just have to play to our standard.โ
ย
Central Arkansas senior guard Jordan Howard
opening statement
โIt was a really great experience to play in this atmosphere. Iโm a West Coast guy, so it was good to have my family here. This is a very historic venue, and we were really excited to play in this place.โ
ย
on what they learned from tonight
โWe have to learn how to win close games. We had our opportunities. We just have to pay attention to the little details and close games out.โ
ย
on the overall culture of the team
โWhen I came in as a freshman, there was a losing culture. We basically cleaned house, brought in some new freshmen and created a new culture. The guys we have now really want to play hard and we also want to get our grades together. We all came in together, so now we understand what we have to do to compete against teams like this when it comes to the NCAA tournament.โ