Postgame Quotes - UCLA 96, South Carolina State 68
UCLA 96, South Carolina State 68
Los Angeles, Calif. (Pauley Pavilion)
November 17, 2017
UCLA head coach Steve Alford
opening remarks
“I thought in the first half we were really sluggish defensively and our offense was OK. The offensive efficiency was pretty good but the defensive efficiency was not so good. In the second half we really defended well and our efficiency showed that. We saw some growth in the last 20 minutes which is really good because we need to see growth from these guys going forward. I thought we saw some growth in the second half which is good because we are cranking up the competition as we move to Kansas City. We know we are getting an outstanding opponent in Creighton and then whoever we face on Tuesday we know will be an outstanding opponent. It was good that those last 20 minutes produced some growth.”
on energy level
“It’s hard because I’ve never taken a foreign trip in the middle of the season so I have no experience to go on as far as that. We’ve reached out to the Golden State Warriors, we’ve reached out to Stanford who went a year ago but the problem is no matter how much information you gather a lot is going to be dependent on the player. We’ve got five guys who didn’t play last year that are in our rotation right now that are just trying not to get worn out and we have three freshmen who are just trying to figure out what college basketball is all about. When you take a trip like the one we took, I just don’t know because I’ve never done anything like that outside of a foreign trip in the summer so I have nothing really to go on. How long do you practice? How long do you take off? When do you get them back in the gym? I thought our energy in both second halves this week were better than our energy in the first halves. That includes our toughness. That’s something that we are probably going to talk about is how tough this team can become because that makes you tougher to play against. I just don’t know that it’s a difficult trip and we have to see how it plays out but it’s going to be tough with four games in seven days.”
on bench play
“I thought both Chris Smith and Alex Olesinski were outstanding all week. Not good, but outstanding on both ends. I thought Chris defensively was better tonight than he was a couple of nights ago. Alex has been solid in both of those games which is great to see. Chris is young and Alex has a little bit more age to him and had to sit out last season but we know Alex has a really high basketball IQ. Chris is obviously a special talent as a 6-foot-9 athletic, long guard. He let the game come to him and didn’t force anything. He really let the game come to him. He used his length defensively and we need that. We need our bigs to be productive. And if Prince [Ali] makes free throws then we had good production out of him tonight too. The bench has been pretty good.”
on length and athleticism of the team
“I think we are long and athletic so I do think we’re going to have some rim protection and be able to block shots. That’s just about our length up front, we also have length in the backcourt. Jaylen [Hands] is extremely athletic. We have some guys that can block shots and rim protect. Thomas [Welsh] has done a good job of that as well. I didn’t like the first half defensively just like both halves on Wednesday against Central Arkansas and I told the team that at halftime. The second half we showed some growth. Of what we’ve been trying to do defensively and it’s going to be a building process. I’m proud of the way we played in the second half.”
on free throw shooting
“The foul shooting is a hard one. We talk about toughness and a part of toughness is foul shooting. To me it’s an easy shot as it’s a 15 feet and no one guards you. Besides the uncontested layup it’s the easiest shot in the game. It’s about clearing your mind and a part of clearing your mind is toughness. If I’ve missed one I can’t go into a turtle shell and not want to shoot anymore. I have to be tough enough to want to get the next one. If I happen to miss that one I’m going to make the next eight or nine. We just got too many guys who are thinking about it and worried about it instead of being tough about it. Sometimes if you miss some foul shots you don’t want to go back there again. That’s the toughness. That’s something we have to continue to work on and do a little bit more practicing. It’s kind of a tough stretch to get that done by the guys are going to have to do it on the road, but we don’t want to be a 50 percent foul shooting team. We want to be a 75-80 percent foul shooting team and there’s no reason why we shouldn’t be.”
on playing Creighton in next game
“I have a lot of respect for Creighton and how coach goes about it. McDermott does a tremendous job. We go way back. He was at Northern Iowa and Iowa State when I was at Iowa. He coached his son and I think our sons got to know each other at Oklahoma City before his son left. There’s a lot of respect there because he does things the right way and his kids play very hard. They are really talented and it makes for a great matchup. Both teams could be 3-0 and both teams could be ranked by the time we get there.”
UCLA freshman guard Jaylen Hands
on increasing the tempo in the second half
“Yeah, I thought we really picked it up in the second half. Our main [goal] is to get out and have fun and run, so I think we’re getting comfortable with each other… That’s what we really did in the second half.”
on if second-half play will help going forward
“Yeah, just to get that under our belts and then next game we can come in and do that. So it’s really helpful for us to get that momentum when we play fast and [get] steals and play defense. That really helps a lot.”
UCLA freshman guard Chris Smith
on his play
“Coming off the bench, the main thing you have to do is bring energy. So, I came in, that’s what I wanted to do. Bring energy on the offensive side, defensive side and help wherever I could—whether it was rebounding, passing, scoring—just wanted to do whatever… to win.”
on the team’s busy schedule thus far
“We love it. We like to get out there and we like to play. The schedule’s been a little crammed, but it’s what we signed up for. Every time we get out there on the court, we give it our all.”
UCLA redshirt-sophomore forward Alex Olesinski
on returning to action after missing 2016-17
“Just like you said, I’ve been waiting a long time for it. I practiced last year, but then I got hurt. Just watching those guys performing—I mean it definitely helped at practice watching them and I kind of got more confident and I just worked on my game and it’s paying off right now.”
on Bruins’ defense
“Definitely, I think that’s how we want to play. We don’t really want to give up as many drives as we did, but that’s what we want to do—we want to make plays defensively and help to lead to more offense.”
South Carolina State head coach Murray Garvin
opening statement
“We probably played the best 30 minutes of the season, but yet, we hit another lull. They really got a lot of run-outs and easy baskets. They key stat was the rebounding war, I think we got out-rebounded by 20. You can’t do that on this level, especially if you want to compete. It’s been a tough four-game, nine-day road trip for us, but we have to get ready for Central Arkansas on Tuesday. It really doesn’t get easier.”
on why team faced a lull after 30 minutes
“We just have to get stops, and we also have to convert offensively. Also, we couldn’t compete in the paint, and if you don’t get those stops and convert those baskets, you’re going to be in trouble. We just couldn’t do that.”
South Carolina State senior guard Donte Wright
opening statement
“My performance was good. It felt good to see some shots go in. My coaches always ‘trust in the process’. During this tournament, my shot hasn’t really been falling, but the coaches have trusted me and I trusted myself, and the shots started falling.”
on how to build on this performance
“We just have to really go back to the drawing board – I believe they shot 70 percent in the second half. We just have to get back to the basics and get back to our defensive principles.”