Postgame Quotes - Michigan 78, UCLA 69
Michigan 78, UCLA 69
Ann Arbor, Mich. (Crisler Center)
December 9, 2017
UCLA head coach Steve Alford
opening remarks
“Proud of the guys’ effort as this is the first true road game. I thought we really did give great effort. In terms of our thought process, we just didn’t really think the way we’ve been thinking especially in the last six or seven minutes of the game. Give Michigan credit they made a huge run when they were down 15. A lot of that credit goes to how hard and smart their guys play.”
on the difference in the game
“We turned the ball over 20 times. I thought that was the difference in the game. They turned it over 11 times, we turned it over 20. You can’t do that on the road. We got to the free-throw line, we out rebounded them, shooting percentages were about the same. We got beat form the 3-point line but we kind of figured that would happen especially in their building. I thought we defended the 3-point line pretty well. There were a lot of positives but we just did not make a lot of smart plays. We have five new guys playing their first true road game and I think that’s going to happen as long as we can learn from that.”
on Aaron Holiday’s performance
“I thought he was terrific, but we did not give him or Tom [Welsh] nearly enough rest. That’s on me. We have a lot of young guys playing their first road game so that’s kind of scary I have to find a way to give those guys a rest. I found a way to get Tom a little, but not as much as he needed. Aaron I didn’t get to give him any rest, especially in the second half. We have to find ways of doing that and build that trust within our bench. I thought [Michigan’s Zavier] Simpson was really good, not just defensively, I thought he was really good offensively as he made some big shots for them.”
on Thomas Welsh’s performance
“He was terrific. He’s a high, high, high level player. He rebounds the ball and is averaging a double-double for us. He shoots it from three, he makes free throws and is a beast in the post. He is just a terrific player. He had it going tonight and him and [Michigan’s Moritz] Wagner had a great matchup because those are two really good bigs.”
UCLA senior center Thomas Welsh
on end of the game
“I think the biggest thing is that we got away from what we’ve been doing for the first 35 minutes of the game. The last five minutes we weren’t as good offensively and gave them some good looks. Give credit to them as they made some tough shots and some good plays. But there is a lot to learn from tonight as this is one I think we should have had. We just have to flush it and learn from it and get ready for the next one.”
on youth being a factor in the game
“It’s the first road game for a lot of these guys. There’s no excuses that you can make, it’s a learning experience for sure. It’s tough because this is one we really should have had but its great experience for the young guys to get experience on the road and hopefully they can take that and move forward together.”
on lifting spirits after the loss
“It’s just staying close and staying together and focusing on the positives of this game. If we played the same way we played in the first 30-35 minutes of this game then we would have won. I think its just knowing that we were right there and had it won we just didn’t close it out the way we wanted to.”
on turnovers
“They started to jump passing lanes a little bit and become more aggressive. Even if they are jumping passing lanes that opens up space for back door cuts so it was poor reads on our part. It’s tough to do that on a game on the road like this but we have to learn and move on.”
UCLA junior guard Aaron Holiday
on turnovers
“It starts with me so you can put that loss on me. I didn’t really take care of the ball down the stretch and I turned the ball over too many times in overtime. It’s really me that takes care of the ball.”
on taking game in own hands
“I did too much obviously. I was trying to come off the screen and dribble too much.”
on Michigan’s defense
“They really stopped me from passing it to Tom [Welsh] a lot on the pick-and-pop which was wide open a lot. I just have to make better reads down the stretch.”
on how tough the loss is
“It’s always tough to lose when you’re up by 15. At the end of the day you have to move on to the next game.”
on watching film of this game
“You always have to watch film. No matter if you do good or do bad, you have to watch the film to learn from it and correct the mistakes you had.”