Postgame Quotes - UCLA 95, Washington State 79
UCLA 95, Washington State 79
Pullman, Wash. (Beasley Coliseum)
February 1, 2017
UCLA head coach Steve Alford
opening statement
“I thought our freshmen were really good. They were outstanding tonight. I think you could tell that week really helped them. They came back really fresh. We did a lot of good things. Other than the first eight minutes of the second, I thought defensively we were a lot better and we were a lot more active. We had 25 deflections on the night which is something we wanted to do to be disruptive and that helped our offense get back in the 90's again. I thought TJ did a really good job of going at him."
on tonight's game plan
"Well we talked about that we could drive their bigs, especially TJ and GG and they did a good job of doing that. I thought we attacked the rim, we went in and out. They had a lot of focus on Bryce and Isaac, which is fine, because we have so many guys that can score. Aaron came in off the bench and did a tremendous job. GG had great minutes off the bench. So being down a body with Ike out, I thought we handled every situation that was thrown at us and that was good."
on Ike Anigbogu
"I think he will be ready for Saturday. We have to wait and see how things go but this was really kind of a precaution thing. He didn't go down in practice. He just stepped funny and it was really about letting that knee rest a little bit but I am fully anticipating, as long as everything goes well, him being ready for Saturday."
on 3-point shooting
"Well we still scored in the 90's. Not a lot of free throws or threes we made tonight and we still got in the 90's so that is a positive that we can find different ways of doing it when teams take something away from us. I thought they were very concerned about the three ball rightly so but I think that opened up a lot of driving lanes and things at the basket and our guys did a good job with that."
on getting the team's 20th win
"Well I am just proud of the team. I think they have done a lot of great things already this year and it's not easy. College basketball is hard. To get wins on the road is hard and to bounce back after two losses is hard and difficult. So I am just really proud of them how they fought and competed and did enough to come out with a win tonight."
UCLA Freshman Forward TJ Leaf
on his mindset
"Just coming out aggressive, whatever that meant through the flow of the game is what I wanted to do and that's what the whole team wanted to do."
on front court taking over the game
"It just shows how many options we really have on the floor. "
on week off between games
"It helped out tremendously. Coach gave us two complete days off of practice. So it gave us time to do whatever we wanted like getting in the gym or relaxing. It definitely gave us a lot to have a whole week between games to refocus."
on his efficiency tonight
"Lonzo and Aaron were just hitting me in places where I could finish it and that helped me a lot."
UCLA Junior Center Thomas Welsh
on TJ Leaf's performance
"It was huge. He's a guy that can do that on a nicely basis. He's extremely skilled and when he's aggressive he's really tough to stop. I'm glad he went out there and did his thing."
on week off between games
"I think it helped a lot. It gave us some time to refocus and get our heads on straight and figure out what we need to do to win. It's going to be a tough stretch here in the second half of the Pac-12 but we will be ready to go."
on getting first win on the road against Washington State
"It's great. League wins are tough let alone road wins so it was great to get this one. We just have to make sure to keep doing the same things on Saturday against Washington."
UCLA Freshman Lonzo Ball
on front court taking over the game
"TJ [Leaf] had a mismatch tonight and had a big night so he just put us on his back. Before the game that was the pregame speech to just go out there and have fun. Don't think of it as a must-win."
on week off between games
"It helped out a lot. It helped guys regroup and get their minds focused again to get ready for the second half of the season."
on getting 20th win of the season
"We feel that we are in a good spot. We don't have many complaints. We've been winning games and we have to keep getting better as we head into March."