Postgame Quotes - UCLA 102, USC 70
POSTGAME QUOTES
UCLA 102, USC 70
Los Angeles, Calif. (Pauley Pavilion)
February 18, 2017
UCLA head coach Steve Alford
opening statement
“I’m extremely proud of the guys. I thought they played really well tonight. Really good job on the backboard. I thought what we did on the backboard was special and then we cut down on turnovers. When our turnovers are 12 or fewer, we play at a whole different level because it keeps us out of transition defense—it’s where we’ve given up easy things—and it gives us some more shots on goal. Getting 78 shots up, we’ve going to make more than we’re going to miss with this team. Thought we did a really good job. To get beat 19-to-8 on the free throw line in makes, 27-to-8 on attempts, and still win the way we won, I’m just awfully proud of the guys.”
on how much ground defense has made up since first meeting with USC
“We’ve just talked about, really since the SC game, I just thought the time we got to the Arizona game at home and the SC game on the road, our guys were, more than anything, a little mentally tired. We went into a bye week after that, and we’ve since had another bye week going into this week. So we’ve had two bye weeks where we’ve been able to get a little rest and then really work on some things that we needed to work on—whether that be offensive execution or at the defensive end. In these five games, we’re 5-0 in February since that break, our defense has made great strides. Our efficiency is much, much better. They’re just very focused. We won a lot of games early by running away and scoring 100 points, and then when you lose a couple, it gets guys’ attention of if we’re going to play and try to win at the highest level, we don’t have to be a perfect defense, but we do have to be better. And I think over the last two-and-a-half to three weeks we’ve really improved.”
on what allowed UCLA to handle zone defense better
“Well, one, we didn’t turn the ball over. At SC, we turned the ball over, I think, 17 times. If our notes were right, 14 of the 17 turnovers were live ball turnovers. If you’re going to turn the ball over, throw it in the stands, travel, offensive foul, try to make a post feed that goes out of bounds—those are good dead-ball turnovers. When all of a sudden you’re just giving it to them like we did three weeks ago, then they get out and run. And transition points were a lot different tonight. I think a lot of that had to do with we took care of the basketball and we were dominant on the backboard. Those were two areas that I didn’t think we were very good in game one.”
on team’s energy at close of first half
“It’s just fun. I’m having fun. I’ve had fun all year with this team. They’re a joy to coach in practice. And I want them having fun. At times, they’re a quiet group. We talked about that at halftime. We’ve been talking to you about stance and talking on defense since Australia. That was stuff we’ve been talking about for a long time. The stance is making progress, the talking still has a lot of growth yet, because we’ve got some guys that just have a quiet demeanor. The more we can talk and communicate, the better we are. We’re so good in transition. I’ve been doing this 26 years and I’ve never had a team that is so fast and so efficient in transition. When we’re allowed to get stops, we’re allowed to get turnovers—SC didn’t turn the ball over a lot tonight—I just thought we got key stops. We run so well. Our bigs run, our guards run, they can all shoot it, dribble it, they all pass it well. We get in the open floor pretty good. If we can continue to work at that defensive end and get stops, that helps our offense get even more efficient.”
on how team is setting up for March
“Well, we’re healthy. We’re very healthy right now and we’ve got a day off tomorrow. I like what we’re doing in practices. Our practices have been much shorter. We literally went for 50 minutes yesterday. Our shootaround this morning was 20 minutes. We just want to keep them fresh and trying to really be focused on what we want to do with our emphasis, both defensively and offensively, and get them out. Spending a little bit more time in the film room. It was good having this bye week. Our guys have known—that’s a credit to them, because a lot of players don’t take advantage of bye weeks. This team has done that. They’ve gotten rest, they stay off their feet, they don’t mess around, they do what they’re supposed to do and they do the right things—and because of that, I think we’re pretty fresh right now. Now we’ve got two weeks left in the regular season and then we’ve got a conference tournament and then postseason starts. There are no more breaks. I like going into the last two weeks of the regular season where we’re at right now because we’re playing much better now than what we were playing even a month ago. We’ve got very few lapses, even as this season has unfolded, but I like how our guys are gaining some momentum.”
UCLA guard Bryce Alford
on defense
“That’s been our focus all year. Sometimes things just start to click. Really after our last SC game, we kind of talked about it as a team and really just buckled down. If we want to make a run in the tournament, we have to get better on defense. If you look at every game after that first SC game, we’ve gotten better on defense. The stats won’t lie to you. Outside about 20 minutes against Oregon, we’ve been playing really good defense.”
on intensity
“It’s just one of those things, you get on a roll. I just love this game so much. I’m so passionate about the game of basketball, UCLA, and everything that’s happened to me in my four years here. When I get it going for my team and I know I’m helping my team win, it’s just what happens to my face [snarling].”
on winning in a blowout
“When you’re up 20 with a couple minutes left, sometimes you kind of take your foot off the pedal but that’s what we learned not to do. We’ve had games where we were up 20 in the second half before where games have been cut closer. We were just trying to put together a full forty minutes. That was our goal and it’s our goal every game. Tonight, we finally did that really well.”
on Lonzo Ball
“Everyone knows how talented he is. People don’t realize how much he does for the team off the court. From being the life of the party, a goofy kid and a normal guy. A guy that has 500-600 Instagram followers and all the fans and hype behind him, he can easily be a cocky dude, a bad dude. For him to be the person he is and be the talent he is, that’s what has really been special.”
on snapping losing streak to USC
“It wasn’t fun losing 4 times in a row. Each time they came around we just tried to execute our game plan and fix what we didn’t do the past game. But sometimes that happens in college basketball. A team gets your number and match ups are hard to do, sometimes they get the better of you a couple of times. Credit to them, they’ve been a really good basketball team over the last couple years so this was a good win for us tonight.”
UCLA guard Lonzo Ball
on momentum going into halftime
“It helped a lot. Playing a rival, we knew they would come out hard. The focus was to get a double-digit lead before halftime. That’s what we did and it carried over into the second half.
on improvement against zone defense
“It’s just practice. We’ve been playing against zone for the last couple of weeks. We’ve just been working on it in practice. Credit to Coach Alford and his staff.”
on being undefeated in February
“Going into March, we have to hit out stride now. Coach always says February sets up March so that’s what we are trying to do.
on defense
“Guys’ attitudes, it starts with that. Guys want to get down and guard now. We know we can score against anyone in the country. Once we guard we are hard to beat.”
on his dad’s personality
“I’ve been living with him since I’ve been born and he’s always been like that. He talks what’s on his mind. I just have to go out there and play my game. I let him do the talking and I just go out and play. That’s my dad, man. Who wouldn’t want their son to be the best? I love him and whatever he says I’m going to roll with it.”
UCLA center Thomas Welsh
on beating their rival
“That’s special. Especially for me being from LA, it’s always been a rivalry that’s been part of my life and growing up in it. Being part of it now, being able to play in this game especially with how the last few games [against them] have been going for us. We’re pretty happy about that.”
on defense
“After that last SC game where we played them at their place, we had a team meeting in the locker room after just talking about what it’s going to take for us to make strides and put a run together. It came down to defensive intensity and being aggressive on the defense end. Just knowing what we had to do, that was huge for us going forward defensively.”
on pulling away late
“It was special. Against a team like that that is our rival, it was so much fun to get a win like that. Those last four minutes we were pretty much making every shot. It was incredible. I’m really ecstatic about this win but now it’s just about getting two more wins on the road against Arizona next week.”
UCLA forward TJ Leaf
on last few minutes of game
“It was a lot of fun. Anytime playing a rival like that and you get up big at the end, it just gets a lot more fun. The whole game was a lot of fun for us and it was just a good win.”
on Lonzo Ball’s defense
“Lonzo stepped up big time on both ends, especially defensively as of recent. It’s definitely contagious, just like his unselfishness is contagious. When he’s getting into people, it just builds on everyone else and everyone wants to get down, get in a stance, talk and just get these stops.”
on playing with Lonzo
“You can’t compare him to anyone playing basketball right now. He does so many things and he’s so good at so many different things. He’s so much fun to play with and so easy to play with. He makes the game easier for you in so many ways. He’s just a winner. He competes on every play.“
USC head coach Andy Enfield
overall statement
“We lost. They played well and we didn’t. They are an excellent basketball team. We had it within seven points with ten minutes left. At that point, I felt like it could have been a different game. It doesn’t really matter. They shot the ball exceptionally well. That was the closest we could get to, seven or eight.”
on the technical foul
“Our guy got fouled in the lane. That’s what happened.”
on the younger players
“It was a seven-point lead. It was tough on us, but when you shoot 28.6% from the three and from the two, 33%, it makes it tough. With UCLA, you really have to shoot with them. They played very well, give them credit. Like I said, if you shoot 28% from the three-point line, it’s gonna be tough.”
USC guard Jordan McLaughlin
overall statement
“We messed up on a couple of guard screens and they were able to get good looks. They also got the ball out in transition.”
on if they felt the game slipped away
“I don’t feel like it did. We were right there until the last ten minutes. We played very hard and our energy was there. You just have to make sure you stay with it the whole time.”
on the PAC-12 road games
“It’s really tough on the road, but we stole a couple this year. We have to go to Arizona and take care of business. Our communication is there. We just had a couple mistakes guarding “guard-to-guard”, so they got some open threes.”
UCLA 102, USC 70
Los Angeles, Calif. (Pauley Pavilion)
February 18, 2017
UCLA head coach Steve Alford
opening statement
“I’m extremely proud of the guys. I thought they played really well tonight. Really good job on the backboard. I thought what we did on the backboard was special and then we cut down on turnovers. When our turnovers are 12 or fewer, we play at a whole different level because it keeps us out of transition defense—it’s where we’ve given up easy things—and it gives us some more shots on goal. Getting 78 shots up, we’ve going to make more than we’re going to miss with this team. Thought we did a really good job. To get beat 19-to-8 on the free throw line in makes, 27-to-8 on attempts, and still win the way we won, I’m just awfully proud of the guys.”
on how much ground defense has made up since first meeting with USC
“We’ve just talked about, really since the SC game, I just thought the time we got to the Arizona game at home and the SC game on the road, our guys were, more than anything, a little mentally tired. We went into a bye week after that, and we’ve since had another bye week going into this week. So we’ve had two bye weeks where we’ve been able to get a little rest and then really work on some things that we needed to work on—whether that be offensive execution or at the defensive end. In these five games, we’re 5-0 in February since that break, our defense has made great strides. Our efficiency is much, much better. They’re just very focused. We won a lot of games early by running away and scoring 100 points, and then when you lose a couple, it gets guys’ attention of if we’re going to play and try to win at the highest level, we don’t have to be a perfect defense, but we do have to be better. And I think over the last two-and-a-half to three weeks we’ve really improved.”
on what allowed UCLA to handle zone defense better
“Well, one, we didn’t turn the ball over. At SC, we turned the ball over, I think, 17 times. If our notes were right, 14 of the 17 turnovers were live ball turnovers. If you’re going to turn the ball over, throw it in the stands, travel, offensive foul, try to make a post feed that goes out of bounds—those are good dead-ball turnovers. When all of a sudden you’re just giving it to them like we did three weeks ago, then they get out and run. And transition points were a lot different tonight. I think a lot of that had to do with we took care of the basketball and we were dominant on the backboard. Those were two areas that I didn’t think we were very good in game one.”
on team’s energy at close of first half
“It’s just fun. I’m having fun. I’ve had fun all year with this team. They’re a joy to coach in practice. And I want them having fun. At times, they’re a quiet group. We talked about that at halftime. We’ve been talking to you about stance and talking on defense since Australia. That was stuff we’ve been talking about for a long time. The stance is making progress, the talking still has a lot of growth yet, because we’ve got some guys that just have a quiet demeanor. The more we can talk and communicate, the better we are. We’re so good in transition. I’ve been doing this 26 years and I’ve never had a team that is so fast and so efficient in transition. When we’re allowed to get stops, we’re allowed to get turnovers—SC didn’t turn the ball over a lot tonight—I just thought we got key stops. We run so well. Our bigs run, our guards run, they can all shoot it, dribble it, they all pass it well. We get in the open floor pretty good. If we can continue to work at that defensive end and get stops, that helps our offense get even more efficient.”
on how team is setting up for March
“Well, we’re healthy. We’re very healthy right now and we’ve got a day off tomorrow. I like what we’re doing in practices. Our practices have been much shorter. We literally went for 50 minutes yesterday. Our shootaround this morning was 20 minutes. We just want to keep them fresh and trying to really be focused on what we want to do with our emphasis, both defensively and offensively, and get them out. Spending a little bit more time in the film room. It was good having this bye week. Our guys have known—that’s a credit to them, because a lot of players don’t take advantage of bye weeks. This team has done that. They’ve gotten rest, they stay off their feet, they don’t mess around, they do what they’re supposed to do and they do the right things—and because of that, I think we’re pretty fresh right now. Now we’ve got two weeks left in the regular season and then we’ve got a conference tournament and then postseason starts. There are no more breaks. I like going into the last two weeks of the regular season where we’re at right now because we’re playing much better now than what we were playing even a month ago. We’ve got very few lapses, even as this season has unfolded, but I like how our guys are gaining some momentum.”
UCLA guard Bryce Alford
on defense
“That’s been our focus all year. Sometimes things just start to click. Really after our last SC game, we kind of talked about it as a team and really just buckled down. If we want to make a run in the tournament, we have to get better on defense. If you look at every game after that first SC game, we’ve gotten better on defense. The stats won’t lie to you. Outside about 20 minutes against Oregon, we’ve been playing really good defense.”
on intensity
“It’s just one of those things, you get on a roll. I just love this game so much. I’m so passionate about the game of basketball, UCLA, and everything that’s happened to me in my four years here. When I get it going for my team and I know I’m helping my team win, it’s just what happens to my face [snarling].”
on winning in a blowout
“When you’re up 20 with a couple minutes left, sometimes you kind of take your foot off the pedal but that’s what we learned not to do. We’ve had games where we were up 20 in the second half before where games have been cut closer. We were just trying to put together a full forty minutes. That was our goal and it’s our goal every game. Tonight, we finally did that really well.”
on Lonzo Ball
“Everyone knows how talented he is. People don’t realize how much he does for the team off the court. From being the life of the party, a goofy kid and a normal guy. A guy that has 500-600 Instagram followers and all the fans and hype behind him, he can easily be a cocky dude, a bad dude. For him to be the person he is and be the talent he is, that’s what has really been special.”
on snapping losing streak to USC
“It wasn’t fun losing 4 times in a row. Each time they came around we just tried to execute our game plan and fix what we didn’t do the past game. But sometimes that happens in college basketball. A team gets your number and match ups are hard to do, sometimes they get the better of you a couple of times. Credit to them, they’ve been a really good basketball team over the last couple years so this was a good win for us tonight.”
UCLA guard Lonzo Ball
on momentum going into halftime
“It helped a lot. Playing a rival, we knew they would come out hard. The focus was to get a double-digit lead before halftime. That’s what we did and it carried over into the second half.
on improvement against zone defense
“It’s just practice. We’ve been playing against zone for the last couple of weeks. We’ve just been working on it in practice. Credit to Coach Alford and his staff.”
on being undefeated in February
“Going into March, we have to hit out stride now. Coach always says February sets up March so that’s what we are trying to do.
on defense
“Guys’ attitudes, it starts with that. Guys want to get down and guard now. We know we can score against anyone in the country. Once we guard we are hard to beat.”
on his dad’s personality
“I’ve been living with him since I’ve been born and he’s always been like that. He talks what’s on his mind. I just have to go out there and play my game. I let him do the talking and I just go out and play. That’s my dad, man. Who wouldn’t want their son to be the best? I love him and whatever he says I’m going to roll with it.”
UCLA center Thomas Welsh
on beating their rival
“That’s special. Especially for me being from LA, it’s always been a rivalry that’s been part of my life and growing up in it. Being part of it now, being able to play in this game especially with how the last few games [against them] have been going for us. We’re pretty happy about that.”
on defense
“After that last SC game where we played them at their place, we had a team meeting in the locker room after just talking about what it’s going to take for us to make strides and put a run together. It came down to defensive intensity and being aggressive on the defense end. Just knowing what we had to do, that was huge for us going forward defensively.”
on pulling away late
“It was special. Against a team like that that is our rival, it was so much fun to get a win like that. Those last four minutes we were pretty much making every shot. It was incredible. I’m really ecstatic about this win but now it’s just about getting two more wins on the road against Arizona next week.”
UCLA forward TJ Leaf
on last few minutes of game
“It was a lot of fun. Anytime playing a rival like that and you get up big at the end, it just gets a lot more fun. The whole game was a lot of fun for us and it was just a good win.”
on Lonzo Ball’s defense
“Lonzo stepped up big time on both ends, especially defensively as of recent. It’s definitely contagious, just like his unselfishness is contagious. When he’s getting into people, it just builds on everyone else and everyone wants to get down, get in a stance, talk and just get these stops.”
on playing with Lonzo
“You can’t compare him to anyone playing basketball right now. He does so many things and he’s so good at so many different things. He’s so much fun to play with and so easy to play with. He makes the game easier for you in so many ways. He’s just a winner. He competes on every play.“
USC head coach Andy Enfield
overall statement
“We lost. They played well and we didn’t. They are an excellent basketball team. We had it within seven points with ten minutes left. At that point, I felt like it could have been a different game. It doesn’t really matter. They shot the ball exceptionally well. That was the closest we could get to, seven or eight.”
on the technical foul
“Our guy got fouled in the lane. That’s what happened.”
on the younger players
“It was a seven-point lead. It was tough on us, but when you shoot 28.6% from the three and from the two, 33%, it makes it tough. With UCLA, you really have to shoot with them. They played very well, give them credit. Like I said, if you shoot 28% from the three-point line, it’s gonna be tough.”
USC guard Jordan McLaughlin
overall statement
“We messed up on a couple of guard screens and they were able to get good looks. They also got the ball out in transition.”
on if they felt the game slipped away
“I don’t feel like it did. We were right there until the last ten minutes. We played very hard and our energy was there. You just have to make sure you stay with it the whole time.”
on the PAC-12 road games
“It’s really tough on the road, but we stole a couple this year. We have to go to Arizona and take care of business. Our communication is there. We just had a couple mistakes guarding “guard-to-guard”, so they got some open threes.”