Postgame Quotes - UCLA vs. Hawai'i
POSTGAME QUOTES
UCLA 80, Hawai’i 61
November 28, 2018
Steve Alford, The Michael Price Family UCLA Men’s Head Basketball Coach
opening remarks
“A lot of positives and I told the guys that. I do think we relaxed a little bit in the second half and that’s just something you’ve got to continue to work on. Many more positives than negatives in the half. I thought we got Cody (Riley) in the flow a little bit in the second half, as well as Mo (Moses Brown). Jaylen (Hands) did a great job of running things. Eleven assists, two turnovers. What he’s capable of doing. I thought we did a good job on the guys we needed to do a good job on. Fifteen (Owen Hulland)—I don’t know how much he’s played, he’s played very, very little—their leading scorer tonight, was a guy that wasn’t even on our depth chart. That’s a positive because the guys that we prepared for, I thought we did a really good job. We wanted to get 12 (Jack Purchase) and 3 (Eddie Stansberry) off the 3-point line and we did a good job of that and for the most part, I thought we kept the ball in front of us. Only 16 fouls against a team that really wants to drive the ball, so that’s encouragement coming out of Vegas where our falls were up and we had a lot of issues. I thought we corrected some things tonight.”
on Jaylen Hands
“He’s had two halves now. Carolina first half and the half that he had here where he’s had seven and eight (assists). He’s capable of huge-assist nights and tonight was great. I thought his second half wasn’t, obviously, as good as his first, but it was still solid. I thought he ran his team. He ran the show. He did a lot of good things. I think he’s concentrating more defensively. He makes his shots tonight like he normally does, you’re looking at probably a double-double out of him. How he moves the ball, it becomes contagious with the other guys. And I thought he did that really well tonight.”
on Kris Wilkes
“He’s our leading scorer and, I think, he’s going to get help now as Cody (Riley) gets into shape. Cody’s still not there yet. We did get 23 minutes out of Cody tonight. I think he’s starting to do some more things and I think that’ll help because Mo’s just going to continue to develop and learn. Kris is a handful. I thought he did some really good things. He’s really good in transition, he can post some, but he’s just a really good shooter. He’s not shooting the 3-ball like he normally does or can and it was good to see Prince (Ali) come out tonight. I thought Prince had a really good game. Offensively and, other than about a five-minute stretch, defensively in the second half, I thought he was really good at that end, as well.”
on if Prince Ali’s accuracy was product of ball movement
“I think that helps everybody. We’ve tried to tell the guys that. When the ball moves, it’s not just going to be one guy that it’s going to affect. It’s going to affect everybody. I thought we missed some easy layups, in the first half in particular, where we could have made some more shots. Still got to work on concentration. That’s still something we’ve got to continue to work on, but I thought, tonight, the ball moved and we got much, much better shots than what we did Vegas or even in the second half of the Presbyterian game. So hopefully the guys continue to trust one another. And that’s part of being a young team. But I really liked the first half. I thought we guarded, the first half, the way we need to start games here at Pauley.”
on decision to start Cody Riley
“Yeah, like I said, it was nothing about J (Jalen Hill). It was really about getting some energy. Our starts have not been great. It wasn’t one player. It was really just trying something different. Tried to get Cody going. I think he’s somebody that, from a scouting standpoint, you’ve got to prepare for because he’s a go-to guy in the post. You’re trying to prepare for Hands and Wilkes and Big Mo, and all of a sudden you’ve got Cody Riley in there that as he gets in shape, he’s a potential double-double guy. I didn’t get J. Hill as many minutes as I’d like tonight. He got a little bit of foul trouble, but his minutes are going to stay up. I just didn’t get, because of the flow of this game, for whatever reason, I didn’t get the minutes I’d normally get him. Wasn’t anything J did as much as just trying to get Cody a chance.”
on presence of former UCLA players Ike Anigbogu, Lonzo Ball, Aaron Holiday and TJ Leaf
“Obviously, it’s great, because our seasons don’t overlap the right way a lot. So to have Ike and TJ and Aaron and Lonzo… three Lakers and one Pacer… to have those guys in the locker room around the guys—that’s fun. The odd part of it, there’s not a lot of guys in our locker room that played with a lot of those guys. Lonzo and Ike and TJ walked in and I think we only had two guys in our locker room that played with them. It’s odd when they’ve only been out a couple of years. It’s a great game for tomorrow with the Lakers and Pacers and it’s great of them to come back when they get a chance to come back and share time with us. We obviously appreciate that.”
on if he feels team is entering toughest stretch of season
“Well, we thought, as I said in yesterday’s press conference, I really looked at this as, it was really going to be a stair step of games of really good competition moving forward, starting tonight with Hawai’i. This is a team that had Utah down 20 on a neutral court and beat them double figures. And they played everyone, Seton Hall, Fresno, very, very well. I thought we needed to come out first half and do what we did. And that’s a credit to the guys. Now you’re getting an LMU team that’s undefeated, so high confidence, an LA-based school. They’re going to have a lot of energy coming in here on Sunday and then you’ve got a week to get ready for a Notre Dame team that’s playing really well and another week to get ready for a Belmont team who’s outstanding and still undefeated. We knew this stretch was going to be a key stretch for us and had to start for tonight. So we passed the first test and now we’ve got a big test on Sunday.”
UCLA redshirt junior guard Prince Ali
on if he looked at former teammate Lonzo Ball after his last dunk
“Yeah, I did. That’s my guy, so I had to do that in front of him. He gave me a nod.”
on surpassing his career high in points
“It feels good. I’ve been working on my game, and it showed tonight.”
on Jaylen Hands’ 11 assists
“We (he and Kris Wilkes) tell him all the time that when he passes the ball like that, it’s very hard to guard us. You see what happens when he does that.”
on what he worked on during the off-season
“Just making shots obviously and making plays, really. I extensively worked with a few guys over the summer just getting up a lot of shots and just working out with different people and playing pick-up.”
UCLA sophomore guard Jaylen Hands
on his career high 11 assists
“I was really focused on just trying to attack and make plays for myself and others, and tonight we were making shots.”
on the upcoming opponents and if this is their toughest stretch coming up
“I feel like if we come out and do what we’re supposed to do every day, it doesn’t matter who we play. I don’t think we really worry about who we have; we just worry about what we can do night to night, and that’s execute.”
UCLA sophomore guard Kris Wilkes
on shutting Hawai’i down from the three point line late in the game
“We did shut them down a little bit, but I don’t think we did as great the second half as we did the first half. We just need to work on that, and we’ll be better.”
on the Bruins’ play when Hands is passing the ball
“He’s making moves and making good plays, and we just fall right behind him. It’s real hard to beat us when everyone’s working together.”
on having Cody Riley play more
“It’s great. He’s a big body, he’s a work-horse, he’s a hard person to guard. For him to come out there and do what he does, with seven rebounds and seven points, giving us a force like that helps us out.”
Hawai’i head coach Eran Ganot
opening remarks
“I really give them credit. They really set the tone early with their shooting and it was hard to be down 16-5. I’m really happy with the way we fought back. Credit them, we can’t afford to get behind with a team like that. They really have good depth. Cody Riley is back. They really have the biggest team in the country. They are really long at all positions, especially at the wings. You just have to pick your poison. If we try to close out their wings, they beat you out over the top. If you try to guard them inside, they’re going to hit the three-point shot.”
“This has been an eight-games in twenty days gauntlet of a trip for us, but it’s been good for us and it will be nice to get some practice time. We go back home and we have two days off and then we’ll get back to work, so we’re excited about that. Like I said, credit them, they really opened up the floor with their shooting. I think the difference is how we started the game and how we started the second half.”
Hawai’i senior forward Jack Purchase
on difference between tonight’s game and losses to Seton Hall and Fresno State
“It’s definitely a difference. They (UCLA) have talent from positions one through eight and they have guys that come off the bench and there’s no drop-off. Prince (Ali) came out and hit some big shots. They’re a top-25 team for a reason.”