Postgame Quotes - Utah 84, UCLA 78
POSTGAME QUOTES
Utah 84, UCLA 78
Salt Lake City, Utah (Jon M. Huntsman Center)
February 22, 2018
Steve Alford, The Michael Price Family UCLA Men's Head Basketball Coach
on being down 14 points early in the second half
“Yeah, we had a tough stretch in the first half where we did not defend very well. We got into some foul trouble. We tried to figure things out. Aaron goes for 40 minutes, attempts two free throws, that’s a tough one for us, especially with how often he has the ball and how he draws a lot of attention. He draws a lot of contact. But, it was a tough one. We just didn’t defend in the first half, like we’ve got to defend. I thought that we were better defensively in the second half. Offensively, I liked how we attacked their zone. I thought that we got some good looks and did a good job in a lot of different areas. We just had a stretch there in the first half where we were not very good, defensively.
on what led to the poor defense late in the first half
“They were hot. Utah shot 60-something percent in the first half. You’ve got give them credit because they made a lot of shots. [David] Collette was 9-for-9, I think, and Van Dyke was 6-for-12. We just let a couple of those guys get away from us. We just cannot defend that way. I think that this has been a team that, you know, for 30 to 32 minutes has proven that they can really defend. But what they’ve got to mature into is a team that’ll be able to do that for 40 minutes. And we do not always do that.”
on Utah’s success with driving the ball and kicking it for three-pointers
“We got beat on the dribble-drive and we got beat in the post. I mean, at halftime it was something like 18-8 in the paint and that’s absurd. We need to win the paint game, and we didn’t win the paint game tonight.”
on how he felt UCLA’s effort was on defense
“Not very good during that stretch. That’s a stretch in the game where I didn’t like anything about our defense. We have to got to figure out why, and we’ve talked about it. We have talked about it, very consistently throughout the year, that 30 to 32 minutes, we have the ability to defend at a high level. But it’s those eight minutes that always get us. It got us again. It got us at Arizona State, and then it got us again today.”
on Parker Van Dyke’s deep fadeaway three-pointer in the final minutes
“That’s good defense, I mean, he makes a 40-footer. It’s just, hats off the to the kid. He made a great shot. That was not bad defense.”
on three players for UCLA scoring in double figures (Holiday, Welsh and Goloman)
“[Aaron] He’s going to be a finisher for us, obviously. We had a couple of key turnovers in the last three minutes instead of being able to get shots up. But, I liked how we fought. The guys gave great effort. We were down by double figures and were able to get back in it. I loved the effort. And our guys know, he [Aaron] is a go-to guy. We made enough plays, offensively, but we just didn’t get the stops on defense.”
on his level of concern that the team is still struggling on defense
“That is what keeping us from going over the top. What are we now, 19-9 overall? And we’re 10-6 [in the Pac-12]. We’ve had a solid year. It’s been good, but to take that next step, we have to go to be able to defend for 40 minutes.”
on whether he feels like UCLA’s back is against the wall after this loss
“Well, it’s just about every opportunity. Like we had said before we left, we had four guaranteed opportunities and now we are guaranteed three opportunities. So, you’re trying to make the most of it. And we did not do that tonight. We’ll have to strap it up on Sunday and it’ll be Senior Day for them [Colorado] and they’ve already beat us. So, it isn’t an easy situation. We have to figure out how we’ll go in there and get a win.”
on several offensive charges by UCLA in the second half that hampered the Bruins’ momentum
“Well, they hurt a lot. They hurt a lot. You’ve got to give them credit. They got in the way. And then they got the good calls by getting in the way. We did not do a very good job of getting in the way.”
UCLA junior guard Aaron Holiday
on being able to play strong defense for an entire 40-minute game
“I mean, we’ve just gotta’ do it, pretty much. It’s that simple. We’ve just got to go out there and do it. Tonight, we defended somewhat during parts of the game. But obviously during their big run, it helped them to get out to big leads. That makes it tough to keep coming back all night. So, we’ve just gotta’ get out there and do it.”
on UCLA’s strong start early in the first half and strong finish late in the second half
“To start our second half, we were missing shots. We did not get stops. That obviously does not work out too well with Utah being able to get up by 14 points. That’s just tough. We can’t do that coming out of halftime. And, I’ve got to do better to get better shots out of halftime or to just get us going. I’ve got to either score or help to get my teammates involved.”
on drawing contact against Utah and not being able to get to the free throw line
“I can’t worry about that. I’m just playing.”
on what was working for the Bruins late in the second half as they reduced Utah’s lead
“Well, I just tried to be as aggressive as I can, pretty much. I just tried to get into the paint, just get there by any means possible and things will open up from there. So, that’s really all I tried doing. My teammates did a great job of hitting shots and of finding me, too, on the fast breaks and stuff like that.”
on how tough this loss is to absorb with so few regular-season games remaining
“It hurts, obviously. We might be down [in the standings] to USC since they beat Colorado. It obviously hurts us, but at the same time, it’s over with and we have to move on and get the next two games.”
UCLA senior center Thomas Welsh
on how concerned the team was with its defense on Thursday night
“I mean, yes, it’s concerning to see that happen when you’re in late February and to have a game like that, where we don’t play our best defensively – that’s never good. But you have to give credit to them [Utah]. They made a lot of great shots. At the same time, we gave them some great looks, too. There are definitely a lot of areas of improvement with our defense. We have two regular-season games coming up and we’ll have to iron those things out before March gets going.”
on Utah’s scoring run late in the first half and UCLA’s defensive effort
“It’s pretty tough [when talking about effort] because your effort is one thing that you can always control. It’s one of those areas where you’ve got to give 100 percent effort on every possession, at every moment and in every game. So, it’s not good, but that’s on us to come together after a game like this. We have to hunker down, come together, get rebounds, get stops and do all the small things that we need to do to win. And yeah, we did not do that tonight. We’ve got to learn from this and get ready for the next one.”
on whether he feels like the game on Sunday is a must-win contest
“I mean, in late February, they all feel like they’re must-win games, more or less. At this time of year, you want to be clicking in every way, and winning proves that. It just helps your resume and everything else as you move forward. Yeah, we have these two final regular-season games and we just want to make sure that we make the most out of them.”
Utah 84, UCLA 78
Salt Lake City, Utah (Jon M. Huntsman Center)
February 22, 2018
Steve Alford, The Michael Price Family UCLA Men's Head Basketball Coach
on being down 14 points early in the second half
“Yeah, we had a tough stretch in the first half where we did not defend very well. We got into some foul trouble. We tried to figure things out. Aaron goes for 40 minutes, attempts two free throws, that’s a tough one for us, especially with how often he has the ball and how he draws a lot of attention. He draws a lot of contact. But, it was a tough one. We just didn’t defend in the first half, like we’ve got to defend. I thought that we were better defensively in the second half. Offensively, I liked how we attacked their zone. I thought that we got some good looks and did a good job in a lot of different areas. We just had a stretch there in the first half where we were not very good, defensively.
on what led to the poor defense late in the first half
“They were hot. Utah shot 60-something percent in the first half. You’ve got give them credit because they made a lot of shots. [David] Collette was 9-for-9, I think, and Van Dyke was 6-for-12. We just let a couple of those guys get away from us. We just cannot defend that way. I think that this has been a team that, you know, for 30 to 32 minutes has proven that they can really defend. But what they’ve got to mature into is a team that’ll be able to do that for 40 minutes. And we do not always do that.”
on Utah’s success with driving the ball and kicking it for three-pointers
“We got beat on the dribble-drive and we got beat in the post. I mean, at halftime it was something like 18-8 in the paint and that’s absurd. We need to win the paint game, and we didn’t win the paint game tonight.”
on how he felt UCLA’s effort was on defense
“Not very good during that stretch. That’s a stretch in the game where I didn’t like anything about our defense. We have to got to figure out why, and we’ve talked about it. We have talked about it, very consistently throughout the year, that 30 to 32 minutes, we have the ability to defend at a high level. But it’s those eight minutes that always get us. It got us again. It got us at Arizona State, and then it got us again today.”
on Parker Van Dyke’s deep fadeaway three-pointer in the final minutes
“That’s good defense, I mean, he makes a 40-footer. It’s just, hats off the to the kid. He made a great shot. That was not bad defense.”
on three players for UCLA scoring in double figures (Holiday, Welsh and Goloman)
“[Aaron] He’s going to be a finisher for us, obviously. We had a couple of key turnovers in the last three minutes instead of being able to get shots up. But, I liked how we fought. The guys gave great effort. We were down by double figures and were able to get back in it. I loved the effort. And our guys know, he [Aaron] is a go-to guy. We made enough plays, offensively, but we just didn’t get the stops on defense.”
on his level of concern that the team is still struggling on defense
“That is what keeping us from going over the top. What are we now, 19-9 overall? And we’re 10-6 [in the Pac-12]. We’ve had a solid year. It’s been good, but to take that next step, we have to go to be able to defend for 40 minutes.”
on whether he feels like UCLA’s back is against the wall after this loss
“Well, it’s just about every opportunity. Like we had said before we left, we had four guaranteed opportunities and now we are guaranteed three opportunities. So, you’re trying to make the most of it. And we did not do that tonight. We’ll have to strap it up on Sunday and it’ll be Senior Day for them [Colorado] and they’ve already beat us. So, it isn’t an easy situation. We have to figure out how we’ll go in there and get a win.”
on several offensive charges by UCLA in the second half that hampered the Bruins’ momentum
“Well, they hurt a lot. They hurt a lot. You’ve got to give them credit. They got in the way. And then they got the good calls by getting in the way. We did not do a very good job of getting in the way.”
UCLA junior guard Aaron Holiday
on being able to play strong defense for an entire 40-minute game
“I mean, we’ve just gotta’ do it, pretty much. It’s that simple. We’ve just got to go out there and do it. Tonight, we defended somewhat during parts of the game. But obviously during their big run, it helped them to get out to big leads. That makes it tough to keep coming back all night. So, we’ve just gotta’ get out there and do it.”
on UCLA’s strong start early in the first half and strong finish late in the second half
“To start our second half, we were missing shots. We did not get stops. That obviously does not work out too well with Utah being able to get up by 14 points. That’s just tough. We can’t do that coming out of halftime. And, I’ve got to do better to get better shots out of halftime or to just get us going. I’ve got to either score or help to get my teammates involved.”
on drawing contact against Utah and not being able to get to the free throw line
“I can’t worry about that. I’m just playing.”
on what was working for the Bruins late in the second half as they reduced Utah’s lead
“Well, I just tried to be as aggressive as I can, pretty much. I just tried to get into the paint, just get there by any means possible and things will open up from there. So, that’s really all I tried doing. My teammates did a great job of hitting shots and of finding me, too, on the fast breaks and stuff like that.”
on how tough this loss is to absorb with so few regular-season games remaining
“It hurts, obviously. We might be down [in the standings] to USC since they beat Colorado. It obviously hurts us, but at the same time, it’s over with and we have to move on and get the next two games.”
UCLA senior center Thomas Welsh
on how concerned the team was with its defense on Thursday night
“I mean, yes, it’s concerning to see that happen when you’re in late February and to have a game like that, where we don’t play our best defensively – that’s never good. But you have to give credit to them [Utah]. They made a lot of great shots. At the same time, we gave them some great looks, too. There are definitely a lot of areas of improvement with our defense. We have two regular-season games coming up and we’ll have to iron those things out before March gets going.”
on Utah’s scoring run late in the first half and UCLA’s defensive effort
“It’s pretty tough [when talking about effort] because your effort is one thing that you can always control. It’s one of those areas where you’ve got to give 100 percent effort on every possession, at every moment and in every game. So, it’s not good, but that’s on us to come together after a game like this. We have to hunker down, come together, get rebounds, get stops and do all the small things that we need to do to win. And yeah, we did not do that tonight. We’ve got to learn from this and get ready for the next one.”
on whether he feels like the game on Sunday is a must-win contest
“I mean, in late February, they all feel like they’re must-win games, more or less. At this time of year, you want to be clicking in every way, and winning proves that. It just helps your resume and everything else as you move forward. Yeah, we have these two final regular-season games and we just want to make sure that we make the most out of them.”