Postgame Quotes - UCLA vs. Arizona
POSTGAME QUOTES
UCLA 90, Arizona 69
January 26, 2019
UCLA interim head coach Murry Bartow
opening remarks
“It was a good win, really proud of our guys. Great energy. I thought it started defensively – we really defended well, we played our 2 and it was pretty effective - they shoot 33% for the game. Rebounding was 47 to 30, so we were obviously pretty good on the glass. Offensively I thought we moved the ball, shared the ball. Kris Wilkes really busted out for us tonight. We knew that’s the player he is and it’s good to see him making shots, feeling good, looking confident. It was a good team effort for us tonight.”
on the team’s spirit
“It’s more fun to win than it is to lose. I thought the difference tonight was putting together a pretty good 40 minutes. We won our first three and against Oregon State we played pretty well for about 30 minutes. We didn’t finish that game very well. USC, we were tied with 18 minutes to go but we didn’t finish it very well. We played about 32 minutes of really good basketball on Thursday night but we had that one stretch in the second half. But I thought tonight for 40 minutes we played pretty darn well. ”
on the synergy of Hands and Wilkes
“They’re close. They like to play together. Jaylen can obviously score but he’s also a guy that can get nine, 10, 11 assists. It was really big for our team that Kris Wilkes got rolling. We started calling some things for him, he got rolling. Moses I thought played a great game, had great energy, and got another double-double. It’s a good team victory for us.”
on Kris Wilkes
“He just got it rolling early. We didn’t really call anything for him early. You could kinda see the look in his eye. You could see that he was confident, that he was making baskets. Then in the second half, we started to run a few more things directed for him to make sure we put the ball in his hands. He was just very confident. I like that he wasn’t giddy about it, he was very professional, didn’t change his expression much, but he was in a very confident zone.”
on the absence of Arizona’s Chase Jeter
“Obviously it didn’t help Arizona that Jeter was out. Jeter’s a really good player and he’s big, he’s strong, he does a lot for them in the post. So the fact that he’s out of the game certainly didn’t help [them].”
on the rebounding
“We think we’re a good rebounding team. If we look at the stats, we’re one of the best rebounding teams in the conference, if not the best. We’ve kinda got to do it collectively. Tonight, we had a lot of guys with four or more rebounds, led by Moses’s 15. Looking at our free throws a little bit too, we shot free throws a little bit better. I’m glad to see Moses has got that new bank shot from the free throw line, that was good. We shot the free throws a little bit better, and I thought rebounding was a big key in the game, we did a nice job on the glass.
on Moses Brown
“It’s really big that he plays thirty-plus minutes because he really anchors our 2 Zone. If we’re gonna play a lot of 2, we’re just much better when he’s in the middle of it. We’ve tried to simplify the message with Moses. Just run, rebound, and have fun. We don’t really run much for him. But we want him to run the floor, rebound, and enjoy playing. As I’ve said 100 times, he’s so fun to coach because he’s such a great kid. He wants to be coached. So it’s fun to see him play well.
UCLA freshman Moses Brown
on meeting UCLA legend Kareem Abdul-Jabbar
“It was my first time ever meeting Kareem. I always wanted to meet him and I always thought I would meet him here. That was it.”
on what Abdul-Jabbar said to him
“He just told me to keep up the good work. He asked me what school I went to and he knew I went to Archbishop Milloy [High School]. We had a lot of things in common.”
on what it’s like to be guarded by smaller defenders
“Yeah, it was good. Every time they threw it to me, I think something good happened. I got a lot offensive rebounds and defensive rebounds, but that was just a credit to me being active on both ends.”
on speaking to UCLA legend Bill Walton before the game
“Bill Walton talks to me all the time before the game, just trying to get my head right going into the game. [He’s] just telling me to work, but not only work hard, work smart.”
on what it’s like to play in front of former players like Abdul-Jabbar and Walton
“It’s really exciting. These guys—they’ve been there and done that and they have so much to teach them. I just want to go out there and show it and just play to the best of my abilities—follow in their footsteps.”
UCLA sophomore Jaylen Hands
on what team has to do to play well on a regular basis
“Focus. I think, today, Kris [Wilkes] had a spectacular night but more importantly, I think we just focused. We played the full 40 [minutes]. We never let down after the first half, so I think that we were focused. Our attitude is really good, but as long as we just focus, keep playing hard, communicating, staying together for a full 40 minutes, I think we can play with anyone.”
on how his ball movement helps his teammates score
“I think it was a team effort. You can’t assist unless your teammates make the shot. Kris [Wilkes] had a lot of them. He was on fire, so thanks to him. Everyone was doing their part. It wasn’t just me or just one individual. Everyone was playing well.
on buzz he’s been getting from dunk against Arizona state and team’s competitiveness in practice
“The dunk was cool. I got a lot of attention for it, so that was cool. The highlight looked cool. We’ve been practicing hard, so a lot of fast breaks and layups for everyone else. Prince [Ali], Kris [Wilkes], Moses [Brown]—they’re the ones dunking all the time.”
UCLA sophomore Kris Wilkes
on what contributed to his career-high scoring performance
“I think, really, just my teammates giving me the ball. We shared the ball and I was just able to knock down shots tonight.”
on seeing his shots start to fall again
“It feels really nice. Last game, our team lost and I was talking to the commentators and they were saying [that in] one game, [shots] are just going to fall. I didn’t think it would be right now, but it was just one of those nights where they fell and it was just a good team win. I’m glad we finally got this win and, hopefully, we go in next week and get a road sweep.”
on Coach Bartow calling plays for him when he got hot in the second half
“It’s good, but it also means it’s up to me to make the right decision. If I’m not open, swing it. I think, tonight, I was calmed down a lot more and wasn’t trying to force a lot of shots like I did previously in past games. It was just a good night overall, and [we] just have to come back and win.”
Arizona head coach Sean Miller
opening statement
“We got killed both games. We just got blown out in both of these games. We can’t make a shot. At the end of the day, someone really has to throw that ball in.”
on Brandon Williams’ performance
“Really played well this whole trip. He’s in that same club, that club where we can’t make a shot. Against USC, he had a really nice floor game. He’s playing the best basketball of his career. As a true freshman, it’s always hard to make that adjustment. As the games have gone on, he’s feeling more comfortable out there.”
Arizona freshman Brandon Williams
on positives from this week
“We’re getting shots that we’re capable of making. We’re just not making them. We’re getting open looks, so we really just have to take advantage of our opportunities.
on scoring 19 points
“I really don’t care about that because we lost. We have to stay with our defensive concepts. We gotta get ready for Washington State and Washington, they’re really good teams. I think Washington is undefeated, we just have to stick to our defensive principles.
UCLA 90, Arizona 69
January 26, 2019
UCLA interim head coach Murry Bartow
opening remarks
“It was a good win, really proud of our guys. Great energy. I thought it started defensively – we really defended well, we played our 2 and it was pretty effective - they shoot 33% for the game. Rebounding was 47 to 30, so we were obviously pretty good on the glass. Offensively I thought we moved the ball, shared the ball. Kris Wilkes really busted out for us tonight. We knew that’s the player he is and it’s good to see him making shots, feeling good, looking confident. It was a good team effort for us tonight.”
on the team’s spirit
“It’s more fun to win than it is to lose. I thought the difference tonight was putting together a pretty good 40 minutes. We won our first three and against Oregon State we played pretty well for about 30 minutes. We didn’t finish that game very well. USC, we were tied with 18 minutes to go but we didn’t finish it very well. We played about 32 minutes of really good basketball on Thursday night but we had that one stretch in the second half. But I thought tonight for 40 minutes we played pretty darn well. ”
on the synergy of Hands and Wilkes
“They’re close. They like to play together. Jaylen can obviously score but he’s also a guy that can get nine, 10, 11 assists. It was really big for our team that Kris Wilkes got rolling. We started calling some things for him, he got rolling. Moses I thought played a great game, had great energy, and got another double-double. It’s a good team victory for us.”
on Kris Wilkes
“He just got it rolling early. We didn’t really call anything for him early. You could kinda see the look in his eye. You could see that he was confident, that he was making baskets. Then in the second half, we started to run a few more things directed for him to make sure we put the ball in his hands. He was just very confident. I like that he wasn’t giddy about it, he was very professional, didn’t change his expression much, but he was in a very confident zone.”
on the absence of Arizona’s Chase Jeter
“Obviously it didn’t help Arizona that Jeter was out. Jeter’s a really good player and he’s big, he’s strong, he does a lot for them in the post. So the fact that he’s out of the game certainly didn’t help [them].”
on the rebounding
“We think we’re a good rebounding team. If we look at the stats, we’re one of the best rebounding teams in the conference, if not the best. We’ve kinda got to do it collectively. Tonight, we had a lot of guys with four or more rebounds, led by Moses’s 15. Looking at our free throws a little bit too, we shot free throws a little bit better. I’m glad to see Moses has got that new bank shot from the free throw line, that was good. We shot the free throws a little bit better, and I thought rebounding was a big key in the game, we did a nice job on the glass.
on Moses Brown
“It’s really big that he plays thirty-plus minutes because he really anchors our 2 Zone. If we’re gonna play a lot of 2, we’re just much better when he’s in the middle of it. We’ve tried to simplify the message with Moses. Just run, rebound, and have fun. We don’t really run much for him. But we want him to run the floor, rebound, and enjoy playing. As I’ve said 100 times, he’s so fun to coach because he’s such a great kid. He wants to be coached. So it’s fun to see him play well.
UCLA freshman Moses Brown
on meeting UCLA legend Kareem Abdul-Jabbar
“It was my first time ever meeting Kareem. I always wanted to meet him and I always thought I would meet him here. That was it.”
on what Abdul-Jabbar said to him
“He just told me to keep up the good work. He asked me what school I went to and he knew I went to Archbishop Milloy [High School]. We had a lot of things in common.”
on what it’s like to be guarded by smaller defenders
“Yeah, it was good. Every time they threw it to me, I think something good happened. I got a lot offensive rebounds and defensive rebounds, but that was just a credit to me being active on both ends.”
on speaking to UCLA legend Bill Walton before the game
“Bill Walton talks to me all the time before the game, just trying to get my head right going into the game. [He’s] just telling me to work, but not only work hard, work smart.”
on what it’s like to play in front of former players like Abdul-Jabbar and Walton
“It’s really exciting. These guys—they’ve been there and done that and they have so much to teach them. I just want to go out there and show it and just play to the best of my abilities—follow in their footsteps.”
UCLA sophomore Jaylen Hands
on what team has to do to play well on a regular basis
“Focus. I think, today, Kris [Wilkes] had a spectacular night but more importantly, I think we just focused. We played the full 40 [minutes]. We never let down after the first half, so I think that we were focused. Our attitude is really good, but as long as we just focus, keep playing hard, communicating, staying together for a full 40 minutes, I think we can play with anyone.”
on how his ball movement helps his teammates score
“I think it was a team effort. You can’t assist unless your teammates make the shot. Kris [Wilkes] had a lot of them. He was on fire, so thanks to him. Everyone was doing their part. It wasn’t just me or just one individual. Everyone was playing well.
on buzz he’s been getting from dunk against Arizona state and team’s competitiveness in practice
“The dunk was cool. I got a lot of attention for it, so that was cool. The highlight looked cool. We’ve been practicing hard, so a lot of fast breaks and layups for everyone else. Prince [Ali], Kris [Wilkes], Moses [Brown]—they’re the ones dunking all the time.”
UCLA sophomore Kris Wilkes
on what contributed to his career-high scoring performance
“I think, really, just my teammates giving me the ball. We shared the ball and I was just able to knock down shots tonight.”
on seeing his shots start to fall again
“It feels really nice. Last game, our team lost and I was talking to the commentators and they were saying [that in] one game, [shots] are just going to fall. I didn’t think it would be right now, but it was just one of those nights where they fell and it was just a good team win. I’m glad we finally got this win and, hopefully, we go in next week and get a road sweep.”
on Coach Bartow calling plays for him when he got hot in the second half
“It’s good, but it also means it’s up to me to make the right decision. If I’m not open, swing it. I think, tonight, I was calmed down a lot more and wasn’t trying to force a lot of shots like I did previously in past games. It was just a good night overall, and [we] just have to come back and win.”
Arizona head coach Sean Miller
opening statement
“We got killed both games. We just got blown out in both of these games. We can’t make a shot. At the end of the day, someone really has to throw that ball in.”
on Brandon Williams’ performance
“Really played well this whole trip. He’s in that same club, that club where we can’t make a shot. Against USC, he had a really nice floor game. He’s playing the best basketball of his career. As a true freshman, it’s always hard to make that adjustment. As the games have gone on, he’s feeling more comfortable out there.”
Arizona freshman Brandon Williams
on positives from this week
“We’re getting shots that we’re capable of making. We’re just not making them. We’re getting open looks, so we really just have to take advantage of our opportunities.
on scoring 19 points
“I really don’t care about that because we lost. We have to stay with our defensive concepts. We gotta get ready for Washington State and Washington, they’re really good teams. I think Washington is undefeated, we just have to stick to our defensive principles.