Postgame Quotes - UCLA vs. Stanford
POSTGAME QUOTES
UCLA 92, Stanford 70
January 3, 2019
UCLA interim head coach Murry Bartow
opening remarks
“I honestly feel good about the win. Guys played hard, competed hard, we had good preparation. Obviously, it’s been a really hard week. Monday was a hard, hard, hard, emotional day. Tuesday, we had a great practice. We went twice. Wednesday, we went less. We played with some emotion tonight, which was fun to see. I thought the crowd really, really helped us. You know, it was like an eight-, nine-, 10-point game and we were pressing, so I’m really grateful to the fans who came out because I thought the energy in Pauley kind of got us from that nine- or 10-point mark to maybe the 15- or 16-point mark. I thought that was a big factor in the game. Again, really proud of our guys. Moses Brown sprained his ankle a little bit yesterday. We weren’t even sure if he was going to play in the game and he goes for 17 and 10. We wanted to speed it up a little bit, get the pace up a little bit and fortunately we were able to do that tonight. It’s been a hard week, it’s just one game, but it’s a good start.”
on if he felt team was galvanized coming out
“Just didn’t know. Just didn’t know. I love what I’ve seen. Again, Monday morning was really, really tough. We came back and thought had a pretty good practice Monday. Two hard practices Tuesday and two hard practices Wednesday—one harder than the other. We went pretty hard this morning and guys played well. We’ve got pretty good talent on this team and we really didn’t structurally do a lot different than we’ve been doing. We just sped it up a little bit, tried to advance the ball a little bit more and tried to speed the game up a little bit.”
on the importance of attacking the basket
“Well it’s important. We were hopeful in this game we could attack the paint, attack the rim. Obviously, when you see zone, first thing when you see a zone, you want to get to the paint and we were decent at doing that. You don’t want to settle for perimeter jumpshots if the team’s playing in zone. You simply want to get the ball to the blue via the pass or the dribble and play inside out, attack the rim and we were able to do that. I thought we rebounded pretty well. I think that was a big key in the game. We had a plus-12 rebounding advantage. Got five guys in double figures. We hit 90 points. There’s some good, again. I’m one of those pretty even-keel guys. I’m not a guy that gets too high after one win, but it was a good start. Good start.”
on what he learned from his father about coaching at UCLA
“My dad was a great coach. Passed away seven years ago today, so it’s a little emotional for me to think about it. My dad had great memories of being here at UCLA… The best thing about my dad was [he] was an incredible people person. That’s really the biggest takeaway for me—just how to treat people, just anybody you come into contact with. Hopefully I got some of that from him in terms of the way I try to deal with the guys… I miss my dad. He loved being here. Obviously, he was following Coach Wooden, which was a pretty hard guy to follow. I’ve got great memories being a ball boy here and seeing a lot of good players.”
on if anything was said to team to help channel emotions
“I thought Tyus (Edney) gave a really emotional talk—I guess that was on Monday—just what it means to put the UCLA uniform on. The way you’ve got to look, the way you’ve got to act, the way you’ve got to play. Talked about the history here and the tradition here and what it means to be a basketball player at UCLA. And he got emotional. Tyus was pretty emotional as he spoke to the team. I certainly think that had an effect on them.”
“Guys have worked really hard. There’s no way to foresee what was going to happen, but the guys did play with some spirit and some energy and it was good to see.”
on how he felt to see team celebrate a win
“Well it’s exciting. We’ve got a very, very excited locker room. It’s been a really hard two weeks… and their head coach, the guy they came here to play for, obviously is let go… It’s been hard, but I think the last three days, the guys have done a really good job of trying to get their spirits back up. They were incredibly, incredibly excited in the locker room after the game. And I thought the bench was great. I just thought the energy of our team was much better.”
on team’s defense
“We really wanted to push the tempo of this game, so we wanted to press more, trap a little bit more, try to run a little bit more after a made shot, get it out quicker, advance it quicker. We were able to do that. I thought defensively, a little up and down, but for the most part, pretty good.”
on why he inserted Chris Smith into starting lineup
“I’m a fan of his. I like him a lot. I think he’s a hard matchup and he’s a versatile guy. He’s really athletic. I’ll be really surprised if one day he’s not playing in the NBA. He’s got that NBA body, length, skill. He’s just got to get more consistent. He ended up tonight with seven points, eight rebounds, three assists. He’s just the kind of a guy, jack of all trades that can do a lot of things. He can play the wing, he can play inside, he’s fast, he can guard, he can rebound, he can shoot… He’s a guy that I like a lot and I think he’s a hard matchup.”
UCLA sophomore guard Jaylen Hands
on playing with increased intensity
“I think it felt really good. All four days of practice, we keyed in on playing with pride, playing for the four letters in front of us. I think we went out there and mirrored what we did in practice. We played hard, with energy, and for each other.”
on focusing on driving to the basket on offense
“Just like I said before, I feel like we really focused on playing with pride and that comes with playing for each other. On top of that, Coach Bartow really focused on playing with speed. He thinks we’re really athletic and we should use it more. I don’t think we called a lot of plays, I think we just did a lot of running, passing. If you’re open, attack and shoot it. Just play free.”
on impact of full-court pressure on defense
“I think it helped us a lot. We’re long, we’re athletic, so we wanted to play that advantage … I think it played really well in our favor.”
on Chris Smith’s performance
“Chris Smith is long, athletic, so I think it played into our game plan. I think we had eight rebounds; he did a good job rebounding. He didn’t shoot as well today, so he can just come back Saturday against Cal and pick that up. I think he did a really good job rebounding, outletting on breaks, getting active, being long. It’s like having four guards out there. Everyone’s a threat to drive and shoot at all times.”
UCLA freshman center Moses Brown
on positive fan reaction tonight following boos during previous game
“It kind of hurt. We didn’t come out with the energy we were supposed to have [against Liberty]. I felt like that’s the way they would react. We didn’t come out the way we were supposed to play. We didn’t look like a team. We didn’t have enough energy. But we got right back to it today.”
on what he likes about Coach Bartow’s coaching style
“I love Coach Bartow’s energy. In practice, he does a lot to motivate us. When Coach was around, we just how much energy and how much effort he put into us and making us a better team. Now that he’s the head coach, all of that is starting to manifest. As you could see on the court, we did a good job today. We had more energy, just ran up and down, having a good time. We came together as a family. He emphasized us just looking like a team, valuing each other, sharing the ball, playing defense, and playing hard. I really like the way he’s going about this slow transition.”
on how his dunks lifted the team tonight
“I think it helped lift the defense. We worked a lot on how [Stanford] was going to play us. They played us in a zone for a short part of the game and we ran a lot of sets that could take advantage of their defense. We moved the ball around and made it way easier to get open shots not only for me, but for my teammates.”
UCLA freshman guard David Singleton
on Tyus Edney’s speech to the team this week
“It meant a lot to me. I was really touched. Tyus—he knows the guards. He teaches me new things. When I heard that speech, we came together and said we need to play our heart out. We need to play for us, for our fans, and, mostly, for our coaches. We represent UCLA. We represent the present and the alumni.”
on initial reactions to departure of Steve Alford
“It was an emotional time for us. We listened to what he had to say and we took it upon ourselves to come together. Even though it was a tremendous loss for the team, we still had a season to play out.”
on how two-a-day practice schedules helped the preparation for tonight’s game
“The two-a-days really helped us. They helped us concentrate. As a team, we have to learn to concentrate and I thought we did that. I feel like we focused on our mission even more and we felt how serious Coach Bartow was. We really felt his love. When coaches care, when coaches love us, they’re honest like that.”
Stanford head coach Jerod Haase
on the difference between the first half and the second half
“It was only a ten-minute difference, but the last twenty minutes we couldn’t guard. We couldn’t guard (Jaylen) Hands. We just have to show more pride.”
on the defensive strategy
“We just had a lack of discipline, lack of toughness. There are things we tell our bigs not to do. It doesn’t guarantee exact discipline, but it gives you a chance of discipline.”
on the difference between both young teams
“Coach Bartow. They are better than we are. They are better shooters. They were just better than we were.”
Stanford sophomore forward KZ Okpala
on the difference between the first and second halves
“I think there was a little bit of fatigue. I think for the most part we played the game pretty well. We just have to work on getting back on defense.”
on UCLA’s press and zone defense
“We just have to make shots in the zone. With the press, we haven’t seen a press like that in a while. They have so much length and we can’t have those turnovers.”
on what Coach Haase said to them after the game
“We are going to talk about it tomorrow. He didn’t talk about it today.”