University of California, Los Angeles, Athletics
Postgame Quotes - UCLA vs. Utah
POSTGAME QUOTES
Utah 93, UCLA 92
February 9, 2019
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UCLA interim head coach Murry Bartow
opening remarks
โThat was obviously a tough loss to say the least. It was a tale of two halves. Iโm not sure we can play much better in the first half. Weโre up 17, weโre rolling along, we had 13 assists at the half, we played great. Obviously, we talk to the team a lot about trying to put two good halves together. Personally, I give Utah incredible credit. They scored 61 points in the second half. We tried some man tonight, tried some zone tonight. Obviously, Moses didnโt play. Heโs gonna have to learn to be a little more punctual, for me. I love Moses, but the bottom line is heโs got to learn to be on time, and Iโm just not gonna put up with it. So thatโs why he didnโt play. Obviously, that didnโt help us. But still, weโre up 20 in the second half so it had very little to do with that. We obviously turned it over some against their press, missed some free throws late, maybe got a little tentative the last six, seven minutes of the game. And then defensively, we just couldnโt get a stop. The last four or five minutes of the game, we couldnโt stop them. Again, you gotta give them credit. They kept fighting, they kept clawing, kept coming back. It was 10, then eight, before you can blink they make a great, great shot at the end of the game. Tough loss, very tough loss.โ
ย
on intentionally fouling late
โWe didnโt execute it right. Thatโs all I would say. I think itโs the right play. I think statistically, itโs the right play. We didnโt execute it correctly. We fouled obviously way too quickly. When youโre three up with that much time on the clock, I think as the ball is crossing half court, four or five seconds on the clock, [fouling] is statistically, probably, the right play. We didnโt execute it right because we fouled way too quickly.โ
ย
On Utahโs Parker Van Dyke
โHeโs good. He can make threes. Heโs a really good player, really good three-point shooter. They ran a nice action to flip it back to him. We had the ball under control, but they ran a little flip back play. I donโt know how far out he was, but that was an incredibly deep three. Itโs like what we did at Oregon. Weโre down 17, we come back and win. If you analyze that last four minutes, it almost canโt happen. They made some incredible plays. Then offensively for us, we turned it over and missed a bunch of free throws. The combination of the two got us beat.โ
ย
On bringing in Moses Brown
โIn retrospect, maybe shouldnโt have done it. I thought we were gonna be three up. I thought we were going to get back into a zone and try to extend it. I just wanted to get one more big body into the game, so thatโs why we put him in.
ย
On the final seven minutes offensively
โI mean we still wanted to push it. We scored 92 points. We wanted to take good shots and be aggressive in transition on a miss. On a make, we knew they were gonna be in a press so press offense. We were trying to be aggressive. I was saying in every timeout โhey on a missed shot letโs attack the rim, letโs attack the paint, letโs go downhill. On a made shot, press offense into our swing.โ We got a little tentative. Again, we scored 43 points in the second half, 92 for the game. When you score 92 for the game, youโre probably not thinking the other team is gonna score 61 on you in a half. But thatโs what happened.
ย
On if they considered intentionally missing a free throw on their last possession
โNo, we didnโt want to do that. You can do that, just in that situation we wanted to make the free throw and go up by a couple.โ
ย
On the psyche of the team
โPsycheโs not real good right now. The players are resilient. Theyโll be very down today and tomorrow, but weโll come back Monday and get ready for Cal. Obviously, weโre about as down as you can be right this second, but I think after a day and a half of rest, and weโll come back and try to analyze what happened in the last 10 minutes of the game. Weโre down right now, but these guys will bounce back.ย
ย
UCLA sophomore Jaylen Hands
on what went wrong in the last few minutes and how much the loss hurts
โWe lost. We had a big lead. We let it go. Obviously, it hurts a lot. Not to downplay your question, but it hurts a lot. Itโs been a wild season, so it hurts a lot.โ
ย
on strategy of fouling when up three points with a few seconds left
โYou know, it was on me. It was our intention to foul, but I did it a little too early. It happened; I canโt go back and change it. I did it a little too early, so thatโs on me.โ
ย
on how to rally the team back together ahead of upcoming road trip
โWeโll just keep going at it. Like I said, itโs been a wild season, so that was crazy out there โฆ Weโre going to go back on the court, practice hard, play hard. We just have to get better. I think we got better offensivelyโ92 points, 20 assists, 12 turnovers, so there was some improvement. We slipped on the defensive end. Weโre just going to go back and keep working. Thereโs not much else we can do.โ
ย
on how the offense changed when the teamโs lead started to dwindle
โI think we went through a little stretch for two or three minutes when we missed some shots. We tried to milk the clock and missed some shots there. In the last three minutes, [Utah] started fouling, so we didnโt really get in a flow. And then there were a couple possessions after they started fouling [when] they started trapping. So, a lot of people didnโt know if it was a foul or if it was a trap โฆ In that case, we just have to make our free throws, be calm, be able to get on defense and get stops, because theyโre the one pressing. Weโll watch [film] and learn from that.โ
ย
on transition to man-to-man defense and whether there was an offensive emphasis on high-ball screens
โFor the man [defense], we just do what the coaches tell us. We practice and we just go out there and play hard. We had a lot of good moments there. If Iโm not mistaken, they scored like 60 in the second [half], so in the first half, we did a really good job being in man, switching it up from man to โtwoโ. That was a positive in the first half. With the screens, thatโs just what we practice onโgetting downhill and getting people to move the ball and letting everyone touch it. Like I said, offensively, we had a lot of good stuff, but we didnโt come out with a win, so we just have to do better.โ
ย
UCLA sophomore Kris Wilkes
on what went wrong in the last few minutes and how much the loss hurts
โI agree [with Jaylen Hands]. We missed a few free throws. I know I missed two, missed a couple key shots at the end of the game.โ
ย
on the teamโs impressive play in the first half
โOur main focus the last day or soโweโre getting back to assisting the ball a lot more. That was our main focus tonight, getting 20 assists. We did achieve that goal. But, ultimately, a lot of that was in the first half. I think, in the second half, we didnโt do nearly as much we did in the first half, which obviously helped us create that big lead. Thatโs been our main focus and we didnโt do it too much in the second half.โ
ย
on how to rally the team back together ahead of upcoming road trip
โDespite the loss, I donโt think it was just a horrible game at all by any means. I think we had a lot of highlights that really helped us out in the first half when we did well. Weโll go back and look at that and also look at the negative things that we did that didnโt help us win. We have two tough games coming up, Cal and Stanford, and we have to be ready to beat them.โ
ย
Utah head coach Larry Krystkowiak
on how heโs feeling after the buzzer-beater
โMy heart is fine, but my mind is really blown right now. It was a crazy tale of two halves. We really got punched in the mouth in the first half and it was a really bad start to the weekend.โ
on how he felt things changed throughout the game
โMomentum is a big thing. I kept telling the refs at halftime not to count us outโwe are going to come back. I just told our guys just to stay in the fight. We made some threes. This was made for TV. Not like the USC game, but really the last ten minutes of the game really got crazy. We just stuck in the game. Itโs a little bit spooky. I just thought we had a chance.โ
ย
on the changes during the game
โLike I said, we really got punched in the mouth and it really wasnโt about Xs and Os. We didnโt really didnโt make any adjustments. I just told the guys we needed more energy and more effort.โ
ย
on where they go from here
โWe just enjoy this right now. We won these two games on the road in L.A.. Itโs really getting close to Vegas, so we have to protect our home court.โ Itโs our goal to finish among the top four.โ
ย
Utah senior guard Parker Van Dyke
on how the game-winning shot feltโฆ
โIt felt really good coming out of my hands. Sedrick (Barefield) made a great pass, a really unselfish play. He drew two guys and when you have the ball in your hands in the last two seconds, you have to let it fly. This is a similar shot that I had at Arizona, but I missed that shot. This shot was a little bit deeper, but Coach K told me to shoot it because itโs a good shot.โ
on the comeback in the second halfโฆ
โIt was just about the last ten plays. If those plays donโt go your way, you really donโt have a shot. Some luck was involved because they (UCLA) missed some free throws. Coach K always talks about keeping the fight. We just have to take this same energy that we have on the road and use it on our home court. We have to maintain that same type of focus and consistency.โ
Utah 93, UCLA 92
February 9, 2019
ย
UCLA interim head coach Murry Bartow
opening remarks
โThat was obviously a tough loss to say the least. It was a tale of two halves. Iโm not sure we can play much better in the first half. Weโre up 17, weโre rolling along, we had 13 assists at the half, we played great. Obviously, we talk to the team a lot about trying to put two good halves together. Personally, I give Utah incredible credit. They scored 61 points in the second half. We tried some man tonight, tried some zone tonight. Obviously, Moses didnโt play. Heโs gonna have to learn to be a little more punctual, for me. I love Moses, but the bottom line is heโs got to learn to be on time, and Iโm just not gonna put up with it. So thatโs why he didnโt play. Obviously, that didnโt help us. But still, weโre up 20 in the second half so it had very little to do with that. We obviously turned it over some against their press, missed some free throws late, maybe got a little tentative the last six, seven minutes of the game. And then defensively, we just couldnโt get a stop. The last four or five minutes of the game, we couldnโt stop them. Again, you gotta give them credit. They kept fighting, they kept clawing, kept coming back. It was 10, then eight, before you can blink they make a great, great shot at the end of the game. Tough loss, very tough loss.โ
ย
on intentionally fouling late
โWe didnโt execute it right. Thatโs all I would say. I think itโs the right play. I think statistically, itโs the right play. We didnโt execute it correctly. We fouled obviously way too quickly. When youโre three up with that much time on the clock, I think as the ball is crossing half court, four or five seconds on the clock, [fouling] is statistically, probably, the right play. We didnโt execute it right because we fouled way too quickly.โ
ย
On Utahโs Parker Van Dyke
โHeโs good. He can make threes. Heโs a really good player, really good three-point shooter. They ran a nice action to flip it back to him. We had the ball under control, but they ran a little flip back play. I donโt know how far out he was, but that was an incredibly deep three. Itโs like what we did at Oregon. Weโre down 17, we come back and win. If you analyze that last four minutes, it almost canโt happen. They made some incredible plays. Then offensively for us, we turned it over and missed a bunch of free throws. The combination of the two got us beat.โ
ย
On bringing in Moses Brown
โIn retrospect, maybe shouldnโt have done it. I thought we were gonna be three up. I thought we were going to get back into a zone and try to extend it. I just wanted to get one more big body into the game, so thatโs why we put him in.
ย
On the final seven minutes offensively
โI mean we still wanted to push it. We scored 92 points. We wanted to take good shots and be aggressive in transition on a miss. On a make, we knew they were gonna be in a press so press offense. We were trying to be aggressive. I was saying in every timeout โhey on a missed shot letโs attack the rim, letโs attack the paint, letโs go downhill. On a made shot, press offense into our swing.โ We got a little tentative. Again, we scored 43 points in the second half, 92 for the game. When you score 92 for the game, youโre probably not thinking the other team is gonna score 61 on you in a half. But thatโs what happened.
ย
On if they considered intentionally missing a free throw on their last possession
โNo, we didnโt want to do that. You can do that, just in that situation we wanted to make the free throw and go up by a couple.โ
ย
On the psyche of the team
โPsycheโs not real good right now. The players are resilient. Theyโll be very down today and tomorrow, but weโll come back Monday and get ready for Cal. Obviously, weโre about as down as you can be right this second, but I think after a day and a half of rest, and weโll come back and try to analyze what happened in the last 10 minutes of the game. Weโre down right now, but these guys will bounce back.ย
ย
UCLA sophomore Jaylen Hands
on what went wrong in the last few minutes and how much the loss hurts
โWe lost. We had a big lead. We let it go. Obviously, it hurts a lot. Not to downplay your question, but it hurts a lot. Itโs been a wild season, so it hurts a lot.โ
ย
on strategy of fouling when up three points with a few seconds left
โYou know, it was on me. It was our intention to foul, but I did it a little too early. It happened; I canโt go back and change it. I did it a little too early, so thatโs on me.โ
ย
on how to rally the team back together ahead of upcoming road trip
โWeโll just keep going at it. Like I said, itโs been a wild season, so that was crazy out there โฆ Weโre going to go back on the court, practice hard, play hard. We just have to get better. I think we got better offensivelyโ92 points, 20 assists, 12 turnovers, so there was some improvement. We slipped on the defensive end. Weโre just going to go back and keep working. Thereโs not much else we can do.โ
ย
on how the offense changed when the teamโs lead started to dwindle
โI think we went through a little stretch for two or three minutes when we missed some shots. We tried to milk the clock and missed some shots there. In the last three minutes, [Utah] started fouling, so we didnโt really get in a flow. And then there were a couple possessions after they started fouling [when] they started trapping. So, a lot of people didnโt know if it was a foul or if it was a trap โฆ In that case, we just have to make our free throws, be calm, be able to get on defense and get stops, because theyโre the one pressing. Weโll watch [film] and learn from that.โ
ย
on transition to man-to-man defense and whether there was an offensive emphasis on high-ball screens
โFor the man [defense], we just do what the coaches tell us. We practice and we just go out there and play hard. We had a lot of good moments there. If Iโm not mistaken, they scored like 60 in the second [half], so in the first half, we did a really good job being in man, switching it up from man to โtwoโ. That was a positive in the first half. With the screens, thatโs just what we practice onโgetting downhill and getting people to move the ball and letting everyone touch it. Like I said, offensively, we had a lot of good stuff, but we didnโt come out with a win, so we just have to do better.โ
ย
UCLA sophomore Kris Wilkes
on what went wrong in the last few minutes and how much the loss hurts
โI agree [with Jaylen Hands]. We missed a few free throws. I know I missed two, missed a couple key shots at the end of the game.โ
ย
on the teamโs impressive play in the first half
โOur main focus the last day or soโweโre getting back to assisting the ball a lot more. That was our main focus tonight, getting 20 assists. We did achieve that goal. But, ultimately, a lot of that was in the first half. I think, in the second half, we didnโt do nearly as much we did in the first half, which obviously helped us create that big lead. Thatโs been our main focus and we didnโt do it too much in the second half.โ
ย
on how to rally the team back together ahead of upcoming road trip
โDespite the loss, I donโt think it was just a horrible game at all by any means. I think we had a lot of highlights that really helped us out in the first half when we did well. Weโll go back and look at that and also look at the negative things that we did that didnโt help us win. We have two tough games coming up, Cal and Stanford, and we have to be ready to beat them.โ
ย
Utah head coach Larry Krystkowiak
on how heโs feeling after the buzzer-beater
โMy heart is fine, but my mind is really blown right now. It was a crazy tale of two halves. We really got punched in the mouth in the first half and it was a really bad start to the weekend.โ
on how he felt things changed throughout the game
โMomentum is a big thing. I kept telling the refs at halftime not to count us outโwe are going to come back. I just told our guys just to stay in the fight. We made some threes. This was made for TV. Not like the USC game, but really the last ten minutes of the game really got crazy. We just stuck in the game. Itโs a little bit spooky. I just thought we had a chance.โ
ย
on the changes during the game
โLike I said, we really got punched in the mouth and it really wasnโt about Xs and Os. We didnโt really didnโt make any adjustments. I just told the guys we needed more energy and more effort.โ
ย
on where they go from here
โWe just enjoy this right now. We won these two games on the road in L.A.. Itโs really getting close to Vegas, so we have to protect our home court.โ Itโs our goal to finish among the top four.โ
ย
Utah senior guard Parker Van Dyke
on how the game-winning shot feltโฆ
โIt felt really good coming out of my hands. Sedrick (Barefield) made a great pass, a really unselfish play. He drew two guys and when you have the ball in your hands in the last two seconds, you have to let it fly. This is a similar shot that I had at Arizona, but I missed that shot. This shot was a little bit deeper, but Coach K told me to shoot it because itโs a good shot.โ
on the comeback in the second halfโฆ
โIt was just about the last ten plays. If those plays donโt go your way, you really donโt have a shot. Some luck was involved because they (UCLA) missed some free throws. Coach K always talks about keeping the fight. We just have to take this same energy that we have on the road and use it on our home court. We have to maintain that same type of focus and consistency.โ