Postgame Quotes – UCLA at Utah
POSTGAME QUOTES
Utah 92, UCLA 81
Salt Lake City, Utah (Huntsman Center)
March 9, 2019
UCLA interim head coach Murry Bartow
on the challenge of not having center Moses Brown available
“I mean, it’s huge, not playing with Moses.”
on why Moses Brown didn’t play against Utah
“I’ll just let the statement that we made speak for itself. We’ll re-evaluate things once we get back to L.A. But I just have no further comment, right now.”
on Utah’s stellar 3-point shooting and what he saw there
“I saw the same thing that you saw – 17 threes going in. Look, we knew coming into this game that, I told the guys, that I have been in Senior Nights for 30 years. And I’m not sure that as a head coach, that I’ve lost very few Senior Night games [as the home team]. So we knew that coming into this game, we’d be playing a Utah team that was incredibly energized and they had a lot on the line, plus Senior Night. We tried zone for most of the first half, and then we went to man-to-man for the second half. I thought we played a pretty good second half, but we were just too far down. They’ve got great shooters. Larry is a very good coach. Offensively, they do some nice things to get those guys shots, and we played some 2-3, some 3-2 and then a lot of man. And here we are, 17 threes later.”
on whether his team will use more man defense in the Pac-12 Tournament
“We’ll see. It will depend on who we are playing. A lot will depend on if Moses is back or not.”
on how UCLA was able to reduce a 27-point deficit to eight points
“Well, these guys have not given up all year. We’ve lost some leads. But in those three overtime games that we’ve played, we have won. I love these guys. I’m proud of these guys. I wish we had more than nine conference wins, but I’m proud of the nine that we’ve got. They battled, but we just got way too far down on the road. It’s hard to, when you are 20 down, it’s hard to come back.”
on how he feels about his team going into the Pac-12 Tournament
“Well, I don’t like the fact that we have lost two in a row. But I think we have a lot of energy left in us, and our guys will continue to battle and fight. We’ll see happens.”
UCLA redshirt freshman Jalen Hill
on how the Bruins responded to not having Moses Brown available
“I think that we did pretty good. I think that we all stepped up a little bit more because Moses is a big part of our team. And when he goes down, you know, people have just got to step up. We’re used to relying on him a lot for interior defense and given the fact that he is not there, I think that we did an alright job.”
on how Utah claimed a 27-point lead midway through the first half
“Threes. They’re a really good 3-point shooting team. I think that they had 11 of 12 in the first half. We just didn’t find a stop to it, and you can’t just give up a 20-point lead and expect to come back really easy.”
on what sparked the run against Utah in the second half and the importance of playing man defense
“Yeah, I think that we cut it down to 11 or nine, single-digits, eight points. It’s just a credit to the guys coming off the bench. You look at guys like Dave and Jules, those guys especially, they did their job. They came in, gave us a spark, and there were a bunch of other guys who stepped up too, but those two guys came in and gave us a spark. They had a lot of energy.”
on the state of this team, headed to the Pac-12 Tournament
“I believe that we are going to win the whole thing. There is no doubt in my mind. But we’ve got to lock down. We have to have a good start. We can’t keep starting off bad. We cannot keep giving teams leads. You look at our second half, we’re scoring. We out-scored them [today] by about 10 points, or something like that, in the second half.”
on whether he and his teammates knew prior to the game that UCLA could not secure a first-round bye
“No. We didn’t know that. We just go out there and play. I don’t care if we get a bye, we don’t get a bye, we just go out there and play our hardest every time.”
on whether he believes his team can win four games in four days
“Absolutely, 100 percent.”
UCLA freshman Jules Bernard
on whether he and his teammates knew the Bruins couldn’t get a first-round bye, in advance of the game
“I mean, coming into this game, we were just focused on Utah and that was it. We just wanted to end the regular season on a high note. We tried our best to win the game, and it didn’t go our way. We were just focused on Utah.”
on how his team responded to not having Moses Brown on the court
“It’s always tough. His presence in the middle, 7-1 or 7-2, rebounds and blocks shots. They got to the basket a lot and with Moses, he’s able to alter a lot of those shots. But we tried our best.”
on what happened with UCLA’s 3-point defense
“We slacked off a little bit in the beginning, and they just got hot from there. For the rest of the game, we contested pretty well on threes, but they were hitting some hard shots. We’ve got to stop that early. With a team like Utah, with players who can get really hot from three, we’ve got to hard contest early and get them out of their rhythm.”
on finding success with the man defense and possibly using that in the Pac-12 Tournament
“It’s possible. It depends upon who we play, what matchups we have and what defense will work best against the other team. It worked a little bit today. We’ll see what happens in the Pac-12 [Tournament].”
on having to win four games in four days in the Pac-12 Tournament
“I think that we could absolutely do it. I have the utmost confidence in our team, and I think that all our players have confidence in ourselves and this team. It’s just the little things that we’ve got to perfect. We were down nine in the second half today, and it’s just little mistakes, then the lead bumped back up to double digits. So we’ve got to focus for the whole 40 minutes and play hard. If we can do that, I think that we can beat anyone.”
UCLA freshman David Singleton
on how important the switch to man-to-man defense was
“It was definitely big for us, but it was more of our defensive intensity. We had more heart and more pride in the second half to get stops.”
on how tough it was to play this game, knowing that Moses Brown was not available
“It was tough. I mean, we didn’t have Moses the last time that we played them, so it was tough. We had to focus on the game. We knew that he was going to cheer us on and everything like that, helping us to stay focused.”
on UCLA struggling to contest 3-pointers against Utah in the first half
“They were moving the ball, playing like a team. They’re a very good offensive team. They were just doing what they do, playing like a team, moving the ball and making the extra pass.”
on the Bruins’ mindset and what must be done to improve, heading into the Pac-12 Tournament
“I think we just need to come out with a better mindset in the first half. We only put 20 minutes together in each of these games. So we’ve got to learn how to put 40 minutes together as a young team. It’s hard to do, but it isn’t impossible. We just have to have our defensive mindset from the get-go.”
on having to win four games in four days in the Pac-12 Tournament
“It’s just one game at a time. It’s definitely possible. We believe that we can do it. Our spirits aren’t broken, or anything like that. We’re moving to the next game like we do, just got to re-group for Monday and practice Tuesday, and then handle business one game at a time.”
on the team’s mindset heading into the Pac-12 Tournament
“Our spirits will always be in a good spot. We’re focused on our next game. We just have to get better by each game, no matter if we win or lose. We just have to get better.”
Utah 92, UCLA 81
Salt Lake City, Utah (Huntsman Center)
March 9, 2019
UCLA interim head coach Murry Bartow
on the challenge of not having center Moses Brown available
“I mean, it’s huge, not playing with Moses.”
on why Moses Brown didn’t play against Utah
“I’ll just let the statement that we made speak for itself. We’ll re-evaluate things once we get back to L.A. But I just have no further comment, right now.”
on Utah’s stellar 3-point shooting and what he saw there
“I saw the same thing that you saw – 17 threes going in. Look, we knew coming into this game that, I told the guys, that I have been in Senior Nights for 30 years. And I’m not sure that as a head coach, that I’ve lost very few Senior Night games [as the home team]. So we knew that coming into this game, we’d be playing a Utah team that was incredibly energized and they had a lot on the line, plus Senior Night. We tried zone for most of the first half, and then we went to man-to-man for the second half. I thought we played a pretty good second half, but we were just too far down. They’ve got great shooters. Larry is a very good coach. Offensively, they do some nice things to get those guys shots, and we played some 2-3, some 3-2 and then a lot of man. And here we are, 17 threes later.”
on whether his team will use more man defense in the Pac-12 Tournament
“We’ll see. It will depend on who we are playing. A lot will depend on if Moses is back or not.”
on how UCLA was able to reduce a 27-point deficit to eight points
“Well, these guys have not given up all year. We’ve lost some leads. But in those three overtime games that we’ve played, we have won. I love these guys. I’m proud of these guys. I wish we had more than nine conference wins, but I’m proud of the nine that we’ve got. They battled, but we just got way too far down on the road. It’s hard to, when you are 20 down, it’s hard to come back.”
on how he feels about his team going into the Pac-12 Tournament
“Well, I don’t like the fact that we have lost two in a row. But I think we have a lot of energy left in us, and our guys will continue to battle and fight. We’ll see happens.”
UCLA redshirt freshman Jalen Hill
on how the Bruins responded to not having Moses Brown available
“I think that we did pretty good. I think that we all stepped up a little bit more because Moses is a big part of our team. And when he goes down, you know, people have just got to step up. We’re used to relying on him a lot for interior defense and given the fact that he is not there, I think that we did an alright job.”
on how Utah claimed a 27-point lead midway through the first half
“Threes. They’re a really good 3-point shooting team. I think that they had 11 of 12 in the first half. We just didn’t find a stop to it, and you can’t just give up a 20-point lead and expect to come back really easy.”
on what sparked the run against Utah in the second half and the importance of playing man defense
“Yeah, I think that we cut it down to 11 or nine, single-digits, eight points. It’s just a credit to the guys coming off the bench. You look at guys like Dave and Jules, those guys especially, they did their job. They came in, gave us a spark, and there were a bunch of other guys who stepped up too, but those two guys came in and gave us a spark. They had a lot of energy.”
on the state of this team, headed to the Pac-12 Tournament
“I believe that we are going to win the whole thing. There is no doubt in my mind. But we’ve got to lock down. We have to have a good start. We can’t keep starting off bad. We cannot keep giving teams leads. You look at our second half, we’re scoring. We out-scored them [today] by about 10 points, or something like that, in the second half.”
on whether he and his teammates knew prior to the game that UCLA could not secure a first-round bye
“No. We didn’t know that. We just go out there and play. I don’t care if we get a bye, we don’t get a bye, we just go out there and play our hardest every time.”
on whether he believes his team can win four games in four days
“Absolutely, 100 percent.”
UCLA freshman Jules Bernard
on whether he and his teammates knew the Bruins couldn’t get a first-round bye, in advance of the game
“I mean, coming into this game, we were just focused on Utah and that was it. We just wanted to end the regular season on a high note. We tried our best to win the game, and it didn’t go our way. We were just focused on Utah.”
on how his team responded to not having Moses Brown on the court
“It’s always tough. His presence in the middle, 7-1 or 7-2, rebounds and blocks shots. They got to the basket a lot and with Moses, he’s able to alter a lot of those shots. But we tried our best.”
on what happened with UCLA’s 3-point defense
“We slacked off a little bit in the beginning, and they just got hot from there. For the rest of the game, we contested pretty well on threes, but they were hitting some hard shots. We’ve got to stop that early. With a team like Utah, with players who can get really hot from three, we’ve got to hard contest early and get them out of their rhythm.”
on finding success with the man defense and possibly using that in the Pac-12 Tournament
“It’s possible. It depends upon who we play, what matchups we have and what defense will work best against the other team. It worked a little bit today. We’ll see what happens in the Pac-12 [Tournament].”
on having to win four games in four days in the Pac-12 Tournament
“I think that we could absolutely do it. I have the utmost confidence in our team, and I think that all our players have confidence in ourselves and this team. It’s just the little things that we’ve got to perfect. We were down nine in the second half today, and it’s just little mistakes, then the lead bumped back up to double digits. So we’ve got to focus for the whole 40 minutes and play hard. If we can do that, I think that we can beat anyone.”
UCLA freshman David Singleton
on how important the switch to man-to-man defense was
“It was definitely big for us, but it was more of our defensive intensity. We had more heart and more pride in the second half to get stops.”
on how tough it was to play this game, knowing that Moses Brown was not available
“It was tough. I mean, we didn’t have Moses the last time that we played them, so it was tough. We had to focus on the game. We knew that he was going to cheer us on and everything like that, helping us to stay focused.”
on UCLA struggling to contest 3-pointers against Utah in the first half
“They were moving the ball, playing like a team. They’re a very good offensive team. They were just doing what they do, playing like a team, moving the ball and making the extra pass.”
on the Bruins’ mindset and what must be done to improve, heading into the Pac-12 Tournament
“I think we just need to come out with a better mindset in the first half. We only put 20 minutes together in each of these games. So we’ve got to learn how to put 40 minutes together as a young team. It’s hard to do, but it isn’t impossible. We just have to have our defensive mindset from the get-go.”
on having to win four games in four days in the Pac-12 Tournament
“It’s just one game at a time. It’s definitely possible. We believe that we can do it. Our spirits aren’t broken, or anything like that. We’re moving to the next game like we do, just got to re-group for Monday and practice Tuesday, and then handle business one game at a time.”
on the team’s mindset heading into the Pac-12 Tournament
“Our spirits will always be in a good spot. We’re focused on our next game. We just have to get better by each game, no matter if we win or lose. We just have to get better.”