Postgame Quotes - UCLA 87, UC Irvine 63
UCLA 87, UC Irvine 63
Los Angeles, Calif. (Pauley Pavilion)
November 26, 2017
UCLA head coach Steve Alford
opening remarks
“Really proud of our guys. We talked since we got back from the road trip to Kansas City how important this four-game homestand and growth. I think we are the only team in the country that has flown for 31 hours and 16,000 miles and we’ve been able to get four wins to date and coming into this homestand. Getting our fifth win tonight was one thing we really focused on after all the travel and being on the road that much. Getting wins over a Big Ten team and an ACC team is huge early on the season for our team. I think we saw growth tonight, especially defensively. Offensively we executed much better in the second half. We were in a little bit of a hurry in the first half and we didn’t make shots. 5 of 17 from three, we should make 65 percent of our free throws and despite that we win the game by 26. That tells me our growth defensively was good. We did a good job of taking them out of their posts, which is what they are very good at. This is probably the best low-post team we have played and we really negated that from the opening tip. I told the team we wanted 40 minutes and I think we got about 32. The last two minutes of the first half and the first six minutes of the second half were not what the way we need to get engaged defensively. Other than that I liked how we were engaged defensively.
on getting more of the bench playing time
“We had Alec Wulff ready and Ike [Okwarabizie]. This was a big game for Ike because they are so big. This wasn’t a game where we were really going to go four guards. They don’t have big guards but they do have big posts. I thought we could post our guards and we got some. I think we got four or five baskets or fouls when posting up our guards. That’s good because I think that can really be a weapon for us this year. Ike did a really good job of battling. We tried to get Alec in a little but more in the first half but I didn’t like the flow as much, but he’s got to be ready as well.
on ramping up conditioning in practice
“Ike and Alec have been practicing all year so they’ve been in the rotation as far as practice goes. They practice very hard. What we’ve really tried to do is do more break down stuff and more film work, teaching and fundamentals. Really trying to go back to the basics with this team because we can’t do a lot of pounding. We’re not the deepest team in the country right now. We’ve got to continue to improve so there’s that balance. The small drills we do in practice, we don’t go as long as maybe I’d like when we are on the floor but when we are on the floor and the film room we have to do a good job of learning. I think our guys have responded well. Getting back from Kansas City we gave them two days off and we came back and got a good practice in on Friday. But we got banged up a little. Saturday was more of a dry run through, walk through. I thought they really responded well to what we’ve put them through.”
on Prince Ali’s performance
“I don’t put a lot of merit on starting but he took advantage of it. I thought he was aggressive and he has to be a scorer for us and he did that in Kansas City. His minutes are up and I think he’s showed some strides defensively because he should be a really good defender on the ball. Very proud of Prince. He took advantage of his starting role definitely and really got us going in the first half.”
on UC Irvine technical foul shifting momentum
“We did a good job all night at getting to the free throw line. We took it to the basket hard and attacked it transition. They had an emphasis on getting back in transition but we continued to attack and that was the game plan. Attack the basket by the dribble and attack it by the post. Not just posting Thomas [Welsh] G.G. [Goloman] and Alex [Olesinski], but we were going to post Kris [Wilkes] and Chris [Smith] as well. Having a lot of different guys that we can throw down there in the post makes us versatile. Irvine’s strength was going to the post and I think we defended it very well and when we got stops we got out and ran. We didn’t shoot the ball the way we normally shoot it. But as I told the team we will live with that if we can build the culture defensively and tonight we had a really good culture defensively.
UCLA redshirt sophomore guard Prince Ali
on his approach to game and having a starting role
“I just treated it like any other game. Come in, play defense and be aggressive.”
on when he knew he would be starting
“I probably knew about two days ago.”
on how he thought he played
“I think I did pretty well.”
on evolution of foul shooting after South Carolina State game
“I think I was 0-for-4 that game, so the next morning that sure changed. I worked with Coach Alford for about an hour the next morning and I just found a routine that worked.”
UCLA senior center Thomas Welsh
on defense
“I think our middle ball screen coverage has been better. It’s one area of defense that’s very hard to cover. I think we’ve been better with ball pressure in general. When you start getting to the ball, getting to gap-side help, good things will happen. I think just being aggressive on defense and getting into them a little bit.”
on Prince Ali
“That’s what he does. He got the start tonight and he was huge. Like you said, he scored around the basket, taking threes and that’s what you expect from him as a third-year guy. [With the] opportunity, he played really well tonight.”
on team’s run after UC Irvine technical foul
“I think we just came out of the second half kind of lackadaisical. We weren’t playing very well, giving them great shots and they were knocking them down those threes. But yeah, at that point, I think it kind of built us a little momentum like you said, turned the game around a little bit. I think we picked up the defensive intensity from there and kept going.”
on how team is dealing with shorthanded roster
“It’s different, for sure. But at the end of the day it’s just about playing the best we can with the guys we’ve got and just working hard in practice and working hard on the court trying to play with each other and making the most of what we have."
UCLA junior guard Aaron Holiday
on if team is caught up on rest
“Yeah, we’re pretty caught up, but there’s no excuse either way. We’ve got to come out here every game.”
on team’s success at free-throw line
“It helped a lot. It’s always good to see the ball go in the basket for shooters. It obviously helped us get our rhythm. It just helped us keep playing hard and get to the basket for more free throws.”
on what Coach Alford told team at half
“Just to play defense. Just keep playing hard and play defense. I think we had them at like 29 points, which was good, but we didn’t finish the game. We just have to play defense and come out hard.”
UC Irvine head coach Russell Turner
opening statement
“I’m very proud of my team, but I’m not proud of the score. I’m proud of my team, especially how we performed to start the second half. I felt like the technical foul changed the game. I’m very disappointed about that, so I’m kind of at an emotional state in terms of evaluating this game. I’m not sure why I got that “T” because I was never warned. It was appropriate, but not necessary.”
on where they go from here
“We do the same thing whether we win by two or lose by twenty-four. We evaluate our performance and focus on getting better. We really want to be playing our best when the Big West Tournament comes around in March. Obviously, we were not at our best tonight.”
on what they take away from tonight’s game
“We play these types of games for certain reasons. The team is disappointed about the score that was on the scoreboard and I’m disappointed as well. I know our guys. We have a lot of character and I like our team. I really think our team has a chance to be good and we’ll bounce back.”
UC Irvine redshirt sophomore guard Max Hazzard
opening statement
“I thought we played good for twenty-seven or twenty-eight minutes. We were really in this game, except we had a few missed assignments. I just think we have to try to improve. I don’t think the score really tells the story on how close this game could be.”
on how to build on this performance
“We play Whittier College next and on Saturday, we have Nevada. Nevada is a really tough team, so we’re going to have to be very prepared.”
on playing in Pauley Pavilion
“I was very excited. My grandfather (Walt Hazzard) laid the path here at Pauley, so I was very excited to play in front of my family and friends. I really loved the atmosphere here.”