University of California, Los Angeles, Athletics
Postgame Quotes - UCLA at Oregon
POSTGAME QUOTES
UCLA 87, Oregon 84 (OT)
Eugene, Ore. (Matthew Knight Arena)
January 10, 2019
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UCLA interim head coach Murry Bartow
on the overtime session
โI think that they [Oregon] scored the first four points in overtime, if Iโm not mistaken, and so I think that we scored the last seven points of the game. It was just a lot of guys who stepped up and made big plays, a lot of big plays.โ
ย
on what keyed UCLAโs comeback
โIโm not sure if it was one individual think, you know, we changed our pressure and what weโd been doing, defensively. That helped us a little bit. Offensively, our guys just made a bunch of plays. I mean in those last four or five minutes, it was one guy after another, from Prince to Jules to Jaylen Hands. Youโve got Chris Smith with the three that he made and the putback at the buzzer. That free throw that Moses made was huge. So, it was one play after another by all of our guys. When you kind of steal one like that, which is kind of what you do when youโre down 14 with four [minutes] to play, those can really give you some momentum when you kind of feel like you stole one.โ
ย
on UCLA getting possession of the ball with under one second left
โI donโt know. You are talking about with two tenths of a second left there? They just said it off the film. They saw it off film.โ
ย
on Chris Smith getting the loose ball on a missed Jaylen Hands free throw at the end of regulation
โWell it was a huge play off the intentional miss. Jaylen goes to the line and he makes the first one, which is huge. And intentionally misses the second one, obviously. We had our two best offensive rebounders on the lane with Jalen Hill and Moses [Brown]. Fortunately they tipped it. And then here comes Chris Smith and he made a big play at the buzzer.โ
ย
on what he told his team after the game
โOh my, Iโm not sure. My headโs spinning right now, so Iโm not even sure what I said. Iโm just really proud of them. When you are 14 [points] down, four minutes to play, and things donโt look good, it just shows a little bit of the character and the spirit of our guys right now. Theyโre continuing to fight and battle. It is just a credit to them. They have continued to battle.โ
ย
on if he sensed, through the playersโ body language, that a comeback could be possible
โNot really. Not really. We just made a bunch of plays down the stretch. I never sensed a give-up or a quit in us, which is good. When youโre down 14, you guys watch a lot of basketball, that can quickly go to 18 or 20. And so to get it from 14, I kept telling them, โIf we can just get it to nine, if we can just get it to nine, just get it to nine,โ and then we did. Guys just made a lot of plays. We didnโt run a lot of stuff. It isnโt anything that was miraculous that I did or that we did. We just made a lot of plays.โ
ย
on UCLAโs turnovers during a difficult first half
โIt was bad. We were just very careless. We didnโt handle the ball well, didnโt catch it well, didnโt dribble it well, and we were very stagnant in the first half. Thatโs a credit to Oregon. I thought they had a very hard defense to figure out. They were sometimes in man and sometimes in zone. So that was hard to figure out. And itโs them. It isnโt so much us, but they made us very stagnant.โ
ย
on how he will handle the Bruinsโ next two days before Sundayโs game at Oregon State
โTomorrow will be a very light day. Incredibly light. Weโll have a clean-up day, and weโll come back with a lot of energy on Saturday. We need to get ready for Sunday.โ
ย
on the early scouting report on Oregon State
โIโll know a lot in the next 24 hours. And Iโve said this before, but right now we are trying to almost completely focus on us. We have so much to improve on and to get better. So, I have told the team over and over that itโs 95 percent about us. And then weโll look at five percent, with the other team. I mean I know about their personnel a little bit. The Thompson brothers, and Tinkle and so obviously I know about their team a little bit. They play a very hard defense to figure out. Itโs kind of a matchup zone. We have to be more prepared for that than we were tonight. I thought we were pretty stagnant against the zone.โ
ย
on how much fun he is having, leading this team
โWell, I just love the spirit of this team right now. We played pretty well against Stanford, scoring 92, and we played pretty well against Cal, scoring 98. Tonight, it was ugly in a lot of ways. But again, I think it shows the spirit of these guys. It shows the spirit about them. Again, Iโve been doing this for a long time, and when you are down 14 with four minutes to play on the road, you can pack it in pretty quickly and easily. They just kept digging in. We cut it down to nine, our guys made some plays, and we got some steals and then I didnโt think we were very good on the offensive glass tonight. They had 17 offensive rebounds. I thought that it was pretty big that [Payton] Pritchard did not have a field goal in the game. He is their best player. So that was good. Anyway, I think that it shows the spirit of this team.โ
UCLA guard Prince Ali
on how much fun he had in the comeback victory
โIt was amazing. It was very fun, you know, being down nine [points] with 58 seconds left and pulling out the โW.โ Thatโs some good stuff. You canโt be at home, losing when itโs nine [points] with 58 seconds left. I donโt know what else to call it.โ
ย
on what helped key the turnaround for UCLA
โJaylen Hands made some big free throws. He made three in a row. Chris Smith made a big shot and had a huge play at the end of the game. He made some huge plays. Everybody chipped in and made big plays. I mean, it was a collective effort. Everybody did what they had to do.โ
ย
on what people were saying to each other on the court during the comeback
โOur overall message was that itโs not over until itโs over, until the clock hits zero. So until then, itโs not over. Until then, you have to keep pushing and pushing and just trying to cut away at it. We were able to do it.โ
ย
on getting hot from 3-point territory
โYou know, I made a few shots but itโs a credit to my teammates, as we they were looking for me.โ
ย
on his reaction when Chris Smith grabbed the late rebound in regulation and had a game-tying putback
โI was ecstatic for him. That was bigtime. That was probably the biggest play of the game. That was great.โ
ย
on Coach Bartow saying that a win like this could help to springboard a team
โYeah, weโve got to keep going and take this one game at a time. We need to try to get better every day.โ
ย
on where this win ranks in the comebacks in his career
โThis one is right up there. I was just telling them [our radio crew] out there, this is probably number one. We were down nine with 58 seconds left, I mean, when I watch the tape, Iโll be like, โWow.โ โ
ย
on the mood in UCLAโs locker room after the game
โIt was just a moment where you can appreciate the game that we get to play. Itโs about appreciating that opportunity.โ
ย
UCLA 87, Oregon 84 (OT)
Eugene, Ore. (Matthew Knight Arena)
January 10, 2019
ย
UCLA interim head coach Murry Bartow
on the overtime session
โI think that they [Oregon] scored the first four points in overtime, if Iโm not mistaken, and so I think that we scored the last seven points of the game. It was just a lot of guys who stepped up and made big plays, a lot of big plays.โ
ย
on what keyed UCLAโs comeback
โIโm not sure if it was one individual think, you know, we changed our pressure and what weโd been doing, defensively. That helped us a little bit. Offensively, our guys just made a bunch of plays. I mean in those last four or five minutes, it was one guy after another, from Prince to Jules to Jaylen Hands. Youโve got Chris Smith with the three that he made and the putback at the buzzer. That free throw that Moses made was huge. So, it was one play after another by all of our guys. When you kind of steal one like that, which is kind of what you do when youโre down 14 with four [minutes] to play, those can really give you some momentum when you kind of feel like you stole one.โ
ย
on UCLA getting possession of the ball with under one second left
โI donโt know. You are talking about with two tenths of a second left there? They just said it off the film. They saw it off film.โ
ย
on Chris Smith getting the loose ball on a missed Jaylen Hands free throw at the end of regulation
โWell it was a huge play off the intentional miss. Jaylen goes to the line and he makes the first one, which is huge. And intentionally misses the second one, obviously. We had our two best offensive rebounders on the lane with Jalen Hill and Moses [Brown]. Fortunately they tipped it. And then here comes Chris Smith and he made a big play at the buzzer.โ
ย
on what he told his team after the game
โOh my, Iโm not sure. My headโs spinning right now, so Iโm not even sure what I said. Iโm just really proud of them. When you are 14 [points] down, four minutes to play, and things donโt look good, it just shows a little bit of the character and the spirit of our guys right now. Theyโre continuing to fight and battle. It is just a credit to them. They have continued to battle.โ
ย
on if he sensed, through the playersโ body language, that a comeback could be possible
โNot really. Not really. We just made a bunch of plays down the stretch. I never sensed a give-up or a quit in us, which is good. When youโre down 14, you guys watch a lot of basketball, that can quickly go to 18 or 20. And so to get it from 14, I kept telling them, โIf we can just get it to nine, if we can just get it to nine, just get it to nine,โ and then we did. Guys just made a lot of plays. We didnโt run a lot of stuff. It isnโt anything that was miraculous that I did or that we did. We just made a lot of plays.โ
ย
on UCLAโs turnovers during a difficult first half
โIt was bad. We were just very careless. We didnโt handle the ball well, didnโt catch it well, didnโt dribble it well, and we were very stagnant in the first half. Thatโs a credit to Oregon. I thought they had a very hard defense to figure out. They were sometimes in man and sometimes in zone. So that was hard to figure out. And itโs them. It isnโt so much us, but they made us very stagnant.โ
ย
on how he will handle the Bruinsโ next two days before Sundayโs game at Oregon State
โTomorrow will be a very light day. Incredibly light. Weโll have a clean-up day, and weโll come back with a lot of energy on Saturday. We need to get ready for Sunday.โ
ย
on the early scouting report on Oregon State
โIโll know a lot in the next 24 hours. And Iโve said this before, but right now we are trying to almost completely focus on us. We have so much to improve on and to get better. So, I have told the team over and over that itโs 95 percent about us. And then weโll look at five percent, with the other team. I mean I know about their personnel a little bit. The Thompson brothers, and Tinkle and so obviously I know about their team a little bit. They play a very hard defense to figure out. Itโs kind of a matchup zone. We have to be more prepared for that than we were tonight. I thought we were pretty stagnant against the zone.โ
ย
on how much fun he is having, leading this team
โWell, I just love the spirit of this team right now. We played pretty well against Stanford, scoring 92, and we played pretty well against Cal, scoring 98. Tonight, it was ugly in a lot of ways. But again, I think it shows the spirit of these guys. It shows the spirit about them. Again, Iโve been doing this for a long time, and when you are down 14 with four minutes to play on the road, you can pack it in pretty quickly and easily. They just kept digging in. We cut it down to nine, our guys made some plays, and we got some steals and then I didnโt think we were very good on the offensive glass tonight. They had 17 offensive rebounds. I thought that it was pretty big that [Payton] Pritchard did not have a field goal in the game. He is their best player. So that was good. Anyway, I think that it shows the spirit of this team.โ
UCLA guard Prince Ali
on how much fun he had in the comeback victory
โIt was amazing. It was very fun, you know, being down nine [points] with 58 seconds left and pulling out the โW.โ Thatโs some good stuff. You canโt be at home, losing when itโs nine [points] with 58 seconds left. I donโt know what else to call it.โ
ย
on what helped key the turnaround for UCLA
โJaylen Hands made some big free throws. He made three in a row. Chris Smith made a big shot and had a huge play at the end of the game. He made some huge plays. Everybody chipped in and made big plays. I mean, it was a collective effort. Everybody did what they had to do.โ
ย
on what people were saying to each other on the court during the comeback
โOur overall message was that itโs not over until itโs over, until the clock hits zero. So until then, itโs not over. Until then, you have to keep pushing and pushing and just trying to cut away at it. We were able to do it.โ
ย
on getting hot from 3-point territory
โYou know, I made a few shots but itโs a credit to my teammates, as we they were looking for me.โ
ย
on his reaction when Chris Smith grabbed the late rebound in regulation and had a game-tying putback
โI was ecstatic for him. That was bigtime. That was probably the biggest play of the game. That was great.โ
ย
on Coach Bartow saying that a win like this could help to springboard a team
โYeah, weโve got to keep going and take this one game at a time. We need to try to get better every day.โ
ย
on where this win ranks in the comebacks in his career
โThis one is right up there. I was just telling them [our radio crew] out there, this is probably number one. We were down nine with 58 seconds left, I mean, when I watch the tape, Iโll be like, โWow.โ โ
ย
on the mood in UCLAโs locker room after the game
โIt was just a moment where you can appreciate the game that we get to play. Itโs about appreciating that opportunity.โ
ย