Jan. 21, 2006

Recap |  Box Score

California Head Coach Ben Braun

"I think defensively our team did very well, especially in the second half. Unfortunately, we didn't do a good job of getting the loose balls and grabbing the rebounds. We did play hard defense. We have to learn to pick up the lose balls, those are important."

"I think we've been playing better defense, especially off the ball. We did a fairly good job of not giving up any easy points in the paint."

"On the last sequence of the game, we wanted to go down there and create an open shot. We did that and it just went in and out."

"I think we could do a better job of getting the ball into Leon Powe's hands. He did a lot for us today. The offensive rebounds just really broke our back."

"I thought Theo (Robertson) and Jordan (Wilkes) have been playing solid for us as freshmen. We need them to step up in every game. They gave us a great effort tonight."

"Washington will be a similar challenge as Arizona. They have a similar style. This upcoming game is an opportunity for us. It is a huge challenge. We are ready to go right back and challenge our defense."

Cal Player Quotes

Sophomore forward Leon Powe

On the last shot
"I thought it was going in. Unfortunately, it took one bounce and rolled out."

On the offensive rebounds
"We told everybody, all five, that they had to rebound. That was a difference in the game. We still came up with a chance to win."

"I think that we played pretty good. We let a couple of turnovers get away from us."

"I came in to get a win and my teammates and coach did too. We have to use it for motivation for the next game."

Junior guard Ayinde Ubaka

On the last shot
"I got a good look. I pushed off, stepped back and got a good look."

"We got the looks we wanted and we didn't convert them."

"We didn't panic when they went on runs."

"They had a lot of offensive rebounds and got a lot of second-chance points. It is something that we work on in practice."

On Arizona's offense
"It was a lot faster. They have a good transition game."

"I was thinking that we were going to win."

Arizona Head Coach Lute Olson Quotes

"It was a very good result with these two wins this week given everything the guys had to go through. Defensively, I'm not sure we ever played any better that what we did today. The problem was that we couldn't put the ball in the hole at the other end of the court."

"You can see how good of a player (Leon) Powe is when he gets 23 (points) and 13 (rebounds) with wearing two guys practically the whole time and still he got points to help his team. Probably the two most telling stats were 3 of 16 from the three-point range for them. I think that's an indication that we did a good job defending that shot."

"The other stat that stands out is the 21 offensive rebounds. I think we are getting to the point where we are doing a much better job of anticipating shots and getting position before the defense has a chance to `chuck' us out."

"I thought we got a good look from everyone that came in off of the bench. Fendi (Onobun) showed his capability but it was difficult for him to match-up with the other team because he is not accustomed to defending againsed great parameter shooters. The other problem was defending the players inside like Powe or (DeVon) Hardin because that is not an easy defensive situation either."

"Mohamed (Tangara) did a good job when he came in. We haven't given him much of a chance lately and we need to do more of that. He needs to get more time on the floor, even if it is only for a few minutes at a time. Because he's always going to play hard, defend hard and go hard to the boards."

"It was two productive games for us. There is one left in the first round (of the season) up at ASU and that will be a challenge, obviously the biggest game of the year so far for them. I'm sure they (ASU) will be ready for us, but I think our guys will be ready for them as well."

"We were quicker to the ball (than Cal). They play three guards with two big guys so it should have been a big advantage for Marcus (Williams) and Hassan (Adams) as they both had high numbers rebounding. We had good balance with the rebounding."

"We were playing so well on the defensive end that they were having trouble getting the offense set up. It was going down to the late clock before they even had a chance to look at the basket, so as a result it looked like we were playing a much slower game."