March 9, 2006

Recap |  Box Score |  Notes |  Photo Gallery

USC vs. California March 9, 2006 Pac-10 Quarterfinals

Head Coach Ben Braun

On The Win

"I thought we turned it around in the second half on the defensive end. Give USC a lot of credit. They came out and really attacked the basket well. They did a really great job.

"We had to make adjustments at halftime, but I thought our defense in the second half really made a big difference. While we were playing pretty good defense and stopping penetration and Leon's grabbing a lot of rebounds and that's helping out.

"It was a great, great effort from that standpoint. This was a challenging game; we've played them three times and they are quite challenging. Both Young and Stewart lit up a lot of teams this year and it's challenging to play them."

On Leon Powe's Defense And 20 Rebounds
"If anyone can do it, Leon is certainly capable. He takes pride in rebounding. That's something that he and DeVon (Hardin) have certainly done a lot this year for us. It's been something that's hurt us this year. If you looked up every game we've lost this year, to a tee, we have struggled giving up offensive rebounds. I think (USC) had zero offensive boards in the first half and just four in the game and that's because our guys went to the glass. Obviously when one of your players goes for 20, that's huge.

Leon Powe

On His Rebounding

I was just having fun. We were playing here at the Staples Center and I wanted to come out and play hard, just like I do for all of our games. I was really looking forward to getting something going inside. I wanted to get a couple of rebounds because that is what slows us down - when the other team gets offensive boards.