Feb. 15, 2007

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California head coach Ben Braun

"Nothing has been easy all year and this game was no exception. Oregon came out on fire, just as they have all year long. I thought our defensive stops at the ends of both halves saved us. Defensively, it was our goal to get out on their shooters. Our freshman had tremendous energy and poise tonight in a big game."

"What a great effort by Ayinde Ubaka with those 12 rebounds, a career high for him. That's our leader and an extension of our team. That's what it's all about. That's the kind of performance we need out of number one."

"If anyone has a better pair of hands than Ryan Anderson then I'd like to meet him."

"It was great to see Patrick Christopher come back to the team and make some huge plays for us."

"This is a huge win for us going into Saturday and a chance for us to have a weekend sweep. That would be a great thing for this team."

"I'm happy for our fans. They've been great all year long. They shared in this win and they were part of it. We really appreciate their support."

California Players

Forward Ryan Anderson

On making the three-point that put Cal up for good

"It was a bullet pass. (Ayinde) Ubaka launched it inside to me and he had the confidence in me to finish the play. We were trying to get the ball inside all night, get some fouls and get to the line. They are not a real big team down low so we knew we could match up well and take advantage inside, which we did."

On the win in general
"This was a huge win for our team tonight. We need to start getting wins and get on a winning streak. We've been playing a lot of ranked teams and it feels good finally knocking off a ranked team."

On Patrick Christopher in the first half
"We needed that extra guy to step up for us. He was that guy tonight and gave us that run."

On the second half of the game
"We just needed to step up and focus on shutting down their offense ... Omar (Wilkes) did a great job of shutting down their leading scorer, Aaron Brooks ... we just wanted to match their runs, stay confident and not give up."

Guard Ubaka Ayinde

"I take it upon myself to make a play. I want the ball in my hands down the stretch. I want to make my teammates better ... Patty (Patrick Christopher) showed a lot of heart and toughness tonight in the first half. We need to get us a winning streak. This win gives us a little bit of relief. We worked hard in practice this week. Guys were tired of losing. The freshman really stepped up tonight, and they let the game come to them and they played their roles. We are going to need them to step up down the stretch. I'm just trying to be physical down low and trying to get rebounds, that helps us start the fast break."

On the second half of the game
"We just needed to stick with it. They are a streaky team, but we stayed with our defensive principles, got in the gaps, and tested their shots."

Guard Patrick Christopher

"I just wanted to play hard and be a spark for this team."

Oregon head coach Ernie Kent

On the game as a whole

"When you do everything right and put your team in a position to win, you have got to follow through. That's on us. We have to make free throws and lay-ups. We missed far too many shots that we should have made. We had a ton of open looks in the first half and missed them. Cal is a lot like us. They will make you pay when you slip up."

On Aaron Brooks
"Aaron Brooks can't win all the games. He did a good job (12 points and 7 rebounds), but we have to work together. We had our chances, Aaron (Brooks) did a good job giving the ball up for open shots, we just didn't finish the plays."

On finishing out a period
"Everything was working early, but you have to close out the first and second half. Cal had a scoring streak going into halftime, and also to close out the game (17-0 finishing the first, 13-4 ending the game)."

On the final 12.9 seconds
"We ran a play in the huddle. (Aaron) Brooks made a good play, you can't get a better shot from that. (Chamberlain) Oguchi was wide open from about 15 feet. We also got another shot up off of a rebound. You can't get two better looks in 13 seconds."

On Stanford
"That is going to be a tough game out there. We have got to be prepared for another tough game."