March 1, 2007

Recap |  Box Score

California head coach Ben Braun

"I thought we played one of the better defensive second halves down the stretch. We did a pretty good job defensively, and that's what I was looking for tonight. I thought our guys battled hard. Arizona played a very physical game."

"We really wanted to come out defensively strong in the second half. All of our players were talking and getting into position. We've always said that defense leads to offense for us."

"I thought our guys did a pretty good job trying to get to the glass. We have to continue to try to do that and to be aggressive."

"That is three games in a row now that we've gotten off to a good start. That's a good sign for this team."

On Cal's final possession:
"You want the ball in Ayinde Ubaka's hands and tonight was no different. He creates space and gives us good looks. He's a guy you want to make a play."

"I really feel our team played hard against Arizona. Our team has a challenge on our hands and we'll have to reload and come out strong Saturday against Arizona State."

"We had a great crowd tonight and I really hope all our fans come out and give us a huge senior day, the kind of game all players want to have for their final home game."

California Players

Senior guard Ayinde Ubaka

On Cal's offense:

"We were being passive; just putting players out there to run instead of to attack and penetrate"

On Cal's defense:
"We played pretty good defense, but they got a lot of easy transition buckets. We just didn't hustle enough to get ready on defense."

Sophomore forward Theo Robertson

On Arizona's offensive rebounding:

"When your team is playing good defense for 30 seconds and forces them to take a bad shot, we can't let them get the rebound. They got a lot of offensive rebounds and that really hurts."

On Ben Braun's technical foul:
"(Your coach getting a technical foul) makes a player feel good. He is doing everything he can to make sure we win. Everybody on the team is just trying to get a `W.'"

Arizona head coach Lute Olson

"We hit some key free throws down the stretch and we did well on the boards, but we made a lot of mistakes and unforced turnovers. We were a little out of control, but you know, Cal is a difficult team to play."

"The match-ups were bad and they have shooters on the outside, so it forced us to go small."

"A negative for us was definitely turnovers. We had 16 of those, they had 11. That's five ball possessions that were important down the stretch."

"If we're going to play well, he [Mustafa Shakur] has to play well at guard. Our guys feel comfortable with him on the court."

"[Despite poor shooting and turnovers] ...But it's a win. That's two wins in a row and we're 5-3 on the road. We have a chance to go 6-3 on the road which is a big accomplishment in this conference."