Nov. 18, 2008
Cal head coach Mike Montgomery
On his words to the team following the game:
I went in and blasted them a little bit. I think we made a lot of mistakes that we're going to have to not make if we're going to be a good basketball team down the road. We made some turnovers that were just needless, careless turnovers. I felt like every time we earned a lead that we got lax, a little lazy, allowed them back in the game.
On how the Bears handled the Dons' style:
Based on the style USF plays, it was going to cause us some problems, because it's a little bit unorthodox. It's match-up, and the switching vs. man caused us some problems. We kind of bailed ourselves out again because we shot the ball well. We need to get to the point where of we can make a run, we need to just put our foot on their throat and drive it home. Gosh, how many times did we give up a double-digit lead?
On which adjustments proved to be effective for Cal:
Really what helped us more than anything was going to the zone, because it allowed Jamal [Boykin] to have a place to play without getting away from the basket. At some point we're going to have to get better at zones. The problem we have there is rebounding out of the zone, which is always the problem that you have.
On the play of Jerome Randle:
I think he wants very badly to be a real good point guard, and he certainly can score the ball. He's really, really valuable to us. He had a 7:2 assist-to-turnover ratio, and the two he had, he could have prevented and he knows that. That's what I want. I told him after the game that he's capable of so much, and we need him to stay mentally focused the whole time so he can do some thinking for others.
San Francisco head coach Rex Walters
General comment:
Defensively, we've got an awful lot of work to do. I've got to do a better job of preparing for the game. Bottom line is we're not going to beat too many teams when they're shooting 58 percent.
On his impressions of Cal and how the Bears might fare in the Pac-10:
Boykin was good, Randle was good and how good was Theo Robertson? The first five minutes of the game, we couldn't guard him at all. I've got to give a lot of credit to them. Bigs will be an issue [for Cal] - in the Pac-10 you've got an awful lot of good bigs. Their guards are really good - I really like Robertson, I really like Boykin and Randle. Other guys definitely know their roles. They're only going to get better. You've got a guy on the sideline that's won an awful lot of games and knows what it takes to be successful.
