Dec. 3, 2008

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California head coach Mike Montgomery

On beating DePaul despite Cal's struggles against the Blue Demons' defense:
We [won] by 10 against a pretty good team, but we obviously didn't handle their zone very well. In fairness to our guys, we hadn't seen a zone yet this year, and their zone was a little bit different in that they were really getting to our perimeter people, overplaying passing lanes and allowing the ball in the paint, and we didn't take very good advantage of that.

On why DePaul opted for the zone on defense:
We turned the ball over carelessly some, and that's discouraging. They played good defense, and once they saw it was going to work, they stayed with it. We didn't do a very good job of solving it.

On his communication with Jerome Randle when Randle appeared overanxious in the game's early stages:
He wants to do the right thing. I had forgotten about the relationship with DePaul and Chicago and probably should have said something [before the game], because he was amped up. He gets a foul to start with, then he dribbles the ball [into a turnover], and then I thought, Oh, geez, that's right - Chicago. He knows it's on television in Chicago; it's just a natural thing. So I just said to him, "Look, I know you're amped up and I know these guys are from Chicago, but you need to take care of the basketball." That's all I said.

DePaul head coach Jerry Wainwright

General statement:
I'm very happy coach Mike Montgomery's back in college basketball. He's a longtime friend, he's a great credit to our profession and to our game, and he's really done a great job in terms of organizing and having his older players execute his system. I was really impressed with how they played on tape - they really play together. Obviously, when you have 23 assists on 31 baskets, that says a lot for your teamwork.

On Bears point guard Jerome Randle:
I've always admired Jerome Randle; you know, he's a Chicago kid. We had offered him a scholarship when he was coming out of high school. He's a great kid from a great family. He certainly was spectacular in the clutch, especially late in the shot clock.