Head Coach Cuonzo Martin
Opening Statement
“That was a great first game for our guys. I thought both teams played with energy. I thought they (Alcorn State) played hard. I thought our guys did a great job offensively, moving the ball, making the extra pass, finding the open man. I thought we did a good job staying aggressive against their zone and not get stagnant, not just standing around. Even with Jordan Mathews out of the lineup, our best 3-point shooter, I thought our guys did a really good job attacking their zone. We probably played 32 minutes of great defense, in my opinion, so we need to maintain and get better with that. They are one of those teams that in our scouting report, the biggest thing we talked about with those guys is that Coach Riley does a great job with individual skill development. He has a reputation for that. They are good one-on-one players. We talked in our scouting report that the biggest thing we needed to do defensively was have to be good as a team defense, but we have to be good one-on-one defensively. They made some plays one-on-one, so we have to get better at that. Overall, I thought it was a great first game for our guys.”
On his first regular season game as Cal's Head Coach
“I try to sit down, but I just feel like I'm a part of the game with our guys and I'm the same way in practice. Like a sixth man so to speak, I give them insight, talk to them. I don't see a reason to sit down. It's the way I am in practice. I carry it over to the game. I just feel like when I sit down, the game slows down. I need to give the guys the energy they need to push them through (the game). I think they get used to it in practice. I thought it was a good game for our guys. I think it was a good energy in the arena, they played hard, they had fun out there—that's the biggest key, we play hard, play defense, rebound, play together and try to have some fun in the midst of that.”
On his zone in the 2nd half
“I thought they did a good job. I thought our two guys up top did a lot of gambling instead of being solid. We have to be consistent up there, do your job up top, so they don't break down and penetrate the middle and put a lot of pressure on our big guys. But overall, I think they did a good job of slowing them down, so it was good for us.”
On Jabari Bird's performance
“I thought he did a good job. I haven't watched the film obviously, but I thought he passed up four or five shots. Nine assists are great, but on a couple shots he wasn't ready to catch and shoot, but he ended up capitalizing on it with his dribble penetration and found the right guys.”
On Tyrone Wallace's performance
“He did a good job. He did a good job dribble penetrating. I thought he had more assists than four. I thought he did a good job putting pressure on defense. That's his job – get in the lane, make plays and when the three-point opportunity presents itself, he was ready to knock it down. I thought he did a great job putting pressure on the defense.”
On the style of play from today, and if it can/will work all season
“Well, that's the goal. You have to be physically ready to do that. Our guys have to be able to run and push and make plays. We try to do it practice every day. We try to simulate a lot of different situations at practice, five on four, six on five, and just to really try and impose your will on both sides of the floor. It's not easy. It'll take time. We'll have some bumps in the road. We'll take our lumps in there. It's a process, and we will continue to get better.”
On team's foul situation throughout the game
“We talk about it all the time. We talk about playing defense at arm's length. And when you're playing at arm's length, there's not a lot of contact. In most cases with those fouls, we didn't do a great job of being at an arm's length. We paid for it. We weren't in position before the guy caught the ball. Again, give those guys (Alcorn State) credit for putting pressure on guys defensively and really driving the ball to force us to make plays defensively.”
Tyrone Wallace, Junior Guard
On if the Bears are playing the style they want to be playing
“For the most part, yes. We did really well. We got out of transition. We played good defense. Early on, coach was a little unpleased about not playing defense. He felt it was important we play defense the whole 40 so we have to continue to work on that. Also, in the second half, I felt like we gave up too many offensive rebounds and fouls that we shouldn't have, so I think we just really need to improve on the defensive end. As for the offensive aspect we did a good job of passing and moving the ball and making shots. It was a really good team effort.”
Jabari Bird, Sophomore Guard
On Coach Cuonzo Martin on the sidelines
“After our two exhibition games and one real game, it's kind of normal for us. We are used to him being really animated on the sideline and right in your ear. Me personally, I enjoy his direction on defense. It's really helpful.”
On if it felt like the first game with Coach Martin at the helm
“No, it felt just like the first two exhibition games. Nothing really changed today. Same routine, same warm up, shoot around. We went out there and handled our business.”
Alcorn State Head Coach Luther Riley
On the game
“Cal really shot the ball well tonight. That's partially due to us but hats off to Coach Martin and the Bears. They did a great job tonight.”
On Cal's fast-paced offense
“The No. 1 thing on our board before the game was that they live for transition and we have to stop transition baskets. The second exhibition game that they played, the score was 10-6 and then the next thing you know it's 22-8. They score in spurts and they really penetrate to kick and those shooters are good.”
On Cal's pressure defense
“If you know Coach Martin you know there will be pressure defense. We just weren't patient enough. The first four possessions we took four ill-advised shots early in the shot clock. If you do that, you're going to get scored on quick. It's as simple as that.”
