Opening Statement
“That was a hard fought game and watching those guys on film, they have three legitimate scorers; guys that can make shots, make shots off the dribble. We thought that if they could win the game, those three guys had to beat us. I thought Jaylen [Brown] and Stephen Domingo did an exceptional job on [John] Green because he's a big-time rebounder when you watch him on film. He keeps the ball alive, he's very aggressive. I thought those guys did an exceptional job of keeping him off the glass. I thought Tyrone [Wallace] was really good as far of attacking and getting to the rim. I thought we got stagnant in the zone in the first half, didn't move as well, didn't post up, weren't as aggressive, settled for three-point shots. I have to watch some film, but I thought we settled for quite a bit of 3s as opposed to having an opportunity to score. It felt like there were seams in the defense and watching film, we could attack the rim and shoot spot up 3s, but I thought we shot some deep ones and tough ones. Overall, good performance.”
On Jaylen Brown
“I thought he was locked in on [John] Greene because Greene was more about focus. [Gabe] Vincent was a good player, [Michael] Bryson too. Two talented players, but I think with Greene- he's averaging 13 rebounds. When you watch him on film, he's aggressive, and he keeps balls alive. I think that was his focus more than anything. He knows he can score the basketball, but he made a conscious effort to keep that guy off the glass and I thought he did a great job.”
On Tyrone Wallace
“Tyrone is very talented player. When you spend four years in college, you've seen a lot, experienced a lot, battled and tested. He's been in big games. With the way games are being officiated, if you can't hand check a guy, he's one of the toughest guys to defend. He's a consistent three-point shooter. It's hard. I got back to the fact to when you have a guy who struggled from the free throw line a year ago, but still wanted the ball down the stretch in games. That told me everything I needed to know about Tyrone.”
On the team's ability to share the ball
“We try to share the ball. It's very important. When you have multiple guys that can score and make plays, the most important thing is California winning the game. What they work on so much is who's the next guy. If the next guy's a better shooter, I know I need to make this pass. Now, the next guy's a so-so then it's different, I might drive it. It's just a lot of studying, personnel and practice. If the next guy's our best shooter, I definitely have to get the ball to the next guy. It's reading and making plays. At the start of every practice, it's about penetrate, pitch, and understand who is who. You make plays from that. You have to be aggressive, be willing to share the ball, and I think they're doing great with that.”
California Senior Tyrone Wallace
On the start of the second half
“I think it's unacceptable that we came out flat in the second half. They came out aggressive, and we know they like to shoot the ball from the perimeter, and we allowed them to get a couple of open looks. They knocked two to three three-pointers down in the first five minutes of the half, and they really cut the lead down that way. We got to stay tuned in and not allowed those lapses.”
On his free-throw shooting
“I always work on it (free throw shooting) a lot (in the off-season). I think it's a lot about repetition and confidence at the line. I feel comfortable at the line right now and it shows when I knock them down. I will continue to work on it. When I'm in workouts and I shoot the ball, I also shoot free throws. I think if I continue my routine, I'll be fine.”
On the team's balance
“In our starting five and as well as off the bench, we have a lot of players who are capable. We continue to move the ball and find guys that are open, which increases the percentage of the shot going in. I think we have been doing a good job of moving the ball and trying to find the open guy. No one is playing selfishly, and we're playing as a team. I think we need to continue to do that and work on things we haven't done well and we'll be in a good place.”
California Freshman Jaylen Brown
On the game
“I felt better (about the flow of the game). I tried to keep from getting into foul trouble and tried to move my feet better, which I've been working on in practice. I still got in foul trouble early in the game and I had to sit down in the first half. But that's what it's about, getting better every single day and just realizing how the game is called, and going with the flow.”
On the team's balance
“I think the big reason that we are sharing the basketball so well is great point guard play from Tyrone (Wallace) and Sam (Singer). They do a really good job of leading the team and orchestrating the offense, getting us in the right positions. Hats off to those guys.”
UC Santa Barbara Head Coach Bob Williams
On how the number of fouls changed the game
“It's tough to play that way. It takes some rhythm out of the game but they're also good athletes and a half step quicker than us or a full step in some of the match ups so they got by us and created fouls. I'm not arguing with the fouls that were called. It's more we got to learn to play better defense so we're not fouling. I mean we're at the infant stage and kind of exploring whom we are and who we're going to be and how we're going to get there. So we have a lot of growth to go.”
On the confusion of how many fouls senior guard John Green had
“It didn't change much what we were going to do. You should probably take him out with two (fouls) anyways. There's no excuse in basketball. Cal came out and they out man us. They got to the free throw line. They were more aggressive than us. We could not get them contained on the defensive end. So we went to zone and we couldn't contain them in the zone. They had penetration and ball movement that really hurt us. They are a very talented team. They're not a team that really shot it that well tonight. They were only 6-22 from the three-point line and that's not going to be good enough for them but they got to the free throw line and they drove it so well that it negates the fact that they weren't shooting all that well.”
On performance by senior guard Michael Bryson
“In certain elements he played really well and in other elements he was really loose. My concern is getting the group playing better together. I don't think they're playing real well together right now. So it's about how does Michael Bryson make John Green and Gabe (Vincent) and others better players.”
