California Head Coach Cuonzo Martin
Opening statement
“Great game and a great win for our guys and our program against a really good team, a team that is balanced and a team that competes. They're probably the best offensive team we've faced thus far. They have big physical guys. It's one thing to guard big guys that can score, but it's another thing to guard big guys that can score and make free throws when they're fouled, good athletes. This is probably the toughest matchup across the board collectively for our big guys all year. I thought they did an exceptional job in the second half. They really battled and competed. Both guys went into the half with six fouls combined between Kam (Rooks) and Kingsley (Okoroh). I thought they did a really good job finishing the game strong. It's a great win for our program. We had great fan energy and a great day in the Bay Area.”
On what Jaylen Brown was able to do
“Jaylen is a good basketball player. He knows how to handle the ball, shoot the ball and make plays of the dribble. He's not a guy that you can gage by saying he had 25 points but a bad night. He'll get 25 points, 10 assists and 10 rebounds. He plays basketball and he plays on both ends of the court. He's really improved his game on both ends of the court. We felt he was an advantage for us all night, especially on ball screens.”
On Jordan Mathews getting hot in the second
“I felt his first two threes he missed coming off the bench he shot quick. Like he went with a shot fake but then shot it. I just told him at that timeout 'You got to catch and shoot. You got to catch and shoot.' They're not going to block your shot, especially when they're closing out on everything, and he made that shot (at the end of the first half). Jaylen did a great job on that particular play to end the half. Jaylen made a great read coming out to help, but in the second half, Mathews and Jabari (Bird) stayed shot ready because there was going to be an opportunity. When we watched film, we saw there would be opportunities for those guys to catch and shoot. Not so much for driving the ball because they have their guys so attached to the rim. So they needed to be ready to catch that ball and shoot and they did that tonight.”
California Players
Jordan Matthews
On his second-half performance:
“Teammates found me. We ran a couple actions where Jaylen comes off and he made great plays. He found me in the corner a couple times, able to come down off a screen and hit a jumper. Just great draws by Coach, and my teammates found me tonight.”
On the team preparation for tonight:
“It shows a lot of growth. They have a great team. We like to simulate that in practice a lot. Teams would be down by five down by six or you are up by six or up by seven and coach likes to simulate what would happen in order to handle runs, so we were prepared for a great team and the preparation came to work tonight.”
On close losses
“You never want to lose, but the Virginia game kind of taught us, like what Coach says 'You got to play until the buzzer sounds,' and that's been big. We could have crumbled, but we did a great job. I think that's what separates some teams from others is their ability to grow as the year goes on. I think we are showing some growth tonight.”
On tonight's team performance:
“I would say just getting downhill, trying to be aggressive off the screen and roll. Some of our guys go into the teeth of the defense and we were able to kick it out and make some plays and finish out the run a few times. Getting some big offensive and defensive rebounds really helped us. Just playing all together, team ball and being there for each other, and that led us to a victory tonight.”
Jaylen Brown
On running the point guard position:
“It's something I've definitely have to work on to keep growing, and my ball handling has to continue to develop, but Coach asked me to play after Tyrone went down, so I'm just trying to do whatever Coach needs me to do. Try to step into a role because that's big shoes you have to fill when a senior point guard that averages four or five assists, so whatever makes this team win I'm willing to do.”
On Arizona's performance:
“I give full credit to Arizona tonight. They went blow for blow with us tonight, but they did a great job with the scouting report and the game plan. Coach Sean Miller is a great coach, so I tip my hat off to Arizona.”
On tonight's performance:
“Today was a rough day from the field. I had some wide-open looks, but I missed some shots going in early so I tried to get to the basket and try to get my teammates involved because my shot wasn't falling and my mid-range game wasn't falling, so I tried to get my teammates involved, try to get to the free throw line, be involved and get back on defense, as well.”
Arizona Head Coach Sean Miller
On Jordan Mathews
“You have to credit Jordan Mathews for an incredible night. A lot of his shots came in transition. His teammates did a great job finding him, and when they did find him, he made us pay. We went to a two-three zone and didn't recognize him, and he made us pay. The caliber of shooter that he is and the way that he is playing, he was certainly the difference in the game. If you look at his three-point shooting alone, he's 6-for-12, and the team was 8-for-22. 28 points tonight, he was tremendous. Cal is a really good team in transition with their opponents turnovers and misses, and I thought that was really the turning point of the game.”
On the game
“Their ability to move in transition and the points they generated finding him (Jordan Mathews) was, at the end, too much for us to overcome. The first four minutes of the second half were just as bad as we can play, and Cal had a lot to do with it. They were very physical and they had a tremendous energy. When a team is playing like that, you have to work that much harder and get much later in the clock to make the shot. When we got later in the shot clock, we made bad decisions and bad turnovers. I used two timeouts to calm our team down, and if I had to do it over again, I would do the same thing. Once we got past the 16-minute mark of the second half, we regained who we were, and if you look at the stats sheet, we were pretty even, whether it be rebounding or turnovers. The 11 turnovers in this game may have been too much, but when we play on the road with 10 or 11 turnovers, we generally do okay. Same with rebounding, we outrebounded them 32-27, but we were susceptible to that because they took 12 second-chance shots. There was too many times where their hustle and hard play really separated them from us. There were two or three hustle plays in the second half where we were competing at a frenetic pace, and when they came up with it, they converted. But we played hard, winning on the road and winning with the type of crowd they have is hard, and we would have had to have played a terrific game tonight to win, and we just played a good game.”
