California Head Coach Cuonzo Martin

Opening Statement
“Good win. Three straight at home is always good. I thought we had great crowd energy. They fed off that. It was good to see Jabari (Bird) play well again. I'm just really happy for him because he put in so much work and time into it, and to see that pay off is great. But this was a tough, rugged game, which we figured it would be. That's how Oregon State plays. They're a physical brand. They grind you out, and a guy like Gary Peyton II is all over the floor. It's amazing what he does at that point guard position. The energy he brings and the steals he gets. he's all over the place. He's impressive, but a good win for our guys.”

On free throws
“It's not a concern. I know they practice those. I don't get consumed with it because I know they spend time on it. You'd like for all of them to fall, but like I tell the guys, 'You can't let it bog you down.' Just because you miss some, you still have to get back and defend. You still have to play hard and do the things we have to do to win the basketball game. It's not a concern because we spend time on it, and they'll fall.”

On Jabari Bird
“I just think at some point it all clicks and you just have a comfort level. I mean, any time a guy shoots the ball, you like to see shots go in and that gives you a level of confidence, and the other parts of your game start to show, the shot fake, the dribble-drive, finishing around the rim and making free throws. He puts a lot of time into it and he works extremely hard. I told him a while back, 'You put all that time into it for a reason. You work on your game. You spend so many hours in the gym and on your own with shot fakes, ball handling, free throws and jump shots. You have to have the confidence to continue to do it.' It's not that he didn't have confidence, but it's just one of those deals where when he's wide open for a three-pointer. If he makes it, he'll keep shooting it, but if he misses it, and that same shot is open, he'll do a shot fake, pull up and make it tougher on him.  You have to take what the defense gives you. If he takes 10 three's in that spot and those are shots you practice, then take 10 three's.”

On playing on the road
“Every road game we've played hasn't been one where I said we aren't going to win this, let's just try to make it competitive. In most cases, and you obviously have to give credit for the opposing team for winning their games, but turnovers, key breakdowns and missed free throws, those things cost you a game. You can't have those mental breakdowns at the level where it's a close game and all of a sudden it goes from six to eight and now you're down and you have to fight your way back into it. That's been our dilemma on the road, to just really execute every possession on offense and defense, taking good shots and not getting rid of the ball too quick. We'll get better at it.”

California Players

Jabari Bird

On his performance tonight
“I've been making some shots and my teammates have been giving me the ball. I was trying to go out there and play hard, play aggressive, basically trying to do everything I've been trying to do for the whole year, and it's just working now. I've been putting in a lot of work on my game outside of practice and it's finally starting to show.”

On the team's performance
“We're trying to make the tournament, so I knew I had to step my game up to be a better teammate. I'm just trying to be focused every game and be aggressive. I'm looking at plays, and hopefully I can keep this flow going.”

On the home-court advantage
“We have a great crowd. They come out and support us. They get really loud, and just having that support behind you every night, it's big and we feed off of it.”

Jaylen Brown

On Jabari's performance tonight
“I think we've been a little more assertive. We're definitely trying to make the tournament and finish first in the Pac-12. The time is now. We're trying to be intense in practice. We're just trying to be focused, trying to be leaders. Jabari is playing so well. He's a leader in practice. He's the first person to finish a sprint, so I can see why it's unfolding for him now because he puts the work in. He puts the effort in and he's vocal. He's being a leader. He's doing what he's been doing for a long time. Now it's just walking into the shoes.”

On Haas Pavilion
“It's Berkeley, it's something about Berkeley. The fans, we feed off of the energy. They come out and show love every time we have a home game. They're excited and ready to see some good basketball, and we just try to give them a good game. We have the best fans in America.”

Oregon State Head Coach Wayne Tinkle

On the road trip
“I am really disappointed with the lack of effort tonight, but it was nice to get a win on the road this road trip (vs. Stanford). I am not happy with the way we handled the opportunity we had in front of us tonight.”

On Cal
“They are a really good defensive team, and you have to give them credit for that. They are probably the toughest defense in the league. Our goal was to pound it in the paint, and when you start the first three possessions of the game with three's, you aren't completing that goal. I can't tell you the reason that we weren't ready for a fight tonight, but they were, most evident by how they doubled us up at the free throw line. They were the aggressor and they were rewarded with the win.”

On the fouls
“We were soft defensively, and I think there were some guys who were not ready for what this game was going to be. We had to play catch up most of the game, and I know we didn't defend like we were supposed to. They got to the rim too much and 44 free throws is unacceptable.”

On moving past the loss
“I hope to get better this week. We need to rest some guys who are banged up and we have to get back to being hungry to win for Oregon State. We need to not let the individual stuff set in, and I think those things ended up setting in after the win on Thursday night. We really challenged the guys to be a team this game, just like they were in Palo Alto, but the individual worries carried into our defensive and offensive play. I am glad that we identified a hungry group who got us back into the game in the second half. They just ran out of gas there at the end.”