California head coach Cuonzo Martin
Opening Statement
“Great game, great win. To finish 18-0 in a league of this magnitude, we always talked about defending our home court. Our guys did a great job setting the tone from start to finish. We knew it would be a tough game from an emotional standpoint. On Senior Nights, for me, I've always been shaky the first five to 10 minutes just because of the emotions and energy behind it. I thought we settled down and started playing some good basketball. One thing about USC, we hadn't seen them play, but they're one of the fastest teams, especially with their guards' quickness. You don't see that every day in practice so you have to be ready to make that adjustment. I thought after eight to 10 minutes in the first half, we started to settle down a bit and start playing some good basketball. Just a great win for our guys, I'm happy for them.”
On USC'S Nikola Jovanovic and defending their outside shooters
“I thought he played well. Our game plan, because they can shoot the three-point shot well, and may have four guys on the floor that can shoot it, we felt the one thing we could give up was the one-on-one post play. He doesn't really post it up like that every time down, but our perimeter guys did such a good job in the second half and late in the first of defending the perimeter. What USC did was start to go inside to [Jovanovic] and we took our chances because if he's scoring the ball down low and they're going to him down low, you're taking away from what those perimeter guys normally do and you take away their reps. We felt like we'd play our percentages on him making one-on-one plays, and if he made some plays, he made some plays. We couldn't let those perimeter guys to get in a rhythm and start going.”
On Tyrone adapting and thriving with elite talent around him
“Tyrone is a good basketball player. Tyrone is the type of guy, he's a scoring point guard for us. He's not the type of guy that's going to go and average 10 assists, that's not his game. He'll get six or seven assists, he'll make plays and get to the rim. He can score the ball. He has great size, great length and he makes basketball plays. He makes good decisions with the basketball. I think it was an adjustment both for Tyrone and the returning guys when you have two talented guys come in (Jaylen Brown and Ivan Rabb) trying to find their way. I thought Tyrone did a good job of being a leader, but he's not a very vocal guy when he leads. He'll pull a guy to the side and he'll say stuff, but he's not loud or boisterous with it. He did a good job adjusting. I think he's grown as a basketball player because he just wants to be a good player.”
On Jaylen Brown's full-court layup at the first-half buzzer
“Jaylen is probably the fastest on our team with the basketball, going in a straight line, so I made the adjustment with Tyrone [inbounding] and letting Jaylen go with it. If he's coming at you full speed, it's hard to really get in front of him unless you foul him. You have to make a decision and he's going full speed. Three-point-eight seconds, when you really think about it, is a lot of time and he made a layup off that. When you have Jordan Mathews and Jabari Bird on the wings, it makes it hard to leave those guys when Jaylen's straight line driving. He made a great play.”
California Players
Tyrone Wallace
On wrapping up his senior season at home undefeated
“There were a lot of emotions out there. I was really excited to come to the game. Four years have flown by for me. I think we ended it the right way, 18-0 at home. I had the best teammates and coaches in the world, and so for us to come out and play the way we did, stay focused and stay dialed in to get the win I think it was big. The crowd has been amazing and they've played a huge part in our success at home. Games have been packed, sold out and just the cheering it's been awesome, so I'm just really happy.”
On what changed during the 26-26 tie
“We started getting stops. I think early in the game they came in and they got some easy layups. We were able to slow them down. I think the last eight minutes they only scored two points. So when we're getting stops like that it's really hard to beat us because I feel like we have so many options on offense. So many weapons that we keep getting stops consecutively we come down and score. That's how we're able to build the lead up. Great job form our guys being ready to defend and keep improving.”
On the seven-game winning streak
“I think everything's just clicking right now. We're like a well-oiled machine right now. We're playing really well and everybody's contributing. When everybody does their job I think you're seeing what we can be. So I don't necessarily think we changed anything. I think everybody's awake and the guys have been doing a good job paying attention and being ready. We're out here, we're a family and we're really playing like it, and it shows.”
Jaylen Brown:
On next season
“I haven't even thought about it. It hasn't crossed my mind. What I'm worried about is Arizona on Thursday and Arizona State on Sunday.”
Ivan Rabb
On the team's performance
“I'll just say that everybody's been really focused and bought into what coach has been saying. We've been like that the whole season, but now everybody's playing together. We're playing as hard as we can and we're playing for each other. That's what's putting us over the top right now in these games. We just want to continue that. The season's not over. We have a long season ahead of us, and we're just done playing at home. We have to do the same thing on the road.”
On the rest of this season
“We still have a long season ahead of us. We have so many games. We plan on going deep in the tournament, so right now I'm just focused on this team and just trying to win. I can't control what the future holds, but I have to keep doing what I'm doing on the court.”
USC Head Coach Andy Enfield
On the game
“We played hard in the beginning of the game. It was 26-26, we were rebounding well, defending, really pushing the ball and had some great looks at the basket, but then we couldn't make a shot for seven minutes. We played very hard, and it was a great game. Those first 10 minutes were really two talented teams playing very hard. I thought it was a great atmosphere until we stopped being able to make shots, and they kept making them. That was the difference in the game. You can't get down in double digits and expect to win a game at Cal. They are 18-0 on the year at home. You can't go seven minutes without scoring even just easy shots. Offensively, the issue wasn't what we were running or what the game plan was, we missed four or five easy layups, good post moves and open jump shots. It wasn't too many turnovers, but we just started out shooting well in the first half and for whatever reason, later on, started missing easy shots. Cal is a very talented team, and they made a lot of tough shots during the game and during the stretch where we couldn't score. Our defense was solid, but they scored their share when our shots just weren't falling. If you look at the final stats, they shot 49 percent and we shot 40 percent. They are a great team and when you play a team like that, you have to score with them and keep up with their scoring pace. ”
On the road trip
“Out of all the Pac 12 games this weekend, not a single road team won a game. This league is very difficult to win on the road, especially when you're spending long nights in hotels. You go on the road for five days, and now we have to fly back and have our guys in class by eight a.m. tomorrow morning. So I think the road is harder in our league, especially with these longer road trips. We're 15-1 at home, and there were points when Cal struggled on the road, as well. That goes to show you that the road is challenging in our league, and we just played two teams that played exceptionally well. On Thursday, we had four starters go 0-13 in the first half and tonight, we had two starters who were 0-13 all game. It's hard to stay with good teams, especially on the road when they have the crowd behind them and they are playing well. We need to go home, practice hard and try to win some home games.”
