California Head Coach Mark Fox

 Overall thoughts:
"That was a hard-fought game. That was a great college basketball game and we beat a very well-coached UNLV team, a team that was very determined throughout the night to win. I was proud of our kids' competitive endurance to keep playing and to play through some mistakes and to make plays. I talked about it probably six or seven of the timeouts during the game, is just keep competing — have a competitive endurance about you. We kept battling and, in the end, found a way to win. So, really proud of our team."
 
On the difference in Cal's play in the last five minutes of regulation:
"I thought the difference — and I told the kids at halftime — I said the first team that starts playing defense is going to win. I didn't think either team particularly was great defensively in the first half. But in the second half, both teams decided to start playing defense so I think what the difference in the game was, was the turnovers. In the second half, they had 12, we had five. I thought that was really what was the deciding factor. We just kept battling, we just kept playing hard and found a way to win."
 
On what Juhwan-Harris Dyson did to help Cal defensively:
"We had some tough matchups, but they did have some layups and we thought they would get some because we really wanted to slow the 3-point line down. I don't think we did a great job of that either, but Juhwan impacted the game defensively, most certainly. I thought he played better offense in the first half than he did defense. But in the second half, certainly, he disrupted things and he really made an impact on the game."
 
On what Juhwan Harris-Dyson can be for Cal:
"They all should have an impact on defense. I was very disappointed in how we made some mental errors defensively. Just schematically, we weren't disciplined to the plan and a good team like Vegas, they make you pay. But everybody should be a defender. Juhwan can be a very good defender and I thought he was good in the second half tonight."
 
On what went into playing Joel Brown down the stretch with Cal:
"Paris (Austin) missed two or three practices this week with an injury, so he is hobbled. Obviously you probably saw the big pad he is wearing. He is not 100 percent but he will hopefully get healthy soon."
 
 

California Freshman Guard Joel Brown

 
On his 3-point shooting:
"I think the opportunity presented itself. They left me open so for me it was just a confident thing of shooting. Off the court and in practice, I have really been working on that and tonight was the perfect opportunity to kind of get it going. When the first one dropped, I knew that it was good, and then from there just going."
 
On if this is about as good of a birthday he has had:
"Most definitely. It was a great win, especially on my birthday, I am happy that we won together and we pulled in and now we are just looking forward to the next game."
 
On how much it helped on defense having Juhwan Harris-Dyson back:
"It was great, just having him back 100 percent healthy now, just having another athletic body — someone who is active defensively and works hard is a great feeling."
 
On getting to the foul line more and playing more aggressive:
"It was definitely, be aggressive, try to get in the bonus. We have a lot of depth compared to them, so we tried to get deep into their bench, get guys to sit out. We did a way better job of being aggressive and attacking them which opened shots for [Matt Bradley] and [Kareem South] once we were attacking the lane."
 
 
 

California Graduate Guard Kareem South

 
On his team's ability to stay composed even when they were down:
"Coach Fox always reminds us to stay even — never too high, never too low. Tonight was just an example of that."
 
On his team's defense down the stretch:
"I think down the stretch we were very locked in, we forced deflections and we were also able to get rebounds when it mattered. At the beginning, I have to give credit to UNLV's guard play, they did a really good job. Defensively I think we just picked it up when it was the moment of truth. We locked in and got the stops."
 
On how much it helped on defense having Juhwan Harris-Dyson back:
"Like Joel said, Juhwan is just a spark plug. Came out, got deflections, got a dunk, and he was just able to ignite our defense which turned to offense. So Juhwan was a great help for us in our win today."
 
On what a win like this can mean moving forward in the season:
"I think this is what is going to shape out identity, is just our toughness. Like I said, in the moment of truth, it is about the team that is more tough and I think that's what we showed today. Again, we are just going to keep on trusting the process and trust what our coach has told us for the next game plan to succeed."
 
On his composure after missing a shot late in the game:
"I feel like our coach and my teammates give me ultimate confidence when I shoot the basketball and an example of that was Joel found me in the corner and I was able to knock down the next shot. So my mentality is to always think the next shot is good."