Quotes vs. UCLA
01/24/15 | Men's Basketball
Head Coach Dana Altman
On overall game…
“Well I think all the made baskets provide a lot of energy. I thought our ball movement was really good and we've been taking some quick shots. We really talked the past couple of days about if we didn't like what we got in transition, make them guard a little bit more. I liked some of our possessions. They went longer and I thought we got better shots because of it.”
On sharing points today…
“I mean Ahmaad, Dwayne…we had a lot of guys…Dwayne 6-of-6 and Ahmaad 4-of-4 gives you a pretty good jump on percentages.”
On halftime…
“Well we talked about not letting them get easy baskets, then they shot three layups at the start of the second half. We wanted to make sure we didn't let them get back in the game and giving up those baskets would be the quickest way to let them back into the game.”
On making adjustments after the layups…
“We just did a little better job of hedging some of the ball screens. I thought Jordan got a little more active. Elgin did a nice job of hedging some of those ball screens. So, I think we just picked it up and did a little better job.”
On Jordan Bell's assists…
“He's just unselfish. He's getting in there and not making selfish plays. He's looking for open people. I showed the guys after our last ball game the plays that he made for guys. He had a nice little jump hook and he's starting to develop some offense, but he is also a very good passer.”
Jalil Abdul-Bassit – Oregon Guard, Senior
On the offensive success…
“We had great ball movement as a team. That's what we've been working on offensively is moving the ball and making other teams guard.”
On what this does to their confidence going into Arizona…
“Coming off of two wins we're trying to keep the streak going. Keep moving the ball, just moving the ball on offense and continue to get better on defense.”
On his offensive success…
“It's all due to my teammates moving the ball and finding me. I'm getting to open spots and knocking them down. It's what we practice everyday.”
Dwayne Benjamin – Oregon Forward, Junior
On shooting well as a team throughout the game…
“We moved the ball pretty well and we took open shots. We practice shooting everyday, so we can make open shots.”
“The last couple of games we feel like we've been moving the ball pretty well. Tonight it definitely shows that if we move the ball everyone can make open shots.”
On what this does to their confidence going into Arizona…
“We always have confidence, but it just boosted us up and showed us the right way to play to win, to go in there and win. We just have to pick up the defense a little more.”
On holding the lead throughout the game…
“That was the biggest confidence boost out of today. At Washington we had a pretty good lead and let them come back, so going into halftime we told each other that we wouldn't let it happen again with defense.”
On what he sees from Roman Sorkin…
“Versatility. He can put it on the floor and he can shoot, like that last play was for him to get a shot. He can really shoot. He'll add that versatility from the five spot.”
UCLA Head Coach Steve Alford
On Oregon's shooting performance in the 1st half…
“They shot it awfully well. Partly because they were hot, and also because we gave them too many easy ones, too many good looks. In the second half we were a little bit better I thought, but the first half defensively we weren't very good.”
“It's hard, we haven't had to play this way all year (short-handed). Obviously it's not an excuse, but we're not a deep team to begin with and Tony being gone doesn't just affect what we do offensively, but it affects our defense as well. Guys are trying, they are working.”
What did they learn on the Oregon road trip…
“One of the things that happened on this road trip that is a positive is that guys like Tom (Thomas Welsh) and G.G. (Gyorgy Goloman) got a lot of minutes, and that's going to help them with their development moving forward, and hopefully that's going to help us here going down the stretch.”
