Guards Prince Ali and Aaron Holiday talk about UCLA’s defensive effort against Detroit Mercy, which led to an explosive night on offense and Jaylen Hands‘ performance off the bench.
Guards Kris Wilkes and Aaron Holiday talk about the second-half ball movement against Cal State Bakersfield, the team’s poor 3-point shooting and overcoming offensive struggles.
Guards Aaron Holiday and Prince Ali and center Thomas Welsh talk about the defensive effort that allowed UCLA to blow out UC Irvine, Ali’s first career start and UCLA’s increasingly short bench.
70-70 with 10 seconds to go…
UCLA needed a bucket for a W. pic.twitter.com/zvuSjouiFt
— ESPN (@espn) November 22, 2017
Steve Alford called a timeout with 13 seconds left. He knew what play he wanted.
Aaron Holiday scored the game-winning layup with 0.9 second left against Wisconsin on Tuesday in the third-place game of the Hall of Fame Classic in Kansas City, Mo., using a screen from Thomas Welsh as the Bruins won 72-70.
“You just dream of it growing up,” Holiday told reporters of scoring game-winners. “You dream of big moments, being there, and making the big play. I just try to be aggressive. My teammates and my coach gave me confidence and gave me the ball, and we came up with the win.”
Holiday scored the final 10 points for UCLA (4-1) and finished with a team-high 18.
UCLA trailed by six, 65-59, with 3:52 to go, but Holiday dished one of his five assists to Jaylen Hands for a 3-pointer that sparked the Bruin comeback. Holiday took over from there, hitting two 3-pointers, two free throws and the game-winning layup all in the final 2:47.
“He is my pit-bull,” Alford said of Holiday. “You just turn him loose. I have all the confidence. He might not make the shot, but he is going to give me everything he has. And he is pretty good at making those shots.”
Welsh and G.G. Goloman had 11 points each. Welsh added eight rebounds and two steals.
Head coach Steve Alford, center Thomas Welsh and guard Aaron Holiday talk about surviving in overtime against Central Arkansas, the team’s difficult past week and the freshmen learning how to process scouting reports.