Arizona-CU postgame: UCLA players praise Wildcats despite McKale Center win

LAS VEGAS –Aaron Holiday and Thomas Welsh helped UCLA record an 82-74 win over Arizona on Feb. 8 that UA coach Sean Miller said was “probably the easiest” win by a visiting team at McKale Center in seven or eight years.

Yet neither Bruin had anything but respect to offer the Wildcats on Thursday after beating Stanford to advance to a Pac-12 semifinal game Friday against UA. (7:10 p.m., Pac-12 Networks).

“It’s gonna be fun. They’re at the top,” Holiday said of Arizona, which will face the Bruins in the Pac-12 Tournament semifinals Friday. “Their whole team is pretty good. Parker (Jackson-Cartwright), Allonzo Trier, (Deandre) Ayton, (Dusan) Ristic – they’ve got a good starting five. We’ve got to play defense and stop them.”

Welsh, the senior 7-footer who had 11 points and 12 rebounds against Ayton and Ristic on Feb. 8, put it this way:

“They’re an extremely talented team, extremely well coached,” Welsh said, then added of Ayton and Ristic: “The fact that you’ve got both of them on the floor at the same time presents a lot of challenges to your defense. They’re extremely gifted, extremely talented players.”

Miller didn’t have much to say when asked about those NCAA and ESPN issues that have been in the news lately.

Asked if college athletes such as Deandre Ayton and Marvin Bagley should be allowed to be compensated by sponsors as Olympians are, Miller said “I’m not really qualified to answer that.”

Miller was later asked if he planned to sue ESPN since he referred to its report on his alleged discussion about paying Ayton as “defamatory.”

Miller said: "I’ve already made my statement.”

When it was noted that Miller did not mention whether he would pursue anything legally in his statement, Miller said “I’ve already made my statement.”

Here's the full transcript of Miller’s comments.

Pac-12 commissioner Larry Scott said he stayed out of UA’s decision on Miller. We have a story on it here, and Scott’s full comments are here.

Back to homepage

Subscriber Login

Keep reading with a digital access subscription.

Subscribe now

Freshman forward Ira Lee said he feels fine after a two-week recovery from a concussion, practicing with the Wildcats this week but not playing on Thursday.

“Concussions are tricky,” Lee said. “You can’t take meds for it. You can’t do rehab for it. you gotta wake up and see how you feel. That was a thing we took day by day but I’m feeling good now.”

Rawle Alkins said he knew since last summer that he was leaving after his sophomore season, after he participated in the NBA combine and received feedback from meeting with NBA officials.

He said he wasn’t surprised UA coach Sean Miller knew he and Allonzo Trier would leave – but didn’t think Miller would introduce them at Senior Day because they weren’t coming back, either.

“I was surprised we got that ovation and that single moment,” Alkins said.

When cameras caught Deandre Ayton with his shoe off on the bench in the second half Thursday, Pac-12 Networks analyst Don MacLean said "something ain't right over there with him."

UA trainer Justin Kokoskie said Ayton is fine, having just taken his shoe off to provide some relief for soreness. Ayton also appeared to be walking and standing without issue in the locker room after the game.

Oregon's 68-66 win in Thursday's late game put the Ducks in the other semifinal game against USC, a 61-48 winner over Oregon State. That game will start 30 minutes after the UA-UCLA game, and will be televised on FS1.

Since postseason rules require locker rooms be open to media after games following a cooling-off period, you may notice more players offering their thoughts via one-on-one and small-group interviews. (During the regular season, UA selects one or two players to speak after games). Hopefully that makes for better coverage.

Our full coverage from Thursday is attached to this post.