PAC-12 CONFERENCE MEN'S BASKETBALL CHAMPIONSHIP

March 10, 2021

Andre Kelly

California Golden Bears

Postgame Press Conference

California - 76, Stanford - 58

THE MODERATOR: We'll take questions, please.

Q. Can you talk about just sort of the elevated level of play from so many different guys in this game. It seemed like, I mean, Matt made a bunch of big plays for you, but a lot of guys were there and playing pretty well tonight. What did you think about that?

ANDRE KELLY: Yeah, a lot of guys stepped up big tonight. We had a really good week of practice this week. I think that week off coming into this tournament helped us. We were just focused on being crisp in our offense, doing the little things right, and we did a lot of good things tonight. We did some skill work too during the week, which I think showed, because a lot of people were stepping up hitting big shots. We're making the right plays, making the right pass, playing good as a team. We haven't had the whole team healthy this year, for the most part. Grant has been out a little bit, Matt's been out a little bit, Jarred's been out a little bit. So I think we had a like a good week of practice with the whole team, everyone in the group together, just helped us flow into this week and playing as a team.

Q. Can you talk about the blocked dunk by Matt?

ANDRE KELLY: Yeah, that was nice. Matt always goes for them. So I see them all the time. He gets those a lot. But it's definitely special, especially when you see it, you're watching the play, you see the guy going up for the dunk and you see Matt flying up there blocking it. It gets you hyped. It gets the team hyped too. It gave us some momentum going down the other end and definitely gave us some momentum for the game as well. It changed the flow of things.

Q. He corralled the ball, drove into the lane, and kicked it out to Bentley who has had a rough time lately and he made a big shot for you guys there.

ANDRE KELLY: Yeah, Ryan's been, he got, he heated up in the last game on senior night, for him. So he's been carrying over this week and he's making some shots that are key and crucial to our team.

Q. Looking ahead to Colorado, you guys -- Boulder was one result, you guys got even with them in Berkeley. What do you think you guys need to do to go 2-1 against them this year and get the win tomorrow?

ANDRE KELLY: They have a really good point guard, try to slow him down, but we're not really -- Coach just told us focus on tonight and we'll prepare for tomorrow in the morning. We're just going to enjoy this one tonight and then get back to work soon.

Q. A lot of guys in any rivalry game, sometimes they tone down, they say the rivalry doesn't mean that much, we're just playing. And some guys say hey, you know what, the rivalry does mean something, it does give us a little more oomph. Did playing Stanford give you guys a little more oomph?

ANDRE KELLY: Definitely. They got us twice this year and that didn't sit right with us. We wanted to make sure we got this one. The good thing about this is it goes all the way for the rest of year, so we don't play them for awhile, so we got that last win for the year, so that's the good thing about it.

Q. Can you talk about how you guys handled Oscar da Silva tonight?

ANDRE KELLY: He's a really good player and he's hard to stop. I think we just talked about corralling him, not going for his fakes, just making him score over length. That's the biggest thing. And then stabbing at the ball when we could, giving him different looks, sending different guys his way, just guarding him different ways to try and slow him down the best way we could.