What Gonzaga's Mark Few said after UCLA loss

The Bulldogs came up short in another thriller vs. the Bruins

Gonzaga Bulldogs head coach Mark Few / Robert Hanashiro-Imagn Images

As expected, Gonzaga and UCLA delivered on a thrilling nonconference matchup Saturday when the two West Coast powers met at the Intuit Dome in Inglewood, California.

Unlike the previous four head-to-head meetings, though, it was the Bruins (11-2) who came out on the right side of a tightly-contested affair with the Bulldogs (9-4).

UCLA's stout defense flummoxed the country's top-ranked offense early on, before prevailing down the stretch to come away with a 65-62 win over Gonzaga.

Here's what Mark Few had to say following Gonzaga's loss to UCLA.

On the Zags falling short in another close game:

UCLA Bruins guard Skyy Clark (55) controls the ball against Gonzaga Bulldogs guard Ryan Nembhard (0) and forward Emmanuel Innocenti (5). / Robert Hanashiro-Imagn Images

"We're playing a great schedule and great teams, and when you're in a position to win in basketball, you just hope you can make a play, make a shot and get a stop at the end. That was a tough call on Emmanuel [Innocenti] ... guys did a great job executing, got great looks. We had a good looking 3 — Dusty [Stromer] got a wide-open 3 in the corner and just got to kind of make those plays, make those shots. That's it, there's nothing more than that."

On what the nonconference schedule has taught him about his team heading into league play:

Gonzaga Bulldogs head coach Mark Few. / Robert Hanashiro-Imagn Images

"We really played some teams that pride themselves physically. You look at UConn, you look at West Virginia to a certain extent, you look at UCLA. I mean those are hard, physical teams. We've done a great job matching that. In the past, fortune smiled down on us a little bit. Now we need to come down and just make a play here, play there, simple as that. I've been telling these guys 'The next shots going in.' The beauty of maybe the difference between this year and last year, I told them, is last year we got matched up with teams that [had] Zach Edey [or teams like] UConn — physically they just overmatched us in some areas. We didn't have that can happen this year, so that's that's a great sign. Now it's just on us to step up and make a play here and play there."

On the game's physicality:

UCLA Bruins guard Dylan Andrews (2) and Gonzaga Bulldogs guard Michael Ajayi (1). / Robert Hanashiro-Imagn Images

"I don't think it was necessarily chippy. I think it was two teams really competing, playing with a lot of intensity. Chippy has a connotation of some other things there. I think it was just two teams that ramped up, playing really, really physical. These guys are the highest character and they've shown all year they're going to respond, whether it's in the Garden when they get jumped there in front of a wild crowd or in a game like tonight."

MORE GONZAGA NEWS & ANALYSIS

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