Steve Alford says there is no beef between him and Sean Miller.
A controversy emerged between the coaches last year over some late-game timeouts. It began when Alford called a timeout with a second left in UCLA’s road victory over Arizona last year. Miller thought that Alford was rubbing things in and took offense. When the teams met in the Pac-12 Tournament, he returned the favor by calling a timeout with his team up big and one second left in the game.
That gesture led to a confrontation between the coaches after the game:
The Miller – Alford handshake pic.twitter.com/zPBx8RpeJN
— CJ Fogler (@cjzero) March 11, 2017
Alford said he “meant no disrespect” when he called his timeout and said it was done to set up the team’s defense to make sure nothing crazy happened.
UCLA and Arizona are set to meet in Tucson on Thursday, which led the matter to come up again when Alford spoke with reporters on Tuesday. He says everything is smoothed out between him and Miller.
Steve Alford said he spoke with Sean Miller after Timeoutgate in the Pac-12 tournament and that everything has been smoothed out between the coaches.
— Ben Bolch (@latbbolch) February 6, 2018
Steve Alford, when asked if there would be any more retaliation between the teams: "No, no, no, no, no, no. And there was no intent on my behalf and he was the same way, so there’s nothing there."
— Ben Bolch (@latbbolch) February 6, 2018
The game will be big for the conference standings. Arizona leads the Pac-12 with a 9-2 conference record, while UCLA is tied for fourth at 7-4.
