Postgame Quotes – UCLA 78, Long Island 58
POSTGAME QUOTES
UCLA 78, Long Island 58
Nov. 15, 2023
Mick Cronin, The Michael Price Family UCLA Men’s Head Basketball Coach
on the many ways Aday Mara can impact the game
“Very skilled player. Great passer. Can shoot it from 15 (feet) and – consistent. Made his two free throws as well tonight. Got to be a little bit stronger with rebounds. He’s got to realize, when you’re as tall as him, refs – he made a play in the first half that they called over the back. Embarrassing call. Embarrassing call. The guy is 7-3. He’s allowed to reach for the ball. But people aren’t used to seeing somebody like him, so then he gets the rebound and people are whacking away at him. No call. I can only imagine. I watched it growing up. I watched what people were allowed to do to Shaquille O’Neal his whole career because they couldn’t guard him. They just fouled him every play. He’s got to get ready for that.”
on how close Aday Mara is to 100 percent
“He’s good. He didn’t even need to come out to be honest with you. He told me he felt good. I played him 14 straight minutes in the second half out there. Just trying to get him ready.”
on the defensive combination of Aday Mara and Adem Bona
“Well, their performance on the defensive end was O.K. Aday is learning and getting better at that. Adem has got to improve on his perimeter defense. He’s got to improve vastly on his switching on the perimeter and not fouling a jump shooter. We fouled two jump shooters in the second half. We also gave up 48 percent in the second half and 41 points. We stopped playing. We got up 30. I don’t what the score was with 11 minutes to play, but it says here (points to box score) we were up 30 and just stopped playing defense. We packed it in. So, we’re too young right now. We’re not tough enough. That’s just the truth. We’re not hard, tough enough to be able to play 40 minutes. We don’t have enough guys that can play hard enough.”
on Dylan Andrews not playing
“No. Coach’s decision.”
on Will McClendon/UCLA’s rebounding
“All defensive (rebounds). He had none in the second half. We had eight offensive (rebounds) in the first half, which I was happy with. In the second half, we only got three of our misses. Our big problem right now is we aren’t getting enough shots off and we have too many turnovers. (If) point guard play doesn’t improve for us, we’re going to be in trouble until it does. When you’re turning the ball over at home in bye games, like Sebastian (Mack) had three unforced errors in the first four minutes. We will be down in 10 (minutes) so fast next Monday your head will spin. We have got to take care of the basketball. I’ve got to get somebody out there that can take care of the basketball or we’re in trouble. We only got 53 shots off. Right now, we’re not getting near enough shots off and that goes to our lack of offensive rebounding. Tonight was the best we’ve done, but you’ve got to do better. You can’t rebound a turnover. To have 14 turnovers is just beyond ridiculous. Beyond careless. You have to eliminate empty trips. To real win games, you’re not going to be able to shut other teams out. We had too many empty trips offensively. Jan Vide comes down in the first half, no passes, drives the lane in traffic and shoots an air ball. You might as well throw it out of bounds so we can go set our defense. I got my work cut out for me. (It’s a) young team. We’ve got to learn the things we need to do to give ourselves a chance in a real game against a team that has a chance. Tonight, I thought those guys – I respect guys that don’t quit. I respect toughness and fight. We got up 30, we quit and they played hard until the final buzzer. It’s a credit to their coaching, their staff and to their players. We did not. We packed it in the last 10 minutes. Turnovers and no defense the last 10 minutes.”
on if the upcoming Maui Invitational reminds him of his 2019 UCLA squad, trying to build habits
“No. That team wasn’t as young as this team. Except for (Kris) Wilkes and (Jaylen) Hands, right? The freshmen were Jaime (Jaquez Jr.) and Jake (Kyman). That team had a lot of guys. Now, Tyger because he was coming off the (injury). I know everyone wants to say that, but that team was bigger and stronger and older than this team. So, we were able to eventually win with team defense and rebounding. (We) lost a buzzer shot for the Pac-12 title. This team, we have more skill in certain areas, but we’re not as physical as that team.”
UCLA center Adem Bona
on playing with teammate Aday Mara
"I was really excited. If you could see me from the bench, I was celebrating at every point, every assist, every rebound. I knew that there was so much to come from him. He’s an amazing player and he’s going to continue to grow and do great things for the team.”
on improvements that can be made on a young team
“I think there’s just a couple of things that come as a freshman. First of all, they have to adapt to the college basketball game. And second, paying attention and sticking to game plans. You know, I think that’s one thing that we need to improve on. I think with time, definitely, we will be better, and as a team, I’ve seen some growth and some improvement.
on playing No. 4 Marquette on Monday
“From what I know about Marquette, I know that they’re a really experienced team. They’ve got guys that have been playing there for four years now. We do respect them, and I think we’ve got a game plan, and Coach Cronin is definitely going to come up with a game plan. It’s also exciting to be playing Marquette on national TV so we are excited, and we are also going in ready to play.”
on playing with veteran Kenneth Nwuba
“Kenny’s the most experienced player on the team. He’s been on the team for so many events; the Final Four, the Maui Classic. He has been in so many tournaments with the team. I think he has passed on some knowledge about how it’s going to be in the gym. Kenny has given us the experience of what it’s going to be like playing on national television, it’s going to be a little intense. But I think we’ve got it, we just need to stick to our game plan.”
Freshman guard Jan Vide
on Aday Mara being able to pass the ball
“Right before this I was talking on the radio about the same thing. I know Aday (Mara), we played against each other in Spain. I didn’t like him because he scored a lot of points on us. I know his game, I know his vision. I know his vision when he gets the ball in the low post, I’ve talked to him about that, and I’ve said to him when you get the ball in the low post I’m going to cut. So I cut in. I’m just trying to move without the ball and he found me like three times today. Playing with him it’s easy. He’s 7’3” and can see over everything.”
on how the team can take better care of the ball
“I’m still trying to get used to American basketball. It’s much more physical, the defenses are stronger. I need to relax more and take care of the ball like coach says. He’s trying to improve me, I need to take care of it.”
Long Island Head Coach Rod Strickland
opening statement
“We did a great job tonight. We fought and competed, but we were absolutely over-matched by UCLA. They started the two bigs. I thought we didn’t execute on offense, but we really competed well on the defensive end.”
on where they go from here
“On Monday against Pepperdine, we were bad. We went back to the lab, watched film and organized our offense. We didn’t really execute on the offensive end, but we played well defensively. So tonight was definitely an improvement from Monday.”
UCLA 78, Long Island 58
Nov. 15, 2023
Mick Cronin, The Michael Price Family UCLA Men’s Head Basketball Coach
on the many ways Aday Mara can impact the game
“Very skilled player. Great passer. Can shoot it from 15 (feet) and – consistent. Made his two free throws as well tonight. Got to be a little bit stronger with rebounds. He’s got to realize, when you’re as tall as him, refs – he made a play in the first half that they called over the back. Embarrassing call. Embarrassing call. The guy is 7-3. He’s allowed to reach for the ball. But people aren’t used to seeing somebody like him, so then he gets the rebound and people are whacking away at him. No call. I can only imagine. I watched it growing up. I watched what people were allowed to do to Shaquille O’Neal his whole career because they couldn’t guard him. They just fouled him every play. He’s got to get ready for that.”
on how close Aday Mara is to 100 percent
“He’s good. He didn’t even need to come out to be honest with you. He told me he felt good. I played him 14 straight minutes in the second half out there. Just trying to get him ready.”
on the defensive combination of Aday Mara and Adem Bona
“Well, their performance on the defensive end was O.K. Aday is learning and getting better at that. Adem has got to improve on his perimeter defense. He’s got to improve vastly on his switching on the perimeter and not fouling a jump shooter. We fouled two jump shooters in the second half. We also gave up 48 percent in the second half and 41 points. We stopped playing. We got up 30. I don’t what the score was with 11 minutes to play, but it says here (points to box score) we were up 30 and just stopped playing defense. We packed it in. So, we’re too young right now. We’re not tough enough. That’s just the truth. We’re not hard, tough enough to be able to play 40 minutes. We don’t have enough guys that can play hard enough.”
on Dylan Andrews not playing
“No. Coach’s decision.”
on Will McClendon/UCLA’s rebounding
“All defensive (rebounds). He had none in the second half. We had eight offensive (rebounds) in the first half, which I was happy with. In the second half, we only got three of our misses. Our big problem right now is we aren’t getting enough shots off and we have too many turnovers. (If) point guard play doesn’t improve for us, we’re going to be in trouble until it does. When you’re turning the ball over at home in bye games, like Sebastian (Mack) had three unforced errors in the first four minutes. We will be down in 10 (minutes) so fast next Monday your head will spin. We have got to take care of the basketball. I’ve got to get somebody out there that can take care of the basketball or we’re in trouble. We only got 53 shots off. Right now, we’re not getting near enough shots off and that goes to our lack of offensive rebounding. Tonight was the best we’ve done, but you’ve got to do better. You can’t rebound a turnover. To have 14 turnovers is just beyond ridiculous. Beyond careless. You have to eliminate empty trips. To real win games, you’re not going to be able to shut other teams out. We had too many empty trips offensively. Jan Vide comes down in the first half, no passes, drives the lane in traffic and shoots an air ball. You might as well throw it out of bounds so we can go set our defense. I got my work cut out for me. (It’s a) young team. We’ve got to learn the things we need to do to give ourselves a chance in a real game against a team that has a chance. Tonight, I thought those guys – I respect guys that don’t quit. I respect toughness and fight. We got up 30, we quit and they played hard until the final buzzer. It’s a credit to their coaching, their staff and to their players. We did not. We packed it in the last 10 minutes. Turnovers and no defense the last 10 minutes.”
on if the upcoming Maui Invitational reminds him of his 2019 UCLA squad, trying to build habits
“No. That team wasn’t as young as this team. Except for (Kris) Wilkes and (Jaylen) Hands, right? The freshmen were Jaime (Jaquez Jr.) and Jake (Kyman). That team had a lot of guys. Now, Tyger because he was coming off the (injury). I know everyone wants to say that, but that team was bigger and stronger and older than this team. So, we were able to eventually win with team defense and rebounding. (We) lost a buzzer shot for the Pac-12 title. This team, we have more skill in certain areas, but we’re not as physical as that team.”
UCLA center Adem Bona
on playing with teammate Aday Mara
"I was really excited. If you could see me from the bench, I was celebrating at every point, every assist, every rebound. I knew that there was so much to come from him. He’s an amazing player and he’s going to continue to grow and do great things for the team.”
on improvements that can be made on a young team
“I think there’s just a couple of things that come as a freshman. First of all, they have to adapt to the college basketball game. And second, paying attention and sticking to game plans. You know, I think that’s one thing that we need to improve on. I think with time, definitely, we will be better, and as a team, I’ve seen some growth and some improvement.
on playing No. 4 Marquette on Monday
“From what I know about Marquette, I know that they’re a really experienced team. They’ve got guys that have been playing there for four years now. We do respect them, and I think we’ve got a game plan, and Coach Cronin is definitely going to come up with a game plan. It’s also exciting to be playing Marquette on national TV so we are excited, and we are also going in ready to play.”
on playing with veteran Kenneth Nwuba
“Kenny’s the most experienced player on the team. He’s been on the team for so many events; the Final Four, the Maui Classic. He has been in so many tournaments with the team. I think he has passed on some knowledge about how it’s going to be in the gym. Kenny has given us the experience of what it’s going to be like playing on national television, it’s going to be a little intense. But I think we’ve got it, we just need to stick to our game plan.”
Freshman guard Jan Vide
on Aday Mara being able to pass the ball
“Right before this I was talking on the radio about the same thing. I know Aday (Mara), we played against each other in Spain. I didn’t like him because he scored a lot of points on us. I know his game, I know his vision. I know his vision when he gets the ball in the low post, I’ve talked to him about that, and I’ve said to him when you get the ball in the low post I’m going to cut. So I cut in. I’m just trying to move without the ball and he found me like three times today. Playing with him it’s easy. He’s 7’3” and can see over everything.”
on how the team can take better care of the ball
“I’m still trying to get used to American basketball. It’s much more physical, the defenses are stronger. I need to relax more and take care of the ball like coach says. He’s trying to improve me, I need to take care of it.”
Long Island Head Coach Rod Strickland
opening statement
“We did a great job tonight. We fought and competed, but we were absolutely over-matched by UCLA. They started the two bigs. I thought we didn’t execute on offense, but we really competed well on the defensive end.”
on where they go from here
“On Monday against Pepperdine, we were bad. We went back to the lab, watched film and organized our offense. We didn’t really execute on the offensive end, but we played well defensively. So tonight was definitely an improvement from Monday.”