Postgame Quotes – Utah 90, UCLA 44
POSTGAME QUOTES
Utah 90, UCLA 44
Salt Lake City, Utah (Jon M. Huntsman Center)
Jan. 11, 2024
Mick Cronin, The Michael Price Family UCLA Men’s Head Basketball Coach
on Utah pulling away
“Even in the first half it was a two-point game. They got the lead on us. [Utah was] getting to the foul line because we didn’t rebound. So, that was my big concern Saturday. It was my concern [today]. As you get into this and it gets more physical, we haven’t met that challenge at all. Adem [Bona] has got two rebounds and three rebounds in our last two games. Look, they blew us out. We got our ass kicked. They made every shot. They got on a roll. They’re just letting us shoot. They’re just giving us target practice. Sometimes the game is not that complicated. This result aside, we got no chance if we don’t get Adem playing better. I have got to get him playing better. Starting with his rebounding, then second to his scoring.”
on the guard play
“We’re struggling to shoot the ball. Add them up. Quick math. Two-for-12 from three for our starters. Will [McClendon] is really sick. Upper respiratory thing.”
on the team’s spirit
“The first half, we played as hard as we could. I thought our fouls late in the half – I thought there was some questionable stuff big time, but whatever. We don’t make free throws. It easily could have been a two, three or four-point game at halftime. But their made shots just broke our back. If you keep going down and missing wide-open shots and they keep going down and making them, eventually it’s just – even when they missed them, though, I would contend the score is a result of our lack of defensive rebounding.”
on his message to the team after the game
“Nobody feels sorry for them. I tried to tell them Saturday. Two straight games we’ve given up 14 offensive rebounds. Because that we can control. Well, we should be able to control. Our mind is affected by lack scoring. [That] starts to affect your defense and your rebounding. That’s when you’re in trouble and that’s what I was grossly concerned about. Knowing how potent [Utah is]. Knowing they got a bunch of guys that can shoot the ball.”
on returning to the two bigs lineup
“Just trying to get some scoring with Aday [Mara], but he just keeps giving up layups so it’s hard.”
on if there was any UCLA player who gave a spark tonight
“No. No. No. We got our ass kicked every way we could: coaching, playing, hustle, everything. I got no positive for you as far as one guy.”
on what he can do to get the guards to play better
“We’ve got to make some shots at some point. You can control your effort and attitude. If you want to win games at some point – when teams don’t guard you – you’ve got to make some shots. They’re not guarding us.”
on if he saw any quit
“I think guys got punch-drunk. They’re good kids. We don’t have bad kids, trust me. They listen. They’re embarrassed, but that doesn’t help. I was concerned with this. They’re punch-drunk and you’ve got to fight your way out of it. I’ve been there before. It’s been a while, but I’ve been there before.”
Junior guard Lazar Stefanovic
on what his experience was like being booed and returning to Utah
“It’s a nice place. I love this place. I played here for two years. The first place I went to after I left my family and home. I have a special emotion for this place. I didn’t pay too much attention to other stuff in the gym.”
on Utah’s big run in the second half
“We couldn’t get a rebound. They were shooting until they were making it and they start making it right away and we just couldn’t get a stop.”
on giving up 57 points in the second half, with UCLA’s reputation on defense
“It’s terrible. We got to watch. We got to learn from it. We got to play tougher. Rebound the ball. Our effort has to be better. We have to be better in every aspect of the game. We can’t let that happen.”
on what the guards need to do to be consistent shooters
“I think there’s a lot of stuff, but be confident and shoot the ball.”
on if he’s confident
“I feel like our team’s confidence is not in the best spot. I guess that’s normal when you start losing and are on a losing streak, but we’ve got to find a way to pick it up and stick together as a team and lift each other up.”
Sophomore guard Dylan Andrews
on Utah’s big run in the second half
“It sucks to lose a game like this. But we have to stay positive, man. They were killing us on the offensive rebounds, second-chance points, and-ones. They started to carry the momentum and we couldn’t stop it. So, the game carried on and that was the result of it. But we got to be better.”
on how he stays positive and confident
“Just talking to the guys, man. It’s a long season. We got Washington coming up in two days, so we can’t hang our heads on this one. It sucks of course, but we have to be ready and we have to be mentally strong and come out and bring fire to the next game.”
on what the guards can do to improve their shooting
“We just got to get back in the gym, man, and focus on shooting, really. Guys are giving us shots and we got to capitalize on them. That’s what Utah did. We gave them open threes, they made shots. They shot that ball well and that’s what they’re known to do. We didn’t do a pretty good job of stopping that even though we knew Utah was a three-point shooting team.”
on giving up all the offensive rebounds
“I just feel like we got a little manhandled today. It turned into a pride thing at a certain point. We have to be better. We can’t give up those second-chance points. I think they scored 57 points off second-chance points. … That can’t happen. We have to finish the possession with the rebound so we can – the more possessions you have in the game, the more chances you have to score. That’s what [Utah] had, and we didn’t get that too much.”
on what he can do to initiate the offense as the point guard of the team
“Just keep talking to the guys on the court and off the court. I know I can’t just keep saying we have to be better, but it’s the truth. We at one point were down 50 and that shouldn’t be the case at all. We got to get back to having fun on the court.”
Utah 90, UCLA 44
Salt Lake City, Utah (Jon M. Huntsman Center)
Jan. 11, 2024
Mick Cronin, The Michael Price Family UCLA Men’s Head Basketball Coach
on Utah pulling away
“Even in the first half it was a two-point game. They got the lead on us. [Utah was] getting to the foul line because we didn’t rebound. So, that was my big concern Saturday. It was my concern [today]. As you get into this and it gets more physical, we haven’t met that challenge at all. Adem [Bona] has got two rebounds and three rebounds in our last two games. Look, they blew us out. We got our ass kicked. They made every shot. They got on a roll. They’re just letting us shoot. They’re just giving us target practice. Sometimes the game is not that complicated. This result aside, we got no chance if we don’t get Adem playing better. I have got to get him playing better. Starting with his rebounding, then second to his scoring.”
on the guard play
“We’re struggling to shoot the ball. Add them up. Quick math. Two-for-12 from three for our starters. Will [McClendon] is really sick. Upper respiratory thing.”
on the team’s spirit
“The first half, we played as hard as we could. I thought our fouls late in the half – I thought there was some questionable stuff big time, but whatever. We don’t make free throws. It easily could have been a two, three or four-point game at halftime. But their made shots just broke our back. If you keep going down and missing wide-open shots and they keep going down and making them, eventually it’s just – even when they missed them, though, I would contend the score is a result of our lack of defensive rebounding.”
on his message to the team after the game
“Nobody feels sorry for them. I tried to tell them Saturday. Two straight games we’ve given up 14 offensive rebounds. Because that we can control. Well, we should be able to control. Our mind is affected by lack scoring. [That] starts to affect your defense and your rebounding. That’s when you’re in trouble and that’s what I was grossly concerned about. Knowing how potent [Utah is]. Knowing they got a bunch of guys that can shoot the ball.”
on returning to the two bigs lineup
“Just trying to get some scoring with Aday [Mara], but he just keeps giving up layups so it’s hard.”
on if there was any UCLA player who gave a spark tonight
“No. No. No. We got our ass kicked every way we could: coaching, playing, hustle, everything. I got no positive for you as far as one guy.”
on what he can do to get the guards to play better
“We’ve got to make some shots at some point. You can control your effort and attitude. If you want to win games at some point – when teams don’t guard you – you’ve got to make some shots. They’re not guarding us.”
on if he saw any quit
“I think guys got punch-drunk. They’re good kids. We don’t have bad kids, trust me. They listen. They’re embarrassed, but that doesn’t help. I was concerned with this. They’re punch-drunk and you’ve got to fight your way out of it. I’ve been there before. It’s been a while, but I’ve been there before.”
Junior guard Lazar Stefanovic
on what his experience was like being booed and returning to Utah
“It’s a nice place. I love this place. I played here for two years. The first place I went to after I left my family and home. I have a special emotion for this place. I didn’t pay too much attention to other stuff in the gym.”
on Utah’s big run in the second half
“We couldn’t get a rebound. They were shooting until they were making it and they start making it right away and we just couldn’t get a stop.”
on giving up 57 points in the second half, with UCLA’s reputation on defense
“It’s terrible. We got to watch. We got to learn from it. We got to play tougher. Rebound the ball. Our effort has to be better. We have to be better in every aspect of the game. We can’t let that happen.”
on what the guards need to do to be consistent shooters
“I think there’s a lot of stuff, but be confident and shoot the ball.”
on if he’s confident
“I feel like our team’s confidence is not in the best spot. I guess that’s normal when you start losing and are on a losing streak, but we’ve got to find a way to pick it up and stick together as a team and lift each other up.”
Sophomore guard Dylan Andrews
on Utah’s big run in the second half
“It sucks to lose a game like this. But we have to stay positive, man. They were killing us on the offensive rebounds, second-chance points, and-ones. They started to carry the momentum and we couldn’t stop it. So, the game carried on and that was the result of it. But we got to be better.”
on how he stays positive and confident
“Just talking to the guys, man. It’s a long season. We got Washington coming up in two days, so we can’t hang our heads on this one. It sucks of course, but we have to be ready and we have to be mentally strong and come out and bring fire to the next game.”
on what the guards can do to improve their shooting
“We just got to get back in the gym, man, and focus on shooting, really. Guys are giving us shots and we got to capitalize on them. That’s what Utah did. We gave them open threes, they made shots. They shot that ball well and that’s what they’re known to do. We didn’t do a pretty good job of stopping that even though we knew Utah was a three-point shooting team.”
on giving up all the offensive rebounds
“I just feel like we got a little manhandled today. It turned into a pride thing at a certain point. We have to be better. We can’t give up those second-chance points. I think they scored 57 points off second-chance points. … That can’t happen. We have to finish the possession with the rebound so we can – the more possessions you have in the game, the more chances you have to score. That’s what [Utah] had, and we didn’t get that too much.”
on what he can do to initiate the offense as the point guard of the team
“Just keep talking to the guys on the court and off the court. I know I can’t just keep saying we have to be better, but it’s the truth. We at one point were down 50 and that shouldn’t be the case at all. We got to get back to having fun on the court.”