Postgame Quotes – Arizona 77, UCLA 71
POSTGAME QUOTES
Arizona 77, UCLA 71
Tucson, Ariz. (McKale Center)
Jan. 20, 2024
Mick Cronin, The Michael Price Family UCLA Men’s Head Basketball Coach
on UCLA missing four three-pointers and a put-back dunk late in the second half
“It’s hard to win a game when the other team shoots 23 free throws in the second half. … Well, the team that’s losing usually has to play harder to catch up when you’re in a double-figure deficit. You have to – you’re the one that’s going to get the fouls. You’re the one denying, grabbing, holding, trying to scratch and claw to get back in the game. Not the winning team. We’re not trying to pressure or steal the ball, but that’s the way it went. That’s when it’s hard to win.”
on Lazar Stefanovic’s first-half performance and struggles in the second half
“We were able to move and run a lot of offense in the first half. Then the game became an unofficiated street fight. We had to spread it out and drive the ball. We couldn’t throw a pass.”
on Sebastian Mack’s improvement
“I agree.”
on what growth he’s seen in his team
“We just try to get better every day. That’s what we do. I’ve been developing players for a long time. So, it’s what we try to do. If your players get better, your team gets better. Every game that we play, we gain more experience. We grow from it. Obviously, this game became – it was really smart on their part because we were winning a clean game, so they just went and made it a whole grabfest. We couldn’t run any offense. All we had was Sebastian [Mack] at that point to drive the ball because nobody else could drive the ball for us.”
on Arizona’s defense
“I would say it was more their denial, holding, grabbing. We couldn’t run anything. We couldn’t throw a pass.”
on if the last three games give him confidence in his team for the rest of the season
“I’m not like everybody else. I’m a coach. I’m a professional. Guys are trained or untrained. Unless you are a superstar and don’t need training and can be one-and-done, I would harken back to when Sean [Miller] was here and he had [Nico] Mannion, [Josh] Green, Zeke Nnaji. All first-round picks. How’d that go for him? He didn’t have time to train them. It’s a very rare guy, like maybe [Deandre] Ayton or somebody like [inaudible]. Ninety-nine percent of freshmen and young kids are inexperienced and need training. We’re gaining that, so we’re improving. That’s just the way it is.”
on if Dylan Andrews became more tentative in the second half
“Again, I would attribute that to the lack of the way the game was being called. And credit it to their pressure.”
UCLA junior guard Lazar Stefanovic
on not being able to pass the ball to free him up for open shots in the second half
“Yeah, we played very well in the first half. Moved the ball really well, find the open shooter. Quite often it was me, so I got those shots down. I still think I had some of those looks in the second half, but didn’t fall. We got good shots in the swing. If they shoot it, we’ll hold the ball more in the second half. They were more aggressive and we kind of backed off going at them. We didn’t pass too much, and that’s why we shot our shooting percentage.”
on not receiving the foul call on his contested jump shot, which led to four straight Arizona free throws in the second half
“There’s always some contact. He had some piece of the ball … but it’s hard to expect that on the road.”
to not win after being up 19 points
“It’s hard. We played really well. We played as a team. We played as a group and have gotten much better every game. It’s a little disappointing, but we already had a little talk in the locker room. We got to stick together and we got to be ready for the next game.”
on if the last three games show that UCLA can make a run for the NCAA Tournament
“Yeah, of course. We think we can do it. I think we’ve shown in the last few weeks we’ve played much, much better and that we can play with anybody.”
on Sebastian Mack’s performance the last several games
“He’s a great player. When he comes with the screens, he’s looking to pass more. Now, the defense spreads out and he gets more space to attack. He’s a great, great player going downhill. He’s great for us.”
UCLA freshman guard Sebastian Mack
on Arizona’s comeback
“It’s college basketball, you know. Stuff like this happens, but you always have to keep your head held high. We fought, we can’t control anything else, we can only control what is within us and just go from there.”
on the difference between the two halves
“Basketball will always change. Arizona goes on their run, and we go on ours; probably just staying locked in with each other. Nobody really believed in us to be in that position. Arizona has a good group of guys, but we fought. I feel like we did well.”
on what this game means to the team going forward
“I feel like by the way we played, that made us closer as a family. We are not just a bunch of guys that got recruited here to play, we are a family. We knew if we could mesh together, we are damn good. We are fine, we just have to bring it back in, and work at it in practice, and listen to what coach is saying, and we will be fine.”
on what has allowed him to have so much success recently
“I would just say, coach believing in me, confidence-wise. Seeing what the team needs because there have been games where I will have 10 [points] and five [assists] and pass the ball, and I am fine with that. We just want to win, so I am fine with whatever. If you need me to score today, I’m there, or if you need an assist and 0 points, I’m there. It does not matter; I’m just doing whatever it takes to win.”