Postgame Quotes – UCLA 80, Cal State Fullerton 47
POSTGAME QUOTES
UCLA 80, Cal State Fullerton 47
Pauley Pavilion presented by Wescom
November 22, 2024
Mick Cronin, The Michael Price Family UCLA Men’s Head Basketball Coach
opening statement
“I thought Fullerton came in with tremendous physicality, which is probably what they had to do to give themselves a fighting chance early. It took us a while to adjust to that, but I thought that it was good for us to play against it. They always play that way – the coach has been there for 12 years. He’s a great coach, great guy, one of the best in the business. I thought his kids played as hard as they could, they just weren’t able to shoot the ball well, and we turned them over 21 times. Points off turnovers were big for us, once we were able to wear them down a little bit. It was spread around pretty well for us tonight, with five guys in double figures and two guys with eight. 22 assists, I’m happy with. We’re getting better at taking care of the ball.”
on Kobe Johnson’s defensive performance
“He’s got great hands. He and I are working on some things that he’s got to give us from a leadership standpoint, as far as taking care of the ball, being disciplined in his traps. He needs to take everything I say to him to heart and realizing that, like most of the guys on our team, that you don’t have a very big window to make it. You have a very small window. You can’t have blind spots in your game. You’ve got to be able to play great defense without fouling. It's just little things, trying to put more discipline into things that he does.”
on Aday Mara’s performance
“Before the game, the training staff told me that they didn’t know if he was going to play. He was having bad headaches – he told me he wasn’t feeling well. That was like 30 minutes before the game, and when it was a dogfight, I didn’t want to put him in if he didn’t feel well. But then he said he wanted to play. And it looked like he felt great to me.”
on the team’s performance at the end of the game
“We talked about playing for 40 minutes. We also talked about, if you want to be a good team, you have to get better as the game goes on. It gets harder to win as the game goes on. The really good teams, they’ll wear the other teams down late in the game. You can come out, get hot, be all rah-rah, but your defense has to be at its best in the last 10 minutes of a game. Most games in conference play are decided by six points or less.”
on Sebastian Mack’s performance
“He’s been great. He got some good shots that he usually makes. After the steal, I don’t know what the heck that was. He made a great steal and then he went to corkscrew it, maybe he didn’t know the guy was right behind him defensively. But he got in there and got off of two feet. He was shooting 58 percent coming into the game, so I think the law of averages got him. We didn’t need him tonight, and we’re going to need his points, so I’m fine with him saving some. But his attitude has been great this year. His effort has been great.”
on tonight’s rebounding performance
“They missed 37 shots and got 13 rebounds. It’s not horrible. When Aday’s not in the game, Tyler’s not a great athlete. He’s a great player, but not a great athlete. We really have got to get better at five-man blockouts. If Aday’s in there, he can just reach up and nobody can get to them. But if he’s not in there, and we’re not big enough, we’ve got to be a really excellent blockout team.”
on Dylan Andrews’ performance
“All I care is that he got four assists and no turnovers, and he got four deflections, which ties his whole season. It’s an area where he and I are going to change. You can’t get a deflection with your hands in your pocket. You have to either chase down a loose ball, or you’ve got to deflect a pass. That takes effort, and your mind has got to be on that. He has to improve, and we talked about it, and he did tonight. We talked about it with him and Trent, because Trent has long arms. But you’re useless if your hands are dead and you’re making no effort. It’s a huge part of defense.”
UCLA guard Trent Perry
on the team’s offensive performance in the second half
“It was pretty fun just to go on a run with those guys. When I got on the floor, I just had to take advantage of the opportunity, even if the minutes were limited today. At the end of the day, I’ve just got to have fun and take advantage of the opportunity.”
on the team’s offensive development
“With these teams, we just keep getting better and better. There’s a bunch of new guys at the end of the game, so there’s definitely going to be some struggles in the beginning trying to figure each other out. But each game, each practice, we keep getting better, keep building the bond and chemistry.”
on Coach Cronin’s message after the game
“Ultimately, we’re not playing for now, we’re playing for the future. We’ve got a lot of good teams coming up, Arizona, Gonzaga, you name it. We’re not just playing for now, we’re preparing for the future. Today was a good test. We’ve got to work on rebounding of course, the five-man blockout. We’re just going to reevaluate, adjust and continue from there.”
UCLA guard Kobe Johnson
on what worked for him defensively tonight
“Just being in the gaps, being aggressive, going for steals, reading the other team’s eyes and what they’re about to do. That helped me to get a lot of deflections, which led to a lot of steals.”
on defending without fouling
“I’m just learning when people are driving on me, not to put my hands on them, because I have a habit of doing that. Just playing with my hands up, making sure that the refs can see both hands. Coach has told me throughout the year that I can’t get two early fouls and sit on the bench the entire time. I’ve got to be smart and play without fouling.”
on throwing lobs to Aday Mara
“It’s fun. There are a lot of passes that you can throw that you can’t really throw to many other people, and you can throw it to spots where only he can catch it. It’s definitely fun to have a big fella out there like that that keeps getting stronger every day. We need to have him keep coming out and playing strong.”
on playing against his high school coach in the next game against Southern Utah
"We’ve had text messages prior to the season, but he knows exactly what type of player I am – I know exactly what type of coach he is. It’s going to be fun. There’s going to be a lot of trash talking between me and him, so it’s going to be very fun to go out there. And I’ve got one of my high school teammates out there, so it’s going to be fun to play against him as well.”
on the team’s rebounding
“It’s progressing better, we can always get better. I think today was a good example of us being able to get better. We got outrebounded, not by a lot, but we shouldn’t be getting outrebounded. We’ve got to focus on hitting our man and going to get the ball and being strong with it.”
Cal State Fullerton Head Coach Dedrique Taylor
opening remarks
“I’m glad it's over, playing teams like this for the last five games. It's been tough, but I'm glad it's over.”
on his team committing 21 turnovers
“We threw the ball to the team wearing white instead of the team wearing blue. Their pressure and athleticism overwhelmed us. They have big players who are strong and physical.”
on what he liked from his team this evening
“I like how we threw the ball inside. We threw it in the block and played inside out. I like that we did that.”
on takeaways from his game at UCLA
“Take the opportunity to learn their offense and learn their defense. I'm sure as we start the Big West season, we will see these things from other teams. Tonight gives us visuals that we will see down the road.”
UCLA 80, Cal State Fullerton 47
Pauley Pavilion presented by Wescom
November 22, 2024
Mick Cronin, The Michael Price Family UCLA Men’s Head Basketball Coach
opening statement
“I thought Fullerton came in with tremendous physicality, which is probably what they had to do to give themselves a fighting chance early. It took us a while to adjust to that, but I thought that it was good for us to play against it. They always play that way – the coach has been there for 12 years. He’s a great coach, great guy, one of the best in the business. I thought his kids played as hard as they could, they just weren’t able to shoot the ball well, and we turned them over 21 times. Points off turnovers were big for us, once we were able to wear them down a little bit. It was spread around pretty well for us tonight, with five guys in double figures and two guys with eight. 22 assists, I’m happy with. We’re getting better at taking care of the ball.”
on Kobe Johnson’s defensive performance
“He’s got great hands. He and I are working on some things that he’s got to give us from a leadership standpoint, as far as taking care of the ball, being disciplined in his traps. He needs to take everything I say to him to heart and realizing that, like most of the guys on our team, that you don’t have a very big window to make it. You have a very small window. You can’t have blind spots in your game. You’ve got to be able to play great defense without fouling. It's just little things, trying to put more discipline into things that he does.”
on Aday Mara’s performance
“Before the game, the training staff told me that they didn’t know if he was going to play. He was having bad headaches – he told me he wasn’t feeling well. That was like 30 minutes before the game, and when it was a dogfight, I didn’t want to put him in if he didn’t feel well. But then he said he wanted to play. And it looked like he felt great to me.”
on the team’s performance at the end of the game
“We talked about playing for 40 minutes. We also talked about, if you want to be a good team, you have to get better as the game goes on. It gets harder to win as the game goes on. The really good teams, they’ll wear the other teams down late in the game. You can come out, get hot, be all rah-rah, but your defense has to be at its best in the last 10 minutes of a game. Most games in conference play are decided by six points or less.”
on Sebastian Mack’s performance
“He’s been great. He got some good shots that he usually makes. After the steal, I don’t know what the heck that was. He made a great steal and then he went to corkscrew it, maybe he didn’t know the guy was right behind him defensively. But he got in there and got off of two feet. He was shooting 58 percent coming into the game, so I think the law of averages got him. We didn’t need him tonight, and we’re going to need his points, so I’m fine with him saving some. But his attitude has been great this year. His effort has been great.”
on tonight’s rebounding performance
“They missed 37 shots and got 13 rebounds. It’s not horrible. When Aday’s not in the game, Tyler’s not a great athlete. He’s a great player, but not a great athlete. We really have got to get better at five-man blockouts. If Aday’s in there, he can just reach up and nobody can get to them. But if he’s not in there, and we’re not big enough, we’ve got to be a really excellent blockout team.”
on Dylan Andrews’ performance
“All I care is that he got four assists and no turnovers, and he got four deflections, which ties his whole season. It’s an area where he and I are going to change. You can’t get a deflection with your hands in your pocket. You have to either chase down a loose ball, or you’ve got to deflect a pass. That takes effort, and your mind has got to be on that. He has to improve, and we talked about it, and he did tonight. We talked about it with him and Trent, because Trent has long arms. But you’re useless if your hands are dead and you’re making no effort. It’s a huge part of defense.”
UCLA guard Trent Perry
on the team’s offensive performance in the second half
“It was pretty fun just to go on a run with those guys. When I got on the floor, I just had to take advantage of the opportunity, even if the minutes were limited today. At the end of the day, I’ve just got to have fun and take advantage of the opportunity.”
on the team’s offensive development
“With these teams, we just keep getting better and better. There’s a bunch of new guys at the end of the game, so there’s definitely going to be some struggles in the beginning trying to figure each other out. But each game, each practice, we keep getting better, keep building the bond and chemistry.”
on Coach Cronin’s message after the game
“Ultimately, we’re not playing for now, we’re playing for the future. We’ve got a lot of good teams coming up, Arizona, Gonzaga, you name it. We’re not just playing for now, we’re preparing for the future. Today was a good test. We’ve got to work on rebounding of course, the five-man blockout. We’re just going to reevaluate, adjust and continue from there.”
UCLA guard Kobe Johnson
on what worked for him defensively tonight
“Just being in the gaps, being aggressive, going for steals, reading the other team’s eyes and what they’re about to do. That helped me to get a lot of deflections, which led to a lot of steals.”
on defending without fouling
“I’m just learning when people are driving on me, not to put my hands on them, because I have a habit of doing that. Just playing with my hands up, making sure that the refs can see both hands. Coach has told me throughout the year that I can’t get two early fouls and sit on the bench the entire time. I’ve got to be smart and play without fouling.”
on throwing lobs to Aday Mara
“It’s fun. There are a lot of passes that you can throw that you can’t really throw to many other people, and you can throw it to spots where only he can catch it. It’s definitely fun to have a big fella out there like that that keeps getting stronger every day. We need to have him keep coming out and playing strong.”
on playing against his high school coach in the next game against Southern Utah
"We’ve had text messages prior to the season, but he knows exactly what type of player I am – I know exactly what type of coach he is. It’s going to be fun. There’s going to be a lot of trash talking between me and him, so it’s going to be very fun to go out there. And I’ve got one of my high school teammates out there, so it’s going to be fun to play against him as well.”
on the team’s rebounding
“It’s progressing better, we can always get better. I think today was a good example of us being able to get better. We got outrebounded, not by a lot, but we shouldn’t be getting outrebounded. We’ve got to focus on hitting our man and going to get the ball and being strong with it.”
Cal State Fullerton Head Coach Dedrique Taylor
opening remarks
“I’m glad it's over, playing teams like this for the last five games. It's been tough, but I'm glad it's over.”
on his team committing 21 turnovers
“We threw the ball to the team wearing white instead of the team wearing blue. Their pressure and athleticism overwhelmed us. They have big players who are strong and physical.”
on what he liked from his team this evening
“I like how we threw the ball inside. We threw it in the block and played inside out. I like that we did that.”
on takeaways from his game at UCLA
“Take the opportunity to learn their offense and learn their defense. I'm sure as we start the Big West season, we will see these things from other teams. Tonight gives us visuals that we will see down the road.”