Postgame Quotes – UCLA 64, Colorado 60
POSTGAME QUOTES
UCLA 64, Colorado 60
Los Angeles, Calif. (Pauley Pavilion)
February 15, 2024
Mick Cronin, The Michael Price Family UCLA Men’s Head Basketball Coach
On finishing the game:
“Well, we made it interesting. Colorado’s got a really, really good ball club. I have all the respect in the world for Tad Boyle as a coach. They hurt us with the back door, they hurt us with a couple of curls. We gave up some uncharacteristic layups that were really, really bad for my health. Dr. Ben Ansel at UCLA Medical is probably really concerned with me right now because he’s a big fan, if you were watching me. I don’t take too kindly with us breaking down with layups. But I also give them credit for that. At the end of the day, [Sebastian Mack] got us a few buckets, we ran a play for Lazar [Stefanovic] – he hit a big three on an off-night for him. But we got eight more shots than them, we’re plus nine on turnover margin and plus four on the offensive rebound margin. They had zero fast break points. They’re a top 30 team in the country on fast break points. I still think we’ve got to get better on offense so we can get away from people. But obviously a great win for us. We forced 14 turnovers; we forced nine in the first half. That was big.”
On what he’d like to see better on offense:
“More points. We don’t have enough assists. They (Colorado) did some good stuff. They do what I call emergency switch. When we were going to hurt them with the pick and roll, they switched it. When we weren’t going to hurt them, they were able to get through but they didn’t switch. That’s what really good defensive teams do. So I thought they had some really good late switches, and then we couldn’t get Adem [Bona] the ball in the second half. And that’s on me. I’ve got to get him more touches. We’re better the more he gets the ball.”
On the last Colorado possession:
“With 17 on the clock, too much, too early, foul. In that scenario, if it gets under 10 and they get a rebound, don’t let them dribble it out, foul before they get it outside the line. You can’t do it with 17. But we did tell our guys, just don’t give them a quick two because, my respect for Tad, he told them if they run it, go take the two. But we contested it, and we didn’t just give it up, so therefore, we were able to get the stop on the ball.”
On Sebastian Mack’s play:
“He went 7-for-11, 5-for-7. When you get 19 on 11 shots, that’s pretty strong. And he’s still playing hurt. He and Lazar are playing hurt the rest of the year. When you’ve got the toe injury that Sebastian has – he has good days and bad. As soon as it feels good, someone steps on it, you jump stop or something happens. Lazar didn’t practice hardly at all this week because of his foot. He hasn’t practiced much, but he really sat out a lot this week, and it really hurt his rhythm. But Sebastian was tremendous on the offensive end tonight.”
On the defense down the stretch:
“At the end of the day we got the job done. Obviously, this team has grown up a lot, they (Colorado) have got kids on the team who are going to be a top five pick in the NBA draft, Silva is a four-year starter, KJ is a three-year starter, Lampkin, I remember seeing him against Arizona in the NCAA Tournament. They have a veteran group, they have a good team. It’s a great win. I thought we had too many defensive breakdowns, three backdoor layups in the second half … Teams don’t miss layups, those were all bad, but late in the game we got the job done.
On the late stretch and clutch baskets from Stefanovic and Mack:
“We had our chance to get away and maybe get up 15 (points) or more, and it didn’t happen. It was at that point I knew that this was going to go to the end. I told the guys, we have to play offense, we can’t just start looking for the game to end, you have to look to get each other shots and stay on the attack. What happens is you get swings in games and you stop attacking and they have nothing to lose, they are down 10, so they attack you hard and you’re playing prevent offense, we got stuck in that for a little while. Sebastian [Mack] got us out of it, and we executed a timeout play for Lazar [Stefanovic], he obviously made a big shot.
On how this translates to Sunday’s game with Utah:
“I would love for it to translate, but it won’t. Everything is a learning experience for us, what I try to tell our guys is it does not translate. We were not ready to play defensively in the first three minutes of this game, and I lost it. I went after a few guys and pulled a few guys aside; they started the game with two point-blank layups. It’s a concern because it is a long year, and the goal is to get your team ready on game night, not practice. This late in the year it is more like the pros because they are worn down, we came out flat, and I lost it, but I give the kids credit they responded.”
UCLA Guard Sebastian Mack
on the plan in the last defensive sequence:
"Just not let them get what they wanted. Play hard, and don’t give them nothing easy, is what Cronin said.”
on handling the loss of two 14-point leads tonight:
“A big part of that is that we stayed together, we didn’t hang our heads when we were down and they came back on their run. I feel like we came even closer to be able to get the job done.”
on facing Utah on Sunday:
“We’re just going to take it step by step in practice, work our kinks out, and just go from there.”
on the 46-point Utah loss earlier this season:
“We just have to worry about the next one. You can’t worry about it too much, we’ve got other ones coming up, so we just going to go in the lab, work on what we need to work on, and go.”
on growing as a team after facing adversity:
“We’re becoming a family. We can’t hang our heads like that because that leads to bad things. We’ve been on both ends of the stick, you know, winning some and losing some. We have to stick together, and we know we can handle the adversity.”
UCLA Guard Dylan Andrews
on celebrating after the shot to go up seven:
“I was just feeling, you know, the excitement, we were up. We were playing hard as a team, so that’s where my excitement came from.”
on winning close games and finding a way to win six in a row:
“I feel like we’re just figuring out together how to finish out games, and just playing with grit and toughness and that dog on the floor. Just knowing that we’ve got to get one stop at a time and that defense is more important than anything. I feel like we’re doing a good job with that, and also with keeping the main players on the other teams, keeping them under their average. We’re working on that, and we’re doing a good job so far.”
on defending KJ Simpson and holding him to four points:
“Coming in, we know for a fact, we scout the team, and I feel like we’re doing a great job of playing team defense on a main guy like that. KJ is a prolific scorer man, just great. I’ve known him since even before college, so just being able to play against him again is just dope for me. You know, we had to make sure we had to stop him, and that was one of the big parts if we wanted to win this game. I feel like our team was just locked in mentally and just knowing that, okay, we have to stop this guy. I feel like we did a great job at that.”
on handling the loss of two 14-point leads:
“Basketball is a game, so you know, a team is going to go on their run, and at the same time, you have to stay poised. We have to know that our run is coming, and like I said, it’s a game full of runs. It’s going to happen, we just have to make sure we’re all together, and getting ready for the next possession.”
Colorado Head Coach Tad Boyle
opening statement:
“The turnovers really got us tonight. UCLA’s really good at being physical. We didn’t do a good job in the first half handling that. We did a much better job in the second half. They had nineteen points off of turnovers. If we could have cut that in half, that’s the ball game. We just have to be capable of making plays when it counts. It has nothing to do with our effort. We had a chance down the stretch. Like any other conference, it’s hard to win in February, especially on the road.”
On their shooting percentage:
“Usually 52% is good enough to win a game, but we knew coming in, that they (UCLA) get in your cylinder and poke at the ball and play very physical. But these guys believe in each other and I believe in these guys. Like I said, it’s hard to win in February and that’s not an excuse. We’re just trying to win the next game.”
On where they go from here:
“We go up. We try to find a way to win on Saturday. ‘SC has all their guys back, so it’s not going to be easy. We just have to win the next game and like I said, our motto is to go up.”
UCLA 64, Colorado 60
Los Angeles, Calif. (Pauley Pavilion)
February 15, 2024
Mick Cronin, The Michael Price Family UCLA Men’s Head Basketball Coach
On finishing the game:
“Well, we made it interesting. Colorado’s got a really, really good ball club. I have all the respect in the world for Tad Boyle as a coach. They hurt us with the back door, they hurt us with a couple of curls. We gave up some uncharacteristic layups that were really, really bad for my health. Dr. Ben Ansel at UCLA Medical is probably really concerned with me right now because he’s a big fan, if you were watching me. I don’t take too kindly with us breaking down with layups. But I also give them credit for that. At the end of the day, [Sebastian Mack] got us a few buckets, we ran a play for Lazar [Stefanovic] – he hit a big three on an off-night for him. But we got eight more shots than them, we’re plus nine on turnover margin and plus four on the offensive rebound margin. They had zero fast break points. They’re a top 30 team in the country on fast break points. I still think we’ve got to get better on offense so we can get away from people. But obviously a great win for us. We forced 14 turnovers; we forced nine in the first half. That was big.”
On what he’d like to see better on offense:
“More points. We don’t have enough assists. They (Colorado) did some good stuff. They do what I call emergency switch. When we were going to hurt them with the pick and roll, they switched it. When we weren’t going to hurt them, they were able to get through but they didn’t switch. That’s what really good defensive teams do. So I thought they had some really good late switches, and then we couldn’t get Adem [Bona] the ball in the second half. And that’s on me. I’ve got to get him more touches. We’re better the more he gets the ball.”
On the last Colorado possession:
“With 17 on the clock, too much, too early, foul. In that scenario, if it gets under 10 and they get a rebound, don’t let them dribble it out, foul before they get it outside the line. You can’t do it with 17. But we did tell our guys, just don’t give them a quick two because, my respect for Tad, he told them if they run it, go take the two. But we contested it, and we didn’t just give it up, so therefore, we were able to get the stop on the ball.”
On Sebastian Mack’s play:
“He went 7-for-11, 5-for-7. When you get 19 on 11 shots, that’s pretty strong. And he’s still playing hurt. He and Lazar are playing hurt the rest of the year. When you’ve got the toe injury that Sebastian has – he has good days and bad. As soon as it feels good, someone steps on it, you jump stop or something happens. Lazar didn’t practice hardly at all this week because of his foot. He hasn’t practiced much, but he really sat out a lot this week, and it really hurt his rhythm. But Sebastian was tremendous on the offensive end tonight.”
On the defense down the stretch:
“At the end of the day we got the job done. Obviously, this team has grown up a lot, they (Colorado) have got kids on the team who are going to be a top five pick in the NBA draft, Silva is a four-year starter, KJ is a three-year starter, Lampkin, I remember seeing him against Arizona in the NCAA Tournament. They have a veteran group, they have a good team. It’s a great win. I thought we had too many defensive breakdowns, three backdoor layups in the second half … Teams don’t miss layups, those were all bad, but late in the game we got the job done.
On the late stretch and clutch baskets from Stefanovic and Mack:
“We had our chance to get away and maybe get up 15 (points) or more, and it didn’t happen. It was at that point I knew that this was going to go to the end. I told the guys, we have to play offense, we can’t just start looking for the game to end, you have to look to get each other shots and stay on the attack. What happens is you get swings in games and you stop attacking and they have nothing to lose, they are down 10, so they attack you hard and you’re playing prevent offense, we got stuck in that for a little while. Sebastian [Mack] got us out of it, and we executed a timeout play for Lazar [Stefanovic], he obviously made a big shot.
On how this translates to Sunday’s game with Utah:
“I would love for it to translate, but it won’t. Everything is a learning experience for us, what I try to tell our guys is it does not translate. We were not ready to play defensively in the first three minutes of this game, and I lost it. I went after a few guys and pulled a few guys aside; they started the game with two point-blank layups. It’s a concern because it is a long year, and the goal is to get your team ready on game night, not practice. This late in the year it is more like the pros because they are worn down, we came out flat, and I lost it, but I give the kids credit they responded.”
UCLA Guard Sebastian Mack
on the plan in the last defensive sequence:
"Just not let them get what they wanted. Play hard, and don’t give them nothing easy, is what Cronin said.”
on handling the loss of two 14-point leads tonight:
“A big part of that is that we stayed together, we didn’t hang our heads when we were down and they came back on their run. I feel like we came even closer to be able to get the job done.”
on facing Utah on Sunday:
“We’re just going to take it step by step in practice, work our kinks out, and just go from there.”
on the 46-point Utah loss earlier this season:
“We just have to worry about the next one. You can’t worry about it too much, we’ve got other ones coming up, so we just going to go in the lab, work on what we need to work on, and go.”
on growing as a team after facing adversity:
“We’re becoming a family. We can’t hang our heads like that because that leads to bad things. We’ve been on both ends of the stick, you know, winning some and losing some. We have to stick together, and we know we can handle the adversity.”
UCLA Guard Dylan Andrews
on celebrating after the shot to go up seven:
“I was just feeling, you know, the excitement, we were up. We were playing hard as a team, so that’s where my excitement came from.”
on winning close games and finding a way to win six in a row:
“I feel like we’re just figuring out together how to finish out games, and just playing with grit and toughness and that dog on the floor. Just knowing that we’ve got to get one stop at a time and that defense is more important than anything. I feel like we’re doing a good job with that, and also with keeping the main players on the other teams, keeping them under their average. We’re working on that, and we’re doing a good job so far.”
on defending KJ Simpson and holding him to four points:
“Coming in, we know for a fact, we scout the team, and I feel like we’re doing a great job of playing team defense on a main guy like that. KJ is a prolific scorer man, just great. I’ve known him since even before college, so just being able to play against him again is just dope for me. You know, we had to make sure we had to stop him, and that was one of the big parts if we wanted to win this game. I feel like our team was just locked in mentally and just knowing that, okay, we have to stop this guy. I feel like we did a great job at that.”
on handling the loss of two 14-point leads:
“Basketball is a game, so you know, a team is going to go on their run, and at the same time, you have to stay poised. We have to know that our run is coming, and like I said, it’s a game full of runs. It’s going to happen, we just have to make sure we’re all together, and getting ready for the next possession.”
Colorado Head Coach Tad Boyle
opening statement:
“The turnovers really got us tonight. UCLA’s really good at being physical. We didn’t do a good job in the first half handling that. We did a much better job in the second half. They had nineteen points off of turnovers. If we could have cut that in half, that’s the ball game. We just have to be capable of making plays when it counts. It has nothing to do with our effort. We had a chance down the stretch. Like any other conference, it’s hard to win in February, especially on the road.”
On their shooting percentage:
“Usually 52% is good enough to win a game, but we knew coming in, that they (UCLA) get in your cylinder and poke at the ball and play very physical. But these guys believe in each other and I believe in these guys. Like I said, it’s hard to win in February and that’s not an excuse. We’re just trying to win the next game.”
On where they go from here:
“We go up. We try to find a way to win on Saturday. ‘SC has all their guys back, so it’s not going to be easy. We just have to win the next game and like I said, our motto is to go up.”