University of California, Los Angeles, Athletics
Postgame Quotes - Rutgers 75, UCLA 68
POSTGAME QUOTESย
Rutgers 75, UCLA 68ย
Jersey Mikeโs Arena (Piscataway, N.J.)ย
January 13, 2025ย
Mick Cronin, The Michael Price Family UCLA Menโs Head Basketball Coachย
opening statementย
โWeโre missing wide open shots. We go on the road and took care of the ball, we only got nine turnovers. Obviously, Tyler had a tough night. Their physicality clearly bothered him, but he missed some open looks too. We had a lot of open looks. Lazar off of a play we ran, unguarded. Eric Dailey, unguarded at the top of the key, he was 0-for-3 from three. We had a lot of open looks. You canโt give up 45 points in the second half and win a conference game, period. I donโt care what the name of your team is, and where the gameโs being played, youโre not going to win. Layups and free throws, getting beat off of the dribble, we really struggled to guard the ball. Our decision-making with not being able to guard the ball, late in the clock, they were just driving and fouling. Horrible late clock defense by us.โย
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comparing the Bruinsโ first half versus the teamโs second halfย
โWe never trailed in the first half. Maybe we could have gotten up 10 or so. [Kobe Johnson] made a really bad decision with his fouling in the backcourt โ 75 feet from the basket, he just whacked a guy. It was a bad decision and it didnโt help. We could have maybe extended the lead a little. That being said, he played the whole second half, and our defense with him in there was pretty bad. Teams donโt miss layups and free throws. For the game, they made 21 free throws and 16 layups.โย
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on Rutgersโ freshman Ace Baileyย
โHeโs a good player, a very good player.โย
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on the state of UCLAโs team after this loss
โWeโre struggling, itโs pretty obvious. We went from a great defensive team, a team that held Arizona to 54, whoโs really good, and theyโre playing like it right now. Gonzaga probably doesnโt lose the rest of the year, we held them to 62. The guysโ minds are on other things now. They start thinking we were winning because of who we are and our talent level. We were winning because of our defense. We were always winning because of our defense. In this league, if you canโt stop somebody and you give up 45 points, youโre not going to win. It doesnโt matter who they are. Maybe some teams shoot the lights out, but we have to play defense. We were minus eight on the glass, you canโt stop them when youโre minus eight on the glass. The game is pretty simple. There are three phases to the game โ defense, rebounding and execution on offense.โย
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on whether the team can get back to its defensive identityย
โWe better.โย
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on Rutgersโ freshman Dylan Harperย and what makes him so dynamic
โHeโs got great size, heโs got great ball skill. I knew he was a great player. I saw him play and said โYouโve got to be kidding me,โ and he was a sophomore in high school. Heโs a long-time NBA player and heโs got a chance to be an All-Star.โ
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on tonightโs changes to the starting lineupย
โDylan [Andrews] was sick, but it was probably going to change anyway. Weโre just trying to get some shooting, try to get off to a good start, try to make a shot. And analytics, weโre trying to look at our lineups from an analytical standpoint.โย
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on the wildfires in Los Angelesย
โIโve got no words. I just want to get home to my family. Itโs tough when this is all going on and youโre not around your family. My family evacuated previously, but they went back. Weโre on the edge of Encino. But there are a lot of people who have lost everything, itโs horrible. I was telling Coach Pikiell, itโs like something from a movie. Itโs hard to even describe, hard to process.โ
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UCLA forward Eric Dailey Jr.ย
on the teamโs offensive strugglesย
โWeโve got to get back to ourselves, our flow. Shots were a part of it, but at the end of the day, our defense is our offense. We have to get back to being ourselves on defense. Itโs tough right now, but we have to get ourselves out of this slump.โ
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on the teamโs defensive in the second halfย
โWe just have to play a complete game. A 40-minute game of straight defense and making the right plays on offense. As a team, weโve got to come together and stay strong and fight through the moments like this. Every team is going to go through something similar to this, and weโve got to find a way to get out of this.โย
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on getting back to the teamโs performance in Decemberย
โWe can get back to the team we are, we just have to have everybody collective minded and focused on winning. We have to do things that make sense and help winning. It canโt just be two or three people, it has to be everybody from the top down, the whole staff, everybody. The whole collective group.โย
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on practice leading up to this gameย
โWe most definitely practiced hard, we looked pretty good in practice, we just canโt have mental lapses like this in games. Especially away, I know theyโre calling a lot of fouls, and we have to be smarter with the foul calls, smarter with the turnovers. Offensively, we have to get our sets going, and we canโt let anybody stop us. We have experienced guys and we need to show that we are made for this conference.โย
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on Tyler Bilodeauโs performanceย
โSometimes the shotโs not going to fall. He went 0-for-7, but there have been games where he hasnโt scored and weโve still won. We have to find a way to still win through the tough times. Thatโs really it.โย
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UCLA guard Sebastian Mackย
on the teamโs defenseย
โWeโve got to come together and lock in as a team. I donโt think much has changed, weโve just got to change our mental focus, to think about it and be able to produce every day.โย
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on how to return to the teamโs defensive performance in Decemberย
โAll the little things, all the little details on the defensive end. We need to get involved, talk to each other, call out screens, everything. Early on, we were talking a lot, and now we fell out of it. Weโre not going to be able to go for it if we donโt get back to where we were defensively.โย
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on the teamโs offensive performanceย
โWe were all thinking too much. We need to listen more and try to fight on both ends of the floor. I feel like thatโs our only problem.โย
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on the teamโs mental state during a four-game losing streakย
โItโs hard, but you have to stay together. Itโs a long season and itโs not over right now. Weโve got to go into practice and try to evaluate and fix this issue quickly before it gets out of hand.โย
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on if the fires in Los Angeles have impacted the teamย
โWe canโt control that. We can only control what we work on on the court and in practice.โย
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