Postgame Quotes – UCLA 65, Washington 60
POSTGAME QUOTES
UCLA 65, Washington 60
Seattle, Wash. (Alaska Airlines Arena)
January 24, 2025
Mick Cronin, The Michael Price Family UCLA Men’s Head Basketball Coach
on Dylan Andrews’ final shot and the overall performance
“We had a different play drawn up to iso him, but they denied it, and he did a great job of creating. I just tried to calm him down throughout the game and tell him to get his feet set. Sebastian made a couple of big threes, and look, we spread it out. 11, 11, 9, 12, 12, 6 [points scored by player]. We spread it out pretty well without Tyler.”
on Aday Mara’s performance
“He hasn’t gotten a lot of live touches in a game where the team’s going to attack him. He’s not getting all of those calls; they went in there and attacked him a few times. He’s got to turn and score, to make one move and score. Sometimes, he gets too cute, and when he got too cute, Washington had two or three guys on him. He’s got to be confident and turn to score. He’s going to shoot 50% minimum, and I’ll take that every night. When you can’t tackle him, and what was happening early was just mind boggling, unbelievable with the forearm stuff. But if you’ve got to play him straight up, he’s hard to stop. You’re seeing it now.”
on the team’s mistakes in this game
“I was trying to sneak him [Aday] out in spots and get Will in there for defense. Will had another big block, but we didn’t get the rebound and they were able to lay it in. But the guys executed very well at times. The key to the game, though, is that we had eight turnovers at the half. We should have been up ten. We let them back in the game. Aday had a really silly attempt at a high-low to Eric that wasn’t open. Dylan and Skyy got rattled for a little bit, you can’t do that. The crowd cheers, they hit a shot, we’ve got to stay calm.”
on Kobe Johnson’s performance
“Kobe had a big three when they were coming back. We ran something for him, and he came off the screen and hit a big three. He was a calming influence. He’s our only senior.”
on Lazar Stefanovic
“Lazar didn’t really play. He’s had a bad week. I need to get him going again, I’ve got to coach him better.”
on Tyler Bilodeau
“I didn’t like the way he was moving. It was hard for me to get a lot of information and hard for our trainer to assess things on the fly. He turned his ankle. A kid like him, he’s going to say he wants to play, you could hit him in the head with a bat and he’d want to play. I put him back in but I didn’t like the way he was moving. I’m more worried about his career and the rest of our season.”
on the team’s mentality
“I told the guys, ‘We have enough players. I’ve got confidence in you guys. We just need to care’. We haven’t been A+ in caring. You can tell when a team cares.”
on winning on the road and scheduling
“We came up here and won without Tyler. We played Friday, Tuesday, Friday, and we’ve got to turn around and play on the road again on Monday, then Thursday. The schedule for all of the west coast teams, I don’t know what the answer is. And then I looked at Michigan State’s schedule, their last seven or eight games have all been against top-30 teams. I don’t know what the answer is for the Big Ten.”
on the team’s rebounding
“I was pleased for the most part with our rebounding. I thought that they got a few offensive late.”
on limiting turnovers in the second half
“That was the key. We got off more shots, we didn’t shoot a great percentage, 38%, but we got a lot of shots off. That was a big key.”
on playing several times in one week
“If you want national TV exposure, you have to spread your games out, and this is part of it. Travel isn’t easy, Seattle’s not around the corner. Trying to maintenance the guys is a big thing; our trainers are great at making sure we’re maintaining our guys while preparing and staying fresh for games. The guys handled it really maturely, and yesterday we practiced without running up and down or hitting each other, what I would call a shell practice. We had intensity and speed, but we didn’t hit each other. It’s like an NBA deal right now; a lot of film, a lot of walkthrough, a lot of shell without hitting each other and trying to be fresh for game night. Not only are we playing once every three days, we’re traveling. It’s part of it when you’re on the coast.”
UCLA guard Dylan Andrews
on the final play of the game
“The plan was to hit Kobe, and then it was a pitch back and Coach wanted me to make a play out of that. It got discombobulated. Number nine stepped out really hard on the switch, and I was going to try to split, but he ended up recovering, so I just stepped back and I got to see a shot go in.”
on picking up a gut-check win
“It’s always good to come out on the road and get a W, especially playing a team like Washington, where the crowd gets really loud and real hectic. It feels good that we came out on top and we get to go back home to LA and get ready for USC.”
on Aday Mara’s performance
“What he’s doing in these last couple games is what he does every day in practice. Aday is a monster, and I’m glad people are starting to see that.”
on Aday Mara’s minutes
“He was fine. He was totally fine. He could play more minutes, he looked good. We love having Aday on the court. He’s seven feet, takes up so much space, rebounds for us, and gives us energy. Who doesn’t want a guy like Aday?”
on winning in different situations
“Whatever’s going on in the game, we can get through it. No matter what happens. We could be down nine points or we could be down 10 points, but as long as that clock doesn’t say zero, we could come back and win.”
on what builds his shooting confidence
“Being in the gym, late nights. My teammates and coach talking to me, just letting me know, ‘Next shot. Don’t worry about the last one that you missed. Next play.’ I give credit to them, credit to Coach, credit to my teammates for keeping me confident.”
on how the team has gotten three consecutive wins
“Team chemistry, bonding, and trusting one another, especially on the defensive end. Knowing for a fact that we are a defensive team, and we’re trying to stay away from worrying about offense too much. We’re worried about getting stops, and offense is going to come regardless.”
UCLA center Aday Mara
on his big shots at the end of the game
“I saw that Kobe went to the rim and they touched the ball so I just tried to catch it, turn, and iso. The first one went in, and I am happy for that. On the second one, I read the defense and turned and shot.”
on playing a career-high 30 minutes
“I’m surprised that I didn’t get tired, but I was feeling good. I knew that Tyler wasn’t going to be able to play because he was injured, so I tried to not make stupid fouls and I tried to get into my rhythm so I didn’t get too tired. I was feeling good, and I wasn’t expecting that.”
on his impact in the last two games
“I feel good for the team because I was able to help the team in both of these games. It was good for me because I got some confidence. I’m happy to help the team.”
on playing against Washington's Great Osobor
“He was trying to face up, and I had to move my feet to try and stay in front. He’s really strong, so I had to play with physicality; boxing out, trying to keep him from getting offensive rebounds. He was playing differently with the hands, I don’t know if you can do that or not, I couldn’t move.”
on UCLA securing a win on the road
“We knew that it was going to be a tough game because they play with physicality and they have good games. We tried to not lose the ball, and that’s one of the keys for games on the road. We didn’t do it well in the first half, but we did it well in the second one.”
UCLA 65, Washington 60
Seattle, Wash. (Alaska Airlines Arena)
January 24, 2025
Mick Cronin, The Michael Price Family UCLA Men’s Head Basketball Coach
on Dylan Andrews’ final shot and the overall performance
“We had a different play drawn up to iso him, but they denied it, and he did a great job of creating. I just tried to calm him down throughout the game and tell him to get his feet set. Sebastian made a couple of big threes, and look, we spread it out. 11, 11, 9, 12, 12, 6 [points scored by player]. We spread it out pretty well without Tyler.”
on Aday Mara’s performance
“He hasn’t gotten a lot of live touches in a game where the team’s going to attack him. He’s not getting all of those calls; they went in there and attacked him a few times. He’s got to turn and score, to make one move and score. Sometimes, he gets too cute, and when he got too cute, Washington had two or three guys on him. He’s got to be confident and turn to score. He’s going to shoot 50% minimum, and I’ll take that every night. When you can’t tackle him, and what was happening early was just mind boggling, unbelievable with the forearm stuff. But if you’ve got to play him straight up, he’s hard to stop. You’re seeing it now.”
on the team’s mistakes in this game
“I was trying to sneak him [Aday] out in spots and get Will in there for defense. Will had another big block, but we didn’t get the rebound and they were able to lay it in. But the guys executed very well at times. The key to the game, though, is that we had eight turnovers at the half. We should have been up ten. We let them back in the game. Aday had a really silly attempt at a high-low to Eric that wasn’t open. Dylan and Skyy got rattled for a little bit, you can’t do that. The crowd cheers, they hit a shot, we’ve got to stay calm.”
on Kobe Johnson’s performance
“Kobe had a big three when they were coming back. We ran something for him, and he came off the screen and hit a big three. He was a calming influence. He’s our only senior.”
on Lazar Stefanovic
“Lazar didn’t really play. He’s had a bad week. I need to get him going again, I’ve got to coach him better.”
on Tyler Bilodeau
“I didn’t like the way he was moving. It was hard for me to get a lot of information and hard for our trainer to assess things on the fly. He turned his ankle. A kid like him, he’s going to say he wants to play, you could hit him in the head with a bat and he’d want to play. I put him back in but I didn’t like the way he was moving. I’m more worried about his career and the rest of our season.”
on the team’s mentality
“I told the guys, ‘We have enough players. I’ve got confidence in you guys. We just need to care’. We haven’t been A+ in caring. You can tell when a team cares.”
on winning on the road and scheduling
“We came up here and won without Tyler. We played Friday, Tuesday, Friday, and we’ve got to turn around and play on the road again on Monday, then Thursday. The schedule for all of the west coast teams, I don’t know what the answer is. And then I looked at Michigan State’s schedule, their last seven or eight games have all been against top-30 teams. I don’t know what the answer is for the Big Ten.”
on the team’s rebounding
“I was pleased for the most part with our rebounding. I thought that they got a few offensive late.”
on limiting turnovers in the second half
“That was the key. We got off more shots, we didn’t shoot a great percentage, 38%, but we got a lot of shots off. That was a big key.”
on playing several times in one week
“If you want national TV exposure, you have to spread your games out, and this is part of it. Travel isn’t easy, Seattle’s not around the corner. Trying to maintenance the guys is a big thing; our trainers are great at making sure we’re maintaining our guys while preparing and staying fresh for games. The guys handled it really maturely, and yesterday we practiced without running up and down or hitting each other, what I would call a shell practice. We had intensity and speed, but we didn’t hit each other. It’s like an NBA deal right now; a lot of film, a lot of walkthrough, a lot of shell without hitting each other and trying to be fresh for game night. Not only are we playing once every three days, we’re traveling. It’s part of it when you’re on the coast.”
UCLA guard Dylan Andrews
on the final play of the game
“The plan was to hit Kobe, and then it was a pitch back and Coach wanted me to make a play out of that. It got discombobulated. Number nine stepped out really hard on the switch, and I was going to try to split, but he ended up recovering, so I just stepped back and I got to see a shot go in.”
on picking up a gut-check win
“It’s always good to come out on the road and get a W, especially playing a team like Washington, where the crowd gets really loud and real hectic. It feels good that we came out on top and we get to go back home to LA and get ready for USC.”
on Aday Mara’s performance
“What he’s doing in these last couple games is what he does every day in practice. Aday is a monster, and I’m glad people are starting to see that.”
on Aday Mara’s minutes
“He was fine. He was totally fine. He could play more minutes, he looked good. We love having Aday on the court. He’s seven feet, takes up so much space, rebounds for us, and gives us energy. Who doesn’t want a guy like Aday?”
on winning in different situations
“Whatever’s going on in the game, we can get through it. No matter what happens. We could be down nine points or we could be down 10 points, but as long as that clock doesn’t say zero, we could come back and win.”
on what builds his shooting confidence
“Being in the gym, late nights. My teammates and coach talking to me, just letting me know, ‘Next shot. Don’t worry about the last one that you missed. Next play.’ I give credit to them, credit to Coach, credit to my teammates for keeping me confident.”
on how the team has gotten three consecutive wins
“Team chemistry, bonding, and trusting one another, especially on the defensive end. Knowing for a fact that we are a defensive team, and we’re trying to stay away from worrying about offense too much. We’re worried about getting stops, and offense is going to come regardless.”
UCLA center Aday Mara
on his big shots at the end of the game
“I saw that Kobe went to the rim and they touched the ball so I just tried to catch it, turn, and iso. The first one went in, and I am happy for that. On the second one, I read the defense and turned and shot.”
on playing a career-high 30 minutes
“I’m surprised that I didn’t get tired, but I was feeling good. I knew that Tyler wasn’t going to be able to play because he was injured, so I tried to not make stupid fouls and I tried to get into my rhythm so I didn’t get too tired. I was feeling good, and I wasn’t expecting that.”
on his impact in the last two games
“I feel good for the team because I was able to help the team in both of these games. It was good for me because I got some confidence. I’m happy to help the team.”
on playing against Washington's Great Osobor
“He was trying to face up, and I had to move my feet to try and stay in front. He’s really strong, so I had to play with physicality; boxing out, trying to keep him from getting offensive rebounds. He was playing differently with the hands, I don’t know if you can do that or not, I couldn’t move.”
on UCLA securing a win on the road
“We knew that it was going to be a tough game because they play with physicality and they have good games. We tried to not lose the ball, and that’s one of the keys for games on the road. We didn’t do it well in the first half, but we did it well in the second one.”