Postgame Quotes – UCLA 80, Eastern Washington 74
POSTGAME QUOTES
UCLA 80, Eastern Washington 74
Los Angeles, Calif. (at Pauley Pavilion presented by Wescom Financial)
November 3, 2025
Mick Cronin, The Michael Price Family UCLA Men’s Head Basketball Coach
opening statement
“Congratulations to Eastern Washington. Dan [Monson] is a great guy. They’ve been doing this a long time. He lost his father earlier this year. It was good seeing them. They got good kids. They battled. Tonight’s effort doesn’t surprise me. I played San Diego State so we could lose in front of 10,000. We didn’t. Played Irvine. Russell [Turner] is a great coach. They’re a great mid-major program. Unfortunately, we won that game easily. When you have the wrong attitude in life, it shows up – so I blame myself. I knew this was coming and I couldn’t stop it, so I failed miserably. I tried in shootaround. Arrogance. Lack of humility. Don’t want to defend, don’t want to rebound, don’t want to play defense. There are so many mistakes, I’d like to fire myself for our defense. Fifty-four percent [shooting] on us? We gave up 38 points in the paint. I blame myself. I knew it was coming. I couldn’t stop it.”
on what he did to try to stop it
“Film. Speeches. Went off in shootaround today about intensity. Pros show up every day. Nick Saban 101 – the process is more important than the opponent. I lost them with three easy exhibition games. I knew I lost them. I could tell I lost them all week. We’ll see if this will humble them a little bit tonight. If you think you’re going to give up 53.7 percent in your own gym in a buy game and have a good year, there’s no chance.”
on giving up points in the paint
“We get beat in layups. We had everything you can think. I’m going to throw this at you, because I want to get the hell out of here – lack of adherence to the scouting report, terrible pick-and-roll defense, help when we shouldn’t, rotate off the best shooter to a non-shooter, post defense embarrassingly terrible. Those are all coaching. Defense is coaching. Everybody always says, ‘Hey, I’m going to get this guy to play defense.’ The reason I’m in my 23rd year and I’m at the coach at UCLA, I’m able to do it. When you lose your team mentally and they’re worried about other things – ‘We’re going to win anyway, we’re a great team, so I’m going to worry about whatever I want to worry about. I’m not going to worry about fighting around the post and the scouting report, because I have no fear of losing.’ And that’s what happens. That’s what happens all the time, and I’m getting old. That’s why I knew it was going to happen, and I tried to stop them. But I failed – it’s on me.”
on if he liked what he saw from the team in the locker room
“No, I could care less what I saw. They got to see me. … Listen, we’ll just bench guys. We’re going to play defense or you won’t play. Obviously, we were a little shorthanded without Eric [Dailey Jr.]. If somebody blows an assignment, they won’t play the rest of the game.”
on senior guard Donovan Dent
“We’re way more talented than Eastern Washington. When you’re trying to put a team away, and you haven’t had a dunk since you transferred, and you try to dunk it?”
on if there were any positives from UCLA’s defense
“None. I had maybe, if I saw on film, one. Every time we took a step forward, we took two back. When you are not ready to put forth the effort – our saying is you have to win the fight to be able to win the game. You got to be able to win the fight, and you got a chance to win the game. We had no interest in getting to the rim tonight. We were too good for Eastern Washington. We’re losers in everything at life.”
UCLA senior forward Tyler Bilodeau
on the team’s defensive performance
“We didn’t come out with enough fight and too many points given up in the paint. I don’t think we rebounded good enough overall at all. Not on the same page entirely so we have to be better.”
on his shooting in the second half
“Yeah, I struggled a little bit, but just teammates being there to get me the ball and great passes by them.”
on Coach Cronin’s message to the team after the game
“We got to be better and that's the biggest thing. You can never come into a game like that. It shouldn't happen.”
UCLA senior guard Donovan Dent
on practice this week with Coach Cronin
“I thought we had high energy in practice. He always wants us to go above and beyond so he’s always going to look at it in a different view. We kind of just came out with the mindset that we were going to come in here and blow them out. That’s what caused this game. I don’t think it was the practice or the shootaround. It was more our mindset at the start of this game.”
on if UCLA’s earlier exhibition wins played a role tonight
“It shouldn't have been. We're a bunch of vets so we should know what our job is and get our job done. It doesn't matter what we won against [UC Irvine] or San Diego State. We should have came with the same mindset and came out and killed. We didn't do that tonight.”
on the team’s offensive performance
“I think I could have got the ball out of my hand a little bit more. I took 17 shots, which is quite a bit of shots. I feel like I didn’t need to take that many and forced a couple. I feel like I got to move the ball and run the offense better.”
on his leadership after games like this
“I think it's pretty easy for me to pick them up. We are all older guys, so it's not like I'm picking up freshmen or sophomores. We all know what we gotta do. I can encourage as much as I can, but we all know what we have to do. We just have to pick it up from here. Practice on Wednesday, we just have to come in with the right mindset.”
Eastern Washington head coach Dan Monson
opening statement
“I think UCLA is a super-talented and elite team. When it’s all said and done, they’re going to be a top 10 team in the country. We tried box-and-one on [Donovan] Dent, two different zones, and some other defenses, but we had no answer for him. He’s truly an elite point guard.”
on the takeaways from tonight’s game
“For us, our best player is out for the year, so we’re just trying to find ourselves. They [UCLA] are just too big and strong for us. Their inside presence was a problem for us. From the first game, we just take a lot of things that you have to get better at. Let’s face it – no one is going to make the NCAA Tournament at this time of year. It’s great for Mick to let us come in and compete against an elite team.”
UCLA 80, Eastern Washington 74
Los Angeles, Calif. (at Pauley Pavilion presented by Wescom Financial)
November 3, 2025
Mick Cronin, The Michael Price Family UCLA Men’s Head Basketball Coach
opening statement
“Congratulations to Eastern Washington. Dan [Monson] is a great guy. They’ve been doing this a long time. He lost his father earlier this year. It was good seeing them. They got good kids. They battled. Tonight’s effort doesn’t surprise me. I played San Diego State so we could lose in front of 10,000. We didn’t. Played Irvine. Russell [Turner] is a great coach. They’re a great mid-major program. Unfortunately, we won that game easily. When you have the wrong attitude in life, it shows up – so I blame myself. I knew this was coming and I couldn’t stop it, so I failed miserably. I tried in shootaround. Arrogance. Lack of humility. Don’t want to defend, don’t want to rebound, don’t want to play defense. There are so many mistakes, I’d like to fire myself for our defense. Fifty-four percent [shooting] on us? We gave up 38 points in the paint. I blame myself. I knew it was coming. I couldn’t stop it.”
on what he did to try to stop it
“Film. Speeches. Went off in shootaround today about intensity. Pros show up every day. Nick Saban 101 – the process is more important than the opponent. I lost them with three easy exhibition games. I knew I lost them. I could tell I lost them all week. We’ll see if this will humble them a little bit tonight. If you think you’re going to give up 53.7 percent in your own gym in a buy game and have a good year, there’s no chance.”
on giving up points in the paint
“We get beat in layups. We had everything you can think. I’m going to throw this at you, because I want to get the hell out of here – lack of adherence to the scouting report, terrible pick-and-roll defense, help when we shouldn’t, rotate off the best shooter to a non-shooter, post defense embarrassingly terrible. Those are all coaching. Defense is coaching. Everybody always says, ‘Hey, I’m going to get this guy to play defense.’ The reason I’m in my 23rd year and I’m at the coach at UCLA, I’m able to do it. When you lose your team mentally and they’re worried about other things – ‘We’re going to win anyway, we’re a great team, so I’m going to worry about whatever I want to worry about. I’m not going to worry about fighting around the post and the scouting report, because I have no fear of losing.’ And that’s what happens. That’s what happens all the time, and I’m getting old. That’s why I knew it was going to happen, and I tried to stop them. But I failed – it’s on me.”
on if he liked what he saw from the team in the locker room
“No, I could care less what I saw. They got to see me. … Listen, we’ll just bench guys. We’re going to play defense or you won’t play. Obviously, we were a little shorthanded without Eric [Dailey Jr.]. If somebody blows an assignment, they won’t play the rest of the game.”
on senior guard Donovan Dent
“We’re way more talented than Eastern Washington. When you’re trying to put a team away, and you haven’t had a dunk since you transferred, and you try to dunk it?”
on if there were any positives from UCLA’s defense
“None. I had maybe, if I saw on film, one. Every time we took a step forward, we took two back. When you are not ready to put forth the effort – our saying is you have to win the fight to be able to win the game. You got to be able to win the fight, and you got a chance to win the game. We had no interest in getting to the rim tonight. We were too good for Eastern Washington. We’re losers in everything at life.”
UCLA senior forward Tyler Bilodeau
on the team’s defensive performance
“We didn’t come out with enough fight and too many points given up in the paint. I don’t think we rebounded good enough overall at all. Not on the same page entirely so we have to be better.”
on his shooting in the second half
“Yeah, I struggled a little bit, but just teammates being there to get me the ball and great passes by them.”
on Coach Cronin’s message to the team after the game
“We got to be better and that's the biggest thing. You can never come into a game like that. It shouldn't happen.”
UCLA senior guard Donovan Dent
on practice this week with Coach Cronin
“I thought we had high energy in practice. He always wants us to go above and beyond so he’s always going to look at it in a different view. We kind of just came out with the mindset that we were going to come in here and blow them out. That’s what caused this game. I don’t think it was the practice or the shootaround. It was more our mindset at the start of this game.”
on if UCLA’s earlier exhibition wins played a role tonight
“It shouldn't have been. We're a bunch of vets so we should know what our job is and get our job done. It doesn't matter what we won against [UC Irvine] or San Diego State. We should have came with the same mindset and came out and killed. We didn't do that tonight.”
on the team’s offensive performance
“I think I could have got the ball out of my hand a little bit more. I took 17 shots, which is quite a bit of shots. I feel like I didn’t need to take that many and forced a couple. I feel like I got to move the ball and run the offense better.”
on his leadership after games like this
“I think it's pretty easy for me to pick them up. We are all older guys, so it's not like I'm picking up freshmen or sophomores. We all know what we gotta do. I can encourage as much as I can, but we all know what we have to do. We just have to pick it up from here. Practice on Wednesday, we just have to come in with the right mindset.”
Eastern Washington head coach Dan Monson
opening statement
“I think UCLA is a super-talented and elite team. When it’s all said and done, they’re going to be a top 10 team in the country. We tried box-and-one on [Donovan] Dent, two different zones, and some other defenses, but we had no answer for him. He’s truly an elite point guard.”
on the takeaways from tonight’s game
“For us, our best player is out for the year, so we’re just trying to find ourselves. They [UCLA] are just too big and strong for us. Their inside presence was a problem for us. From the first game, we just take a lot of things that you have to get better at. Let’s face it – no one is going to make the NCAA Tournament at this time of year. It’s great for Mick to let us come in and compete against an elite team.”