Postgame Quotes - UCLA 69, Ohio State 61

POSTGAME QUOTES
UCLA 69, Ohio State 61
Pauley Pavilion presented by Wescom
February 23, 2025

Mick Cronin, The Michael Price Family UCLA Men’s Head Basketball Coach
opening statement
“All wins are good wins. It’s late February, the way the game was called, it was tough to make a layup early on. We overcame the way the game was called today; we overcame a lot of adversity in my opinion. We got lifts from different guys, obviously in the second half, Eric had the first nine points, which extended the lead for us. Our passing was better in the second half, so our offense was better, 52 percent from the field in the second half. We wanted to make sure that we didn’t lose this game at the 3-point line, so we did a pretty good job and held them to only six makes, 6-for-27. That was a major goal for us in this game, to stop 0, 2, and 8. We finally outrebounded somebody. And Aday’s energy picked up and changed the game. He was only 3-for-8 from the field, but his rebounding really changed some things. His offensive rebounding got us some extra ones, we had 15 offensive rebounds, which was huge for us. We weren’t making shots and it was tackle football around the rim for the whole game. I thought our guys really overcame it, I’m proud of them for overcoming the physicality and the fouls around the rim that didn’t get called.”

on Eric Dailey Jr.’s performance
“Eric’s got toughness. Eric works unbelievably hard, he’s the hardest practicer every day. He’s got mental toughness, he’s not mentally soft, so things don’t bother him. He has belief in himself because of the work he’s put in.”

on Aday Mara’s performance and development
“He’s gotten stronger. It’s not the upper body for him; it’s the lower body. When you’re as tall as him, people try to knock you around, chop you, and take you off balance. He’s still working on his base against contact, so then he can hold his ground, and his size becomes a factor in scoring, rebounding, and blocked shots. The second thing is his conditioning. And the third piece is his corazón, you’ve got to play with heart. We play a competitive game. You have to play with heart, and I felt like Aday really came in and changed the game. I got on him about offensive rebounding, and then he got one as best as he’s done all year. And then he started playing harder than he’s ever played with his effort to get the ball. I give Aday all of the credit. I thought he changed us [and] infused us with energy. And the crowd loves him, so that helps.”

on Kobe Johnson’s performance
“Three steals, four assists, 13 rebounds – he’s been doing it all year. Sometimes the ball doesn’t go in, and his ball didn’t go in today. But for the most part it doesn’t affect him, because he’s a senior. The problem with young players is that they’re affected by that, and it affects their defense. That’s what happened the other night, we forgot to play defense because we were missing free throws and ball wasn’t going in. If you’re going to make any type of run you need to be able to win when the ball doesn’t go in. Kobe keeps playing when things don’t go his way. That’s what veteran guys do, and that’s what really consistent winners do. As a coach, that’s what you’re striving for. I thought our guys did a great job handling the adversity of the lack of fouls that were called in the first half and around the rim the whole game. You could cry and talk about the officiating, but that’s a losing trait, so they really fought through it. I’m proud of them.”

on practice after last week’s loss
“Nothing different. These guys are good guys, it’s just my job to mold them into guys that can win, get in the tournament, and win in the tournament. We’ve got really good guys on this team, too nice sometimes.”

on his 500th win
“For me, today’s about number 32. [500 wins] means I’m old. I’ve had some really good jobs, but I haven’t scored a point, so it’s really not about me. I don’t think about stuff like that, I never have. Jeff Van Gundy said that legacy is the most overrated thing in life. Today’s about Bill Walton.”

UCLA forward Eric Dailey Jr.
on the Bruin securing a 69-61 bounce-back win
“It shows us that we can bounce back from adversity. Adversity is a big word that comes and goes as the season flows. Things are going to happen that we don’t want to have happen, but it’s all about how you respond to it. We came out ready to play and responded in the right way.”

on coming back from a slump
“I think it’s just trusting God, honestly. I’ve been in a lull for the past few games, everyone knows that. The preparation, the work I’ve put in, and the praying finally shows. Things might not happen when you want them to, but I think tonight I got my feet back under me and I should be good for this next stretch of games.”

on the impact of head coach Mick Cronin
“He teaches us a lot of lessons that don’t pertain to basketball too. Life lessons, real-life situations. He’s a real coach and a real person, and that’s what you need to survive in the real world. He’s taught us how to save money, how to manage money, and how to be a good person through basketball. He yells, but everything in the world is not going to be nice and pretty, so that’s making us tough for the real world.”

on Coach Cronin’s demeanor
“When we’re in practice, we’re there to get better, so within the hours, we’re going to work. But outside of that, he’s just a regular guy. He likes chilling out, watching basketball, and messing with us.”

on the crowd cheering after his missed free throw
“I appreciated the fans tonight. They were a lot better at encouraging us, that’s what we need when we’re at home. Encouragement, not bringing us down. I missed two free throws again today but I made up for it with a lot of other stuff, so it’s okay.”

UCLA guard Skyy Clark
on winning an emotional game at home
“We understood what the day was, obviously. We were already coming off of a loss so we were motivated by that, and on top of that, we got to get Coach his 500th win. Also, it was Bill Walton day today, so we knew how much this game meant, and you could just feel the energy all day. We were just keeping it going the whole game.”

on the impact of head coach Mick Cronin
“Since my first day here until now, I’ve matured probably the most I have in a season. He’s taught us a lot about how the real world works. He’s definitely tough on us; some days, we walk into practice and he’s on us the whole day. But if you sit back and look at it from a different perspective, you can see that he really does care about us. He’s looking out for our best interests, even if it’s in a way we don’t fully understand right now.”

on the late Bill Walton
“I see him a little more as a broadcaster just because that’s what I grew up with. But I definitely know his career, he was an amazing hooper. I’ve met him once, just briefly, but I’ve heard nothing but amazing things about him as a human being.”

on teammate Aday Mara
“It’s fun seeing him dunk, it’s like how I used to dunk on the toddler hoops. We’re always rooting for Aday; he’s an amazing player and an amazing human. Whenever he gets it in the post, we tell him to go score, go make a play.”

UCLA center Aday Mara
on what playing today’s game meant, with respect to Bill Walton
“It was a special day for all of the Bruin fans and for me. My first year, he was helping me a lot. We’d always get breakfast in the hotel before the games and he was always there. He was always giving me advice, he told me to be patient, because big guys develop slower. He told me to be patient, work, and my time would come. He was an amazing person, so for me, this game meant a lot.”

on his game today against Ohio State
“Today, he [Coach Cronin] told me in the first half that I needed to get more rebounds and play harder. So, in the second half, I just did it. I went for rebounds, he always tells me to keep my hands high, and today I did that.”

Ohio State head coach Jake Diebler
on being limited by injuries and illness
“We just need to get healthier. Guys just really showed a lot of toughness today. We have been battling through a lot of stuff. I’m proud of these guys.”

on the decision on how to play John Mobley Jr.
“I think the biggest thing is his minutes. I have told him that you just have to tell me how much you can give. He did some great things when he was out there, but you can see how quickly he got fatigued.”

on how they regroup after this game
“Technically speaking, we did a better job on rebounding. We did a better job in the second half and if we play with that toughness, we will be okay. Our thing is just to get healthy. It’s about giving your all to try and get a win. Now it’s time to recover. We have to get ready to play on Wednesday (at USC). We have to take one day at a time. We have to live in the moment.”

on the team’s offensive struggles
“We have gone up against two teams that sped you up. We gotten sped up at times and our shot selection wasn’t the best. Our shot selection was better today. We had some good looks.”

on OSU’s defense
“Our defense battled. We were very tough. This is a together group. We didn’t play together against Northwestern, but today was different. Like I said, this is a together group.”

on the team’s struggle, having also lost to Northwestern a few days ago
“I think every game is important. Every game is either a quad one or quad two game. I felt we struggled to make shots and we didn’t have the bite defensively. We didn’t raise our level defensive and we tried to fix it individually. It was a six or eight-minute mark where it kind of snowballed. Our guys had great intent, but we didn’t play connected.”

on where they go from here
“We’ve got to stay together and play with this level of toughness. We have to continue to fight. We have good players who can make shots. We are going to be right there.”

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Postgame Quotes - UCLA 69, Ohio State 61

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Postgame Quotes - UCLA 69, Ohio State 61