POSTGAME QUOTES
UCLA 72, Nebraska 52
Los Angeles, Calif. (Pauley Pavilion presented by Wescom Financial)
March 3, 2026
Mick Cronin, The Michael Price Family UCLA Men’s Head Basketball Coach
opening statement
“Nebraska has got a great team. This is the best we’ve played all year and they brought out the best in us. We went from our worst defensive effort to our best defensive effort. What Coach Hoiberg has done with this group is unbelievable and they out hustle everybody they play, but tonight they didn’t and that’s why we won. They tried to because they have unbelievable effort and attitude and I’m so impressed with them, but give credit to our guys tonight because they were selfless and we played with toughness.”
on his team’s third top-10 win at home
“Since I’ve been here we don't lose much at home. If they had called a travel in the overtime game against Indiana when we were up two with 20 seconds left, and the guy took three steps. We’d be undefeated right? The answer I told our guys after we had a heart to heart is I said ‘Look guys here's the team, and their record is what it is because of their attitude and effort and their commitment to doing the hard things.’ I am so impressed with them tonight, we were great. If we would just have this attitude then we would have Nebraska’s record.”
on Eric Freeny’s bench performance and effort
“It’s his toughness and I'm a big believer in it. That's why I signed him.”
on Eric Freeny’s lack of playing time against Minnesota
“You know I apologized to Eric (Freeney), Steven (Jamerson II) and Brandon (Williams) in our film session that they should have played more. My excuse was we were scoring and we were winning, and the game was slow and nobody was tired. Our defense was so bad in spite of our shot making, so I should have gotten some guys out and definitely Eric Freeny should have gotten in. You play defense or you come out. If you're not about it then nobody is going to believe you. So, I just apologize to those guys for not getting them in there during the Minnesota game.”
on predicting how the team will perform and how practice was this week
“I haven’t been able to predict it with this team if I’m being honest with you. We had one practice this week since we were playing in the Midwest, so we got back late Saturday night. On Sunday we watched film and had a heart to heart about what the problem is and has been all year. We only had one practice and then we had a shoot around today, so our guys did a great job with Rod Palmer and the scout. The guys were locked in and when you play a guy like (Pryce) Sandfort who’s been unbelievable and only hold him to nine points is impressive.”
on the improved ball movement this season
“We have the offensive talent and when we share the ball we are hard to defend. Nebraska is the fifth best team metrically in the country defensively, so we’re hard to defend when we execute and share the ball and have proper space.”
on Eric Dailey Jr’s performance and attitude
“Eric had six deflections and eight rebounds, and that’s all I care about. Everybody else cares just about his points. His defense, rebounding, and his toughness are most important and we give him a chance to play beyond here.”
UCLA sophomore Trent Perry
on the boost Eric Freeny gives the team
“Having four offensive rebounds as a guard and being the offensive leading rebounder for this team and only having four points… that’s a game changer. We needed all those rebounds tonight and the defensive effort. Chasing (Pryce) Sandfort isn’t an easy job.”
on the energy going into tonight’s game
“Happy for our seniors as a group. We didn’t want our seniors to lose their last game in Pauley. For me personally as well, I feel like I let my team down last game in Minnesota. Faced a different type of adversity, not just on the court but off the court. Getting a lot of hate comments, threats, all the type of stuff. I just felt like I had to come out here tonight and bounce back for my team. Play for something that’s bigger than myself.”
on the hate comments he received after last game and how he handled it
“It’s something I’ve never faced in my career. I’ve had Eric Dailey Jr. to help me out. I told him, even though you’re not supposed to listen to the comments, it’s there. Just having those types of threats on my Instagram and on Twitter, it kind of opened my eyes a little bit. I’m playing for something bigger than myself at the end of the day. I’m playing for my team, playing for my coaches, playing for this program. I’m not playing for anyone on social media that’s going to DM me after a bad game. It’s always going to happen, and I’m just fortunate enough to have these guys who have my back.”
on Skyy Clark rejoining the starting lineup and his impact on offense
“It’s great. You see how the ball is moving. Dribble drive, drive and kick, just creating gaps for driving lanes. Of course with Eric (Dailey Jr.) and Tyler (Bilodeau) stretching out the floor, it’s amazing. Especially with Book (Xavier Booker) coming back in, he’s also a threat on the 3-point line, so it’s been great so far, just having another scoring threat available for us.”
on how the team’s ball movement has evolved over the course of the season
“You kind of see tonight. Nebraska, they’re a heavy-help team, heavy-gap team. Based off of our game plan, we had open driving lanes and open 3s. Just having those dribble drives once again and having everybody else stretch the floor out. It was amazing.”
UCLA junior Eric Dailey Jr.
on the boost redshirt freshman Eric Freeny gives the team
“His toughness. That’s a tough guy right here. Very tough. To get hit in the face with the ball (against USC) and not flinch. Like, come on. That’s a tough guy. He brings that every day in practice. What we’re seeing is what he does every day. He works hard, he’s in the gym early. All the work that he’s done in the dark is coming to the light. He’s been a great impact player for us in the minutes that he’s been getting. He’s been going hard, and that’s what we appreciate about him.”
on being successful at Pauley and how to take that into away games
“I think we just have to take the attitude that we played with tonight and bottle it up and keep it rolling. It’s the end of the season, and we’ve been having the same problem that coach has been saying. But tonight, this team looked different. The way we played tonight, we keep that same energy and attitude, the plays and the hustle, we’ll be fine down the stretch.”
on the differences between playing on the road and at home
“You want to thank our fans while we’re at home. It’s good to have a crowd that’s on our side. Obviously, on the road, it’s a little tougher to travel. But you can’t make excuses on the road. We have to still win ball games, and that’s been difficult for us this year. But with that being said, we’ve got so much left. We have so many games left. The season is not over with. So, we’ve got to keep going with this mindset. We’re only as good as our last game, and this is the last game we played, so we’ll keep this going.”
on the feeling going from a big loss to a big win
“It’s all about response. It’s all about how you respond when you get knocked down. That’s what life’s about, too. You get punched, you just can’t quit. You’ve got to keep fighting regardless of what’s going on. This team has been really resilient this year, so I love the fire that we played with tonight. Just have to keep this going.”
UCLA redshirt freshman Eric Freeny
on getting hit in the face with the ball against USC
“It happens. In practice, so I’m kind of used to it. It’s how it is all the time in practice, so … get hit with the ball, you’ve got to keep playing. It’s part of the sport. It’s part of what happens. I’m super competitive, so just have to forget about it and win the ball game.”
on what last year did for his development
“[It was] great. I just have to keep on working. No ceiling, just have to keep on going. That’s it. That’s what it’s going to take.”
on what kept him going with low playing time
“I’ll say just effort. Literally just effort, that’s all it really takes, I feel like. That’s what it takes to win, that’s what it’s going to take, especially in March. It’s our last home game, so that’s all it takes, honestly. It’s who wants it. That’s all it’s going to take. Got to keep on going.”
on what it meant to have head coach Mick Cronin apologize to for not playing more minutes against Minnesota
“Yeah. Took it good. Coach is always looking out for [me], doing what’s best for me. Just trying to push me to my max. I’ve got to keep on going. He’s going to push me every day, but I have to love it, though. That’s the biggest thing.”
Nebraska Head Coach Fred Hoiberg
on what changed for the Huskers during the game
“I don’t know that it was ever close. They came out and threw the first punch, and they kept swinging, and we did not respond well to it. Give UCLA credit for the way that they came out and applied pressure. We had a little stretch there in the second half but missed two front ends (of the one-and-one). Sam (Hoiberg) missed two, we lost six points on the board. We had an uncontested layup in transition. You just can’t get those back. That could have been a six-point game, and we might have at least had a fighting chance. But we just did not respond to anything that UCLA did to us tonight, really for the first time all year. The team’s been unbelievable with their approach, with the way they got up and handled to adversity. But we did not do that well today. But again, the credit goes to UCLA.”
on the team’s biggest concern after today
“The biggest thing is how we’re going to respond. That’s the only thing that matters right now. We’re going to flush this one away and watch film tomorrow and do our stations and do our walk-through because we have to take Thursday off, which is ridiculous with the travel schedule. They need to change that rule. It is what it is, so we’ll get back and get to work right away, which is probably a good thing to get in there and watch film and then we can move on to Iowa.”
on what an ideal response would be
“They respond well. That’s one thing – I look at our guys, and they’ve been unbelievable in their preparation and the way they move past emotional wins and move past a couple of tough losses, and I’m confident they will do that again.”
on the team’s slow start
“We just have to get better in that area.”
on the difference in playing USC versus playing UCLA tonight
“We are fifth in defensive efficiency, so we’d been really good on that end all season long. We missed a couple of closeouts and some defensive assignments – things we did exceptionally well all season long, but give credit to UCLA. They played a lot harder than we did tonight.”
on takeaways from this loss
“We’re going to have to learn from it. After every game we do the same preparation going into the next one after we learn and put the game behind us whether we win or lose. The same routine after every game. So, we’ll get in there tomorrow and watch film like we always do. We’ll put the game plan in against Iowa and move on with a couple of days of practice on Friday and Saturday.”
UCLA 72, Nebraska 52
Los Angeles, Calif. (Pauley Pavilion presented by Wescom Financial)
March 3, 2026
Mick Cronin, The Michael Price Family UCLA Men’s Head Basketball Coach
opening statement
“Nebraska has got a great team. This is the best we’ve played all year and they brought out the best in us. We went from our worst defensive effort to our best defensive effort. What Coach Hoiberg has done with this group is unbelievable and they out hustle everybody they play, but tonight they didn’t and that’s why we won. They tried to because they have unbelievable effort and attitude and I’m so impressed with them, but give credit to our guys tonight because they were selfless and we played with toughness.”
on his team’s third top-10 win at home
“Since I’ve been here we don't lose much at home. If they had called a travel in the overtime game against Indiana when we were up two with 20 seconds left, and the guy took three steps. We’d be undefeated right? The answer I told our guys after we had a heart to heart is I said ‘Look guys here's the team, and their record is what it is because of their attitude and effort and their commitment to doing the hard things.’ I am so impressed with them tonight, we were great. If we would just have this attitude then we would have Nebraska’s record.”
on Eric Freeny’s bench performance and effort
“It’s his toughness and I'm a big believer in it. That's why I signed him.”
on Eric Freeny’s lack of playing time against Minnesota
“You know I apologized to Eric (Freeney), Steven (Jamerson II) and Brandon (Williams) in our film session that they should have played more. My excuse was we were scoring and we were winning, and the game was slow and nobody was tired. Our defense was so bad in spite of our shot making, so I should have gotten some guys out and definitely Eric Freeny should have gotten in. You play defense or you come out. If you're not about it then nobody is going to believe you. So, I just apologize to those guys for not getting them in there during the Minnesota game.”
on predicting how the team will perform and how practice was this week
“I haven’t been able to predict it with this team if I’m being honest with you. We had one practice this week since we were playing in the Midwest, so we got back late Saturday night. On Sunday we watched film and had a heart to heart about what the problem is and has been all year. We only had one practice and then we had a shoot around today, so our guys did a great job with Rod Palmer and the scout. The guys were locked in and when you play a guy like (Pryce) Sandfort who’s been unbelievable and only hold him to nine points is impressive.”
on the improved ball movement this season
“We have the offensive talent and when we share the ball we are hard to defend. Nebraska is the fifth best team metrically in the country defensively, so we’re hard to defend when we execute and share the ball and have proper space.”
on Eric Dailey Jr’s performance and attitude
“Eric had six deflections and eight rebounds, and that’s all I care about. Everybody else cares just about his points. His defense, rebounding, and his toughness are most important and we give him a chance to play beyond here.”
UCLA sophomore Trent Perry
on the boost Eric Freeny gives the team
“Having four offensive rebounds as a guard and being the offensive leading rebounder for this team and only having four points… that’s a game changer. We needed all those rebounds tonight and the defensive effort. Chasing (Pryce) Sandfort isn’t an easy job.”
on the energy going into tonight’s game
“Happy for our seniors as a group. We didn’t want our seniors to lose their last game in Pauley. For me personally as well, I feel like I let my team down last game in Minnesota. Faced a different type of adversity, not just on the court but off the court. Getting a lot of hate comments, threats, all the type of stuff. I just felt like I had to come out here tonight and bounce back for my team. Play for something that’s bigger than myself.”
on the hate comments he received after last game and how he handled it
“It’s something I’ve never faced in my career. I’ve had Eric Dailey Jr. to help me out. I told him, even though you’re not supposed to listen to the comments, it’s there. Just having those types of threats on my Instagram and on Twitter, it kind of opened my eyes a little bit. I’m playing for something bigger than myself at the end of the day. I’m playing for my team, playing for my coaches, playing for this program. I’m not playing for anyone on social media that’s going to DM me after a bad game. It’s always going to happen, and I’m just fortunate enough to have these guys who have my back.”
on Skyy Clark rejoining the starting lineup and his impact on offense
“It’s great. You see how the ball is moving. Dribble drive, drive and kick, just creating gaps for driving lanes. Of course with Eric (Dailey Jr.) and Tyler (Bilodeau) stretching out the floor, it’s amazing. Especially with Book (Xavier Booker) coming back in, he’s also a threat on the 3-point line, so it’s been great so far, just having another scoring threat available for us.”
on how the team’s ball movement has evolved over the course of the season
“You kind of see tonight. Nebraska, they’re a heavy-help team, heavy-gap team. Based off of our game plan, we had open driving lanes and open 3s. Just having those dribble drives once again and having everybody else stretch the floor out. It was amazing.”
UCLA junior Eric Dailey Jr.
on the boost redshirt freshman Eric Freeny gives the team
“His toughness. That’s a tough guy right here. Very tough. To get hit in the face with the ball (against USC) and not flinch. Like, come on. That’s a tough guy. He brings that every day in practice. What we’re seeing is what he does every day. He works hard, he’s in the gym early. All the work that he’s done in the dark is coming to the light. He’s been a great impact player for us in the minutes that he’s been getting. He’s been going hard, and that’s what we appreciate about him.”
on being successful at Pauley and how to take that into away games
“I think we just have to take the attitude that we played with tonight and bottle it up and keep it rolling. It’s the end of the season, and we’ve been having the same problem that coach has been saying. But tonight, this team looked different. The way we played tonight, we keep that same energy and attitude, the plays and the hustle, we’ll be fine down the stretch.”
on the differences between playing on the road and at home
“You want to thank our fans while we’re at home. It’s good to have a crowd that’s on our side. Obviously, on the road, it’s a little tougher to travel. But you can’t make excuses on the road. We have to still win ball games, and that’s been difficult for us this year. But with that being said, we’ve got so much left. We have so many games left. The season is not over with. So, we’ve got to keep going with this mindset. We’re only as good as our last game, and this is the last game we played, so we’ll keep this going.”
on the feeling going from a big loss to a big win
“It’s all about response. It’s all about how you respond when you get knocked down. That’s what life’s about, too. You get punched, you just can’t quit. You’ve got to keep fighting regardless of what’s going on. This team has been really resilient this year, so I love the fire that we played with tonight. Just have to keep this going.”
UCLA redshirt freshman Eric Freeny
on getting hit in the face with the ball against USC
“It happens. In practice, so I’m kind of used to it. It’s how it is all the time in practice, so … get hit with the ball, you’ve got to keep playing. It’s part of the sport. It’s part of what happens. I’m super competitive, so just have to forget about it and win the ball game.”
on what last year did for his development
“[It was] great. I just have to keep on working. No ceiling, just have to keep on going. That’s it. That’s what it’s going to take.”
on what kept him going with low playing time
“I’ll say just effort. Literally just effort, that’s all it really takes, I feel like. That’s what it takes to win, that’s what it’s going to take, especially in March. It’s our last home game, so that’s all it takes, honestly. It’s who wants it. That’s all it’s going to take. Got to keep on going.”
on what it meant to have head coach Mick Cronin apologize to for not playing more minutes against Minnesota
“Yeah. Took it good. Coach is always looking out for [me], doing what’s best for me. Just trying to push me to my max. I’ve got to keep on going. He’s going to push me every day, but I have to love it, though. That’s the biggest thing.”
Nebraska Head Coach Fred Hoiberg
on what changed for the Huskers during the game
“I don’t know that it was ever close. They came out and threw the first punch, and they kept swinging, and we did not respond well to it. Give UCLA credit for the way that they came out and applied pressure. We had a little stretch there in the second half but missed two front ends (of the one-and-one). Sam (Hoiberg) missed two, we lost six points on the board. We had an uncontested layup in transition. You just can’t get those back. That could have been a six-point game, and we might have at least had a fighting chance. But we just did not respond to anything that UCLA did to us tonight, really for the first time all year. The team’s been unbelievable with their approach, with the way they got up and handled to adversity. But we did not do that well today. But again, the credit goes to UCLA.”
on the team’s biggest concern after today
“The biggest thing is how we’re going to respond. That’s the only thing that matters right now. We’re going to flush this one away and watch film tomorrow and do our stations and do our walk-through because we have to take Thursday off, which is ridiculous with the travel schedule. They need to change that rule. It is what it is, so we’ll get back and get to work right away, which is probably a good thing to get in there and watch film and then we can move on to Iowa.”
on what an ideal response would be
“They respond well. That’s one thing – I look at our guys, and they’ve been unbelievable in their preparation and the way they move past emotional wins and move past a couple of tough losses, and I’m confident they will do that again.”
on the team’s slow start
“We just have to get better in that area.”
on the difference in playing USC versus playing UCLA tonight
“We are fifth in defensive efficiency, so we’d been really good on that end all season long. We missed a couple of closeouts and some defensive assignments – things we did exceptionally well all season long, but give credit to UCLA. They played a lot harder than we did tonight.”
on takeaways from this loss
“We’re going to have to learn from it. After every game we do the same preparation going into the next one after we learn and put the game behind us whether we win or lose. The same routine after every game. So, we’ll get in there tomorrow and watch film like we always do. We’ll put the game plan in against Iowa and move on with a couple of days of practice on Friday and Saturday.”