POSTGAME QUOTES
UCLA 98, Rutgers 66
Los Angeles, Calif. (Pauley Pavilion presented by Wescom Financial)
February 3, 2026
Mick Cronin, The Michael Price Family UCLA Men’s Head Basketball Coach
opening statement
“Third game in seven days. Obviously, after the emotional game, from an adrenaline standpoint for the guys on Saturday. Having to travel on two days rest, and two days rest, everybody goes through it. The guys handled it great tonight. Twenty-five assists is probably a season high. Donovan Dent continues to pass and take care of the ball. Great to see Xavier Booker smile. And I know he made shots tonight, but they only got him down for one block and I thought he was more than active again.”
on Xavier Booker’s offensive game
“You know, we actually stopped practice yesterday, and I told the guys if people don’t guard and instead of taking contested shots – can we just throw it to him? He shoots 41 percent, and you don’t have to be a math major to figure out that an open three from Xavier Booker is better than a contested two from anybody else.”
on the assist to turnover ratio tonight
“Twenty-five and two, and you know my memory is pretty good. We played Southeast Missouri State at home in my last year at Murray State. We had 25 assists and two turnovers. That's the last time I remember anything like this.”
on stopping Rutgers’ Kaden Powers in the second half
“We tried to quit leaving him. The game plan was to not let Francis go crazy. I mean he averages 18 a game, he had Michigan State on the ropes. He’s had some monster games this year. Not Powers, but it happens and a kid got hot. I was disappointed the way we got screened when he was coming off a few baseline actions. Give the kid credit. He made some big-time shots.”
on the progression of Donovan Dent
“If he wants to have any chance at a pro career, Donovan had to come here and do three things. One is to make us win. And two and three are how to make us win, and take care of the ball and play harder on defense than he did at New Mexico. If he does those things, then he gives himself a better chance, and he's going to make us win.”
on the game plan around Rutgers’ Tariq Francis
“We tried to limit his touches and help on him as much as we could. He played 24 minutes, and they didn’t iso him quite as much. Some other games, he has got 18 shots and they're going to him all the time. I think they were going other directions, and some of that was us doing a good job.”
UCLA junior Xavier Booker
on the last time he was in the zone like that
“I think maybe an earlier game in the season, but I mean a game like that, I think last year. I especially like hitting that many threes. Everything just felt good today, especially coming from the first shot. I know my teammates know I was hitting shots today, so they just kept feeding me the ball. Shout out to them for that. Everything just felt good.”
on the growth of his connection with Donovan Dent
“It’s definitely growing. I mean it grows every day. Especially from the summer, all the way up until now. I have a really good relationship with him, on and off the court. That relationship has definitely grown for sure.”
on where he has seen himself improve defensively
“I feel like the main thing I’ve improved on my defense is staying low and staying in the stance. Coaches, they preach that all the time to everybody, but for me, just staying low in the stance. Then just being active, just being alert to everything around the rim. Just standing in front of my man.”
on what led to his performance today
“Honestly, I don’t know. Coming off of the first shot, like I said, it felt good, and then everything after that felt good as well. I just kept on building. Like I said earlier, my teammates kept finding me, so shout out to them.”
on how great his performance felt tonight
“Oh yeah, it felt great. I definitely haven’t had a game this good in a while. It felt good. The main thing for me is just staying confident in everything I do and trusting the work I put in, the extra work outside of practice. I’m just trusting that and being around a good group of guys is always encouraging. It’s encouraging me to stay positive.”
on the process of switching on defense
“It’s been good. Coach, like he said all the time, especially with shooters, just makes sure to crowd their space and get a hand up, not let them shoot the ball. It just makes everything easier, especially when our guys get a screen. Just switching, it makes everything easier, especially communicating with it too. When I do switch on a guy, like you said, just stay in the stance, stand low, and just put a hand up.”
UCLA senior Tyler Bilodeau
on the biggest difference defensively in the second half
“I think we got to know their shooters. They had a couple guys get hot there, and I think we shut them down in the second half. Also, rebounding. I think our defensive rebounding really limited their second-chance points. Coach [was] talking about we’re really good on first-shot defense, we’re really good. We have to keep it that way, keep crashing the glass. But a lot better job in the second half for sure.”
on having a collective team response
“Coming off a game against Indiana like that, it’s definitely a blow. But I thought we did a good job, the last couple days in practice really coming together. Staying focused. Listening to the coaching staff. I think we did a good job tonight. We just got to keep building off of that. Just have to keep trying to get better everyday.”
on getting Xavier Booker three-point opportunities
“Yeah, for sure. Whenever his guy is sagging off of him, we get guys driving to the paint, and he’s open out there. We got to give him the ball because he can knock those down. We see it every day.”
Rutgers head coach Steve Pikiell
on how they played well the first 16 minutes of the game, and what happened at the end of the half
“Defensive breakdowns, all over the place. They made us pay for everyone. We can’t go on the road and give up 98 points on a team coached by Steve Pikiell. And they’re good too, and they made threes and they normally don’t do that. I’m just disappointed we didn’t string a 40-minute game. I thought we had 18 good minutes, but certainly not good enough here at UCLA. I’m just very disappointed.”
on the play of Kaden Powers and what he did in the first half
“Really good. I’m getting greedy in the second half, but that’s a freshman, 18 years old. They made some changes. They put another defender on him. Our consistency with all those young guys has not been great for 40 minutes and having to play at the level you need to play at in this league. Our backboards were a huge thing today. We harped at it because they [UCLA] are not a good rebounding team. They’ve got great players. Their point guard is elite. He makes passes that are unheard of and we knew we let Bilodeau get off to a great start. I started “June” [Darren Buchanan Jr.] on him. We watched probably two hours of film the last couple days, since USC, on his pick-and-pop and his prowess as a post-up guy. We didn’t do a great job, you know, got him early threes, and he got it going too.”
UCLA 98, Rutgers 66
Los Angeles, Calif. (Pauley Pavilion presented by Wescom Financial)
February 3, 2026
Mick Cronin, The Michael Price Family UCLA Men’s Head Basketball Coach
opening statement
“Third game in seven days. Obviously, after the emotional game, from an adrenaline standpoint for the guys on Saturday. Having to travel on two days rest, and two days rest, everybody goes through it. The guys handled it great tonight. Twenty-five assists is probably a season high. Donovan Dent continues to pass and take care of the ball. Great to see Xavier Booker smile. And I know he made shots tonight, but they only got him down for one block and I thought he was more than active again.”
on Xavier Booker’s offensive game
“You know, we actually stopped practice yesterday, and I told the guys if people don’t guard and instead of taking contested shots – can we just throw it to him? He shoots 41 percent, and you don’t have to be a math major to figure out that an open three from Xavier Booker is better than a contested two from anybody else.”
on the assist to turnover ratio tonight
“Twenty-five and two, and you know my memory is pretty good. We played Southeast Missouri State at home in my last year at Murray State. We had 25 assists and two turnovers. That's the last time I remember anything like this.”
on stopping Rutgers’ Kaden Powers in the second half
“We tried to quit leaving him. The game plan was to not let Francis go crazy. I mean he averages 18 a game, he had Michigan State on the ropes. He’s had some monster games this year. Not Powers, but it happens and a kid got hot. I was disappointed the way we got screened when he was coming off a few baseline actions. Give the kid credit. He made some big-time shots.”
on the progression of Donovan Dent
“If he wants to have any chance at a pro career, Donovan had to come here and do three things. One is to make us win. And two and three are how to make us win, and take care of the ball and play harder on defense than he did at New Mexico. If he does those things, then he gives himself a better chance, and he's going to make us win.”
on the game plan around Rutgers’ Tariq Francis
“We tried to limit his touches and help on him as much as we could. He played 24 minutes, and they didn’t iso him quite as much. Some other games, he has got 18 shots and they're going to him all the time. I think they were going other directions, and some of that was us doing a good job.”
UCLA junior Xavier Booker
on the last time he was in the zone like that
“I think maybe an earlier game in the season, but I mean a game like that, I think last year. I especially like hitting that many threes. Everything just felt good today, especially coming from the first shot. I know my teammates know I was hitting shots today, so they just kept feeding me the ball. Shout out to them for that. Everything just felt good.”
on the growth of his connection with Donovan Dent
“It’s definitely growing. I mean it grows every day. Especially from the summer, all the way up until now. I have a really good relationship with him, on and off the court. That relationship has definitely grown for sure.”
on where he has seen himself improve defensively
“I feel like the main thing I’ve improved on my defense is staying low and staying in the stance. Coaches, they preach that all the time to everybody, but for me, just staying low in the stance. Then just being active, just being alert to everything around the rim. Just standing in front of my man.”
on what led to his performance today
“Honestly, I don’t know. Coming off of the first shot, like I said, it felt good, and then everything after that felt good as well. I just kept on building. Like I said earlier, my teammates kept finding me, so shout out to them.”
on how great his performance felt tonight
“Oh yeah, it felt great. I definitely haven’t had a game this good in a while. It felt good. The main thing for me is just staying confident in everything I do and trusting the work I put in, the extra work outside of practice. I’m just trusting that and being around a good group of guys is always encouraging. It’s encouraging me to stay positive.”
on the process of switching on defense
“It’s been good. Coach, like he said all the time, especially with shooters, just makes sure to crowd their space and get a hand up, not let them shoot the ball. It just makes everything easier, especially when our guys get a screen. Just switching, it makes everything easier, especially communicating with it too. When I do switch on a guy, like you said, just stay in the stance, stand low, and just put a hand up.”
UCLA senior Tyler Bilodeau
on the biggest difference defensively in the second half
“I think we got to know their shooters. They had a couple guys get hot there, and I think we shut them down in the second half. Also, rebounding. I think our defensive rebounding really limited their second-chance points. Coach [was] talking about we’re really good on first-shot defense, we’re really good. We have to keep it that way, keep crashing the glass. But a lot better job in the second half for sure.”
on having a collective team response
“Coming off a game against Indiana like that, it’s definitely a blow. But I thought we did a good job, the last couple days in practice really coming together. Staying focused. Listening to the coaching staff. I think we did a good job tonight. We just got to keep building off of that. Just have to keep trying to get better everyday.”
on getting Xavier Booker three-point opportunities
“Yeah, for sure. Whenever his guy is sagging off of him, we get guys driving to the paint, and he’s open out there. We got to give him the ball because he can knock those down. We see it every day.”
Rutgers head coach Steve Pikiell
on how they played well the first 16 minutes of the game, and what happened at the end of the half
“Defensive breakdowns, all over the place. They made us pay for everyone. We can’t go on the road and give up 98 points on a team coached by Steve Pikiell. And they’re good too, and they made threes and they normally don’t do that. I’m just disappointed we didn’t string a 40-minute game. I thought we had 18 good minutes, but certainly not good enough here at UCLA. I’m just very disappointed.”
on the play of Kaden Powers and what he did in the first half
“Really good. I’m getting greedy in the second half, but that’s a freshman, 18 years old. They made some changes. They put another defender on him. Our consistency with all those young guys has not been great for 40 minutes and having to play at the level you need to play at in this league. Our backboards were a huge thing today. We harped at it because they [UCLA] are not a good rebounding team. They’ve got great players. Their point guard is elite. He makes passes that are unheard of and we knew we let Bilodeau get off to a great start. I started “June” [Darren Buchanan Jr.] on him. We watched probably two hours of film the last couple days, since USC, on his pick-and-pop and his prowess as a post-up guy. We didn’t do a great job, you know, got him early threes, and he got it going too.”