Postgame Quotes - UCLA vs. UCSB
POSTGAME QUOTES
UCLA 77, UC Santa Barbara 61
November 10, 2019
Mick Cronin, The Michael Price Family UCLA Men’s Head Basketball Coach
opening remarks
“I’m very happy with today’s performance. I have a lot of respect for Santa Barbara. When you play a veteran team that has everybody back, they have a good coach, and they know their system – they’ve got shotmakers. Heidegger’s a good player. I have a lot of respect for their team, their coach. I thought today was gonna be a brutal day, so we were not surprised at all. Our second half defensive intensity went to the level we needed to go to in order to win the game. It’s a mark of a good team – we played better as the game went on. We had a spirited halftime talk and guys rose to the challenge. Sometimes you do that stuff as coaches and nothing changes. I thought Prince changed the game with his effort coming out of the locker room on the defensive end disrupting their offense. Obviously, Jalen Hill played a monster game. Cody hadn’t got out of bed in three days with some sort of virus, so the fact that he could even play at all today – he gutted it out which was big for us. Really happy with our effort in the second half, 17 deflections. They’re a hard team to turn over because they’re a veteran team with veteran guards. I thought our defensive intensity definitely changed and we actually made a few shots.”
on the offense in the second half
“I thought we got the ball at the rim a little bit. Jalen Hill is a really good high-low passer, Chris in transition does a good job getting to the rim. We’re still learning when to drive and when to drive-and-pass. We only took four threes in the second half out of 32 shots, so we got the ball at the rim. Offensive rebounding we were plus-15. It’s hard to rebound when you’re just passing around, shooting jumpshots. We were trying to really break down their defense, get fouls on them because they’re not the deepest team at the guard position.”
on contributions from young players
“They played on a team last year where Hands and Wilkes took a large percentage of the shots. They might have been out there, but they weren’t shooting the ball. So you go from the guy watching to the guy with the ball. I’m running plays for Chris Smith and he doesn’t even know it. Playing this many minutes is hard. We’re a team that should get better as the year goes on.”
on Jalen Hill
“Coaching is overrated. You’ve got to coach guys at practice, be a psychologist to get guys to be at their best. Real coaching is knowing what a guy is capable of, demanding that, and getting it out of them. Sometimes as a coach you feel like you didn’t do that in a guy’s career. Jalen and I have had a lot of talks about the things that backups do and the things that starters do, and being able to be better and focused and responsible throughout an entire game – it’s a new thing for him. Then his athleticism and the size becomes a factor if he can do that. We got the ball at the basket, which helps him, but his performance was off the charts.”
on halftime message
“I believe that you have to play extremely hard. I thought that we let Santa Barbara get comfortable, you should not let teams get into your gym and get comfortable. We didn’t try and take anything away from them in the first half. That’s an effort thing. I challenged our guys to come with the effort that I’m accustomed to.”
UCLA redshirt sophomore forward/center Jalen Hill
On what went into almost doubling his career high in scoring tonight…
“I would say just my work ethic. (Head) Coach (Mick) Cronin told me to just go get every board and that’s what happened.”
On what his conversation with Coach Cronin about maximizing his role on this team meant to him…
“It wasn’t really a sit-down conversation. It was just him looking at me and saying that ‘We need you to do this, this, and this,’ and that’s what I did.”
UCLA sophomore guard Jules Bernard
On if the increased defensive effort in the second half was the turning point in this game…
“I think so. It started with obviously defense. (Guard) Prince (Ali) got a steal and an easy bucket, and that’s what we preach. Our defense is going to help us win, so we get deflections and our wins are based on our deflections. Prince started off with a steal and got us going right from the beginning. That’s what we needed to jumpstart our comeback. It starts on the defensive end and once we pick that up, the offense comes easy.”
On the emphasis that Head Coach Mick Cronin puts on rebounding from the guard position…
“Yes. He puts a lot of emphasis. If you see his teams in the past, a lot of his guards crash the boards. Point guard gets back, but those two and three guards, they crash the board and that’s one of my things that I’ve always been good at ever since high school. It feels natural and he stresses that the two and three guards crash the boards and get us second-chance opportunities and on defensive end, don’t allow the other team to get boards, so that’s all I focused on.”
UCLA junior guard Chris Smith
On Head Coach Mick Cronin’s message at half time…
“We just convened and we knew we had to do better, and that’s what we came out and did.“
On if the team finding success on both ends of the court felt like the team they wanted to be…
“Yeah. We were playing winning basketball. Every team wants to play winning basketball. You want to stop the team on the defensive end and you want to score on the team on the opposite. So once we picked up our energy, our whole team’s disposition was different in the second half, and it was all because of defense and deflections, and that energy just transferred to the offensive end, so yeah, definitely.”
UC Santa Barbara head coach Joe Pasternack
opening remarks
“I thought their (UCLA’s) size really bothered us. Jalen Hill was a monster. 24 (points), 10 (rebounds) and three blocks, that really gave us a problem. This game really came down to rebounds and turnovers. Our point guard had five turnovers, that was problem. Their size really was a problem for us. We struggled to get the ball to our post players. I think UCLA is going to be a NCAA Tournament team. It is our goal to compete against teams like that.”
on the difference in the second half
“JaQuori picking up two, quick fouls in the first half, that was really a problem for us.”
on where they go from here
“Practice on Tuesday.”
UC Santa Barbara senior guard Max Heidegger
opening remarks
“I don’t think we played tough enough in the second half. I give them (UCLA) a lot of credit. They were just tougher. We really have to get better and that will happen over time. We are a relatively young team. We just have to get back at it on Tuesday. We have to recalibrate.”
on fouls to JaQuori
“Our guards have to be better on the offensive boards. As guards we have to rebound more.”
on if it’s special playing at Pauley Pavilion (Heidegger is a Malibu native)
“Not really, I’d rather get a win. A loss is a loss, it doesn’t really matter I just want to get back at it on Tuesday.”
UCLA 77, UC Santa Barbara 61
November 10, 2019
Mick Cronin, The Michael Price Family UCLA Men’s Head Basketball Coach
opening remarks
“I’m very happy with today’s performance. I have a lot of respect for Santa Barbara. When you play a veteran team that has everybody back, they have a good coach, and they know their system – they’ve got shotmakers. Heidegger’s a good player. I have a lot of respect for their team, their coach. I thought today was gonna be a brutal day, so we were not surprised at all. Our second half defensive intensity went to the level we needed to go to in order to win the game. It’s a mark of a good team – we played better as the game went on. We had a spirited halftime talk and guys rose to the challenge. Sometimes you do that stuff as coaches and nothing changes. I thought Prince changed the game with his effort coming out of the locker room on the defensive end disrupting their offense. Obviously, Jalen Hill played a monster game. Cody hadn’t got out of bed in three days with some sort of virus, so the fact that he could even play at all today – he gutted it out which was big for us. Really happy with our effort in the second half, 17 deflections. They’re a hard team to turn over because they’re a veteran team with veteran guards. I thought our defensive intensity definitely changed and we actually made a few shots.”
on the offense in the second half
“I thought we got the ball at the rim a little bit. Jalen Hill is a really good high-low passer, Chris in transition does a good job getting to the rim. We’re still learning when to drive and when to drive-and-pass. We only took four threes in the second half out of 32 shots, so we got the ball at the rim. Offensive rebounding we were plus-15. It’s hard to rebound when you’re just passing around, shooting jumpshots. We were trying to really break down their defense, get fouls on them because they’re not the deepest team at the guard position.”
on contributions from young players
“They played on a team last year where Hands and Wilkes took a large percentage of the shots. They might have been out there, but they weren’t shooting the ball. So you go from the guy watching to the guy with the ball. I’m running plays for Chris Smith and he doesn’t even know it. Playing this many minutes is hard. We’re a team that should get better as the year goes on.”
on Jalen Hill
“Coaching is overrated. You’ve got to coach guys at practice, be a psychologist to get guys to be at their best. Real coaching is knowing what a guy is capable of, demanding that, and getting it out of them. Sometimes as a coach you feel like you didn’t do that in a guy’s career. Jalen and I have had a lot of talks about the things that backups do and the things that starters do, and being able to be better and focused and responsible throughout an entire game – it’s a new thing for him. Then his athleticism and the size becomes a factor if he can do that. We got the ball at the basket, which helps him, but his performance was off the charts.”
on halftime message
“I believe that you have to play extremely hard. I thought that we let Santa Barbara get comfortable, you should not let teams get into your gym and get comfortable. We didn’t try and take anything away from them in the first half. That’s an effort thing. I challenged our guys to come with the effort that I’m accustomed to.”
UCLA redshirt sophomore forward/center Jalen Hill
On what went into almost doubling his career high in scoring tonight…
“I would say just my work ethic. (Head) Coach (Mick) Cronin told me to just go get every board and that’s what happened.”
On what his conversation with Coach Cronin about maximizing his role on this team meant to him…
“It wasn’t really a sit-down conversation. It was just him looking at me and saying that ‘We need you to do this, this, and this,’ and that’s what I did.”
UCLA sophomore guard Jules Bernard
On if the increased defensive effort in the second half was the turning point in this game…
“I think so. It started with obviously defense. (Guard) Prince (Ali) got a steal and an easy bucket, and that’s what we preach. Our defense is going to help us win, so we get deflections and our wins are based on our deflections. Prince started off with a steal and got us going right from the beginning. That’s what we needed to jumpstart our comeback. It starts on the defensive end and once we pick that up, the offense comes easy.”
On the emphasis that Head Coach Mick Cronin puts on rebounding from the guard position…
“Yes. He puts a lot of emphasis. If you see his teams in the past, a lot of his guards crash the boards. Point guard gets back, but those two and three guards, they crash the board and that’s one of my things that I’ve always been good at ever since high school. It feels natural and he stresses that the two and three guards crash the boards and get us second-chance opportunities and on defensive end, don’t allow the other team to get boards, so that’s all I focused on.”
UCLA junior guard Chris Smith
On Head Coach Mick Cronin’s message at half time…
“We just convened and we knew we had to do better, and that’s what we came out and did.“
On if the team finding success on both ends of the court felt like the team they wanted to be…
“Yeah. We were playing winning basketball. Every team wants to play winning basketball. You want to stop the team on the defensive end and you want to score on the team on the opposite. So once we picked up our energy, our whole team’s disposition was different in the second half, and it was all because of defense and deflections, and that energy just transferred to the offensive end, so yeah, definitely.”
UC Santa Barbara head coach Joe Pasternack
opening remarks
“I thought their (UCLA’s) size really bothered us. Jalen Hill was a monster. 24 (points), 10 (rebounds) and three blocks, that really gave us a problem. This game really came down to rebounds and turnovers. Our point guard had five turnovers, that was problem. Their size really was a problem for us. We struggled to get the ball to our post players. I think UCLA is going to be a NCAA Tournament team. It is our goal to compete against teams like that.”
on the difference in the second half
“JaQuori picking up two, quick fouls in the first half, that was really a problem for us.”
on where they go from here
“Practice on Tuesday.”
UC Santa Barbara senior guard Max Heidegger
opening remarks
“I don’t think we played tough enough in the second half. I give them (UCLA) a lot of credit. They were just tougher. We really have to get better and that will happen over time. We are a relatively young team. We just have to get back at it on Tuesday. We have to recalibrate.”
on fouls to JaQuori
“Our guards have to be better on the offensive boards. As guards we have to rebound more.”
on if it’s special playing at Pauley Pavilion (Heidegger is a Malibu native)
“Not really, I’d rather get a win. A loss is a loss, it doesn’t really matter I just want to get back at it on Tuesday.”