Postgame Quotes - UCLA vs. Southern Utah
POSTGAME QUOTES
UCLA 76, Southern Utah 61
November 18, 2019
Mick Cronin, The Michael Price Family UCLA Men’s Head Basketball Coach
opening remarks
“I guess, they just told me on the radio, we started the game 25-6. So, I was happy with that. After that, I wasn’t happy with much. We still got a lot of work to do…”
on what made him unhappy over the course of the game
“We were sloppy. I’ve got to get the job done with our team as far as the way we take care of the basketball or we’re going to have no chance to be a real team. I told the guys I’ve coached a lot of teams, went to the NCAA tournament, simply because we didn’t turn the ball over. We took every ball, we got a shot or we got a foul… You can’t have… a chance to win road games if you turn the ball over. If you could do a stat in college basketball and tell me how many teams win on the road with 15 or more turnovers, it would almost be 95 percent a loss. Not neutral, I mean road. So, you’ve got to win road games if you’re going to compete for league championships. Real teams win road games. We have got to the point where we take care of the ball and, then I would tack on that, we have got to figure out who should be shooting what shot.”
on what he liked about team’s defense in first 10 minutes
“Oh, it was tremendous. What’d they have, six points? For us, I’m a big believer in if we pick a way we’re going to defend a team, we’re pretty gameplan specific and we followed the gameplan early in the game from a defensive standpoint. Once we got a big lead, our mind wasn’t on defense anymore. We weren’t locked in defensively and we’ve got to grow up to where we can be locked in for extended periods of time if we’re going to be a good team.”
UCLA redshirt sophomore forward/center Jalen Hill
on how the team played
“I just think we’ve just got to improve and get better every day. We started off the game very well, but, like he [Coach Cronin] said, we got distracted. Maybe we weren’t focused, maybe we weren’t locked in. We’ve just got to get better on that.”
on starting with Cody Riley
“That’s my brother. We’re one and the same. It’s a great feeling being out there and playing with him. It takes a load off because they might send two guys to box me out, so on the other side, he’s going to get the ball, and vice versa, so it’s a great thing.”
UCLA junior guard Chris Smith
on how the team played
“I think we lost our focus on what really mattered once we got the big lead. Defense is what got us the lead, and once we had it, we stopped playing defense. We’ve got to stay locked in and play the right way for 40 whole minutes.”
on how good the team can be
“Like I said recently, I feel we still haven’t scratched the surface. As we showed in the first 10 minutes, defense is definitely our strong point. When we’re locked in helping each other and talking to each other, we make teams look like they can’t score. Six points in 10 minutes – that’s unheard of. I’d say defense is definitely our strong point. Our offense is getting better, but, like I said, we’ve got a lot to get better at.”
Southern Utah head coach Todd Simon
opening remarks
“We dug ourselves into a deep hole by starting the game with turnovers. We really coughed up the ball a lot. When you start out that poorly, it always makes playing behind really tough. We will rectify this. I think it’s also the game schedule. We may have a little bit of road-weariness. We just had a lot less ball pressure, but we’ll get back to pressuring the ball.”
on their game schedule
“It’s been really tough. You travel one day, then practice, then a game on the next day. These are good experiences for us. We’ve got a lot of guys who haven’t played college basketball.”
on UCLA
“They are a big, physical team. They are going to be tough to beat at home. It’s really hard to beat a team that shoots 39 free throws. They are also a team that is very physical on the glass. They are going to be a tough team in the Pac-12.”
on where they go from here
“Between playing UCLA, BYU and Nebraska, we are playing against multiple styles which will make us real battle-tested for league play.”
Southern Utah junior guard Dre Martin
on playing in Pauley Pavilion
“It’s really exciting to play here, so many great players have played here.”
on his performance tonight
“Overall, it wasn’t my best game shooting-wise, but I felt on defense, I did well. I got the ball where it needed to be.”
on where they go from here
“We go and get back in the gym. We have a big one on Saturday (against Charleston Southern). I have to have a shooter’s mentality. Next shot is going to go in.”