University of California, Los Angeles, Athletics
Postgame Quotes – UCLA vs. Denver
POSTGAME QUOTES
UCLA 81, Denver 62
December 8, 2019
Mick Cronin, The Michael Price Family UCLA Men’s Head Basketball Coach
opening remarks
“Obviously we did some good things. Took care of the ball today for the most part. Did some good things on offense. Trying to share the ball I think, which is progress for us. We’re really trying to be better at embracing the term “we.” We score, we get stops, we win, we lose. Trying to learn that. Obviously, defensively we’ve got a long way to go. I know they only scored 62 but our field goal percentage on defense … we’re creating turnovers but when teams don’t turn the ball over we tend to break down late in the clock which is the mark of a very young team and guys that haven’t played extended minutes on defense. We’ve got to get a lot better on defense.”
on Cody Riley
“He can score if you don’t double him. I sent three guys at him a year ago when I was coaching against him. He’s going to score if you don’t go at him, and give him space and time. He’s got to lose the jumpshot at times and he’s got to learn to play smart with his fouls. He’s a physical guy and he’s a victim of the second hit. We’ve got to grow up, we’ve got to mature. We’re a young team and we struggle at times. But [Cody] was tremendous for a long stretch. Would be nice if I could play him more if he wouldn’t have fouled out, see how many points he could have got.”
on the long layoff between games
“We need to go out and practice. I’m sure a lot of coaches feel that way. With our guys, I just keep telling myself ‘you’re starting two freshmen, two sophomores, a lot of guys that just didn’t play a lot of minutes until senior year.” We just got to keep pounding nails every day, we’ve got to try and get better and we’ve got to embrace the things that are going to make us a better program: playing smart, playing together, being solid.”
UCLA redshirt sophomore forward Cody Riley
on what went into his 21-point, 11-rebound performance
“I feel like it was just my teammates. They found me when I had my man sealed and found me in right spots and got me going early. It was good for our team.”
UCLA sophomore guard Jules Bernard
on 3-point defense improvement from first half to second
“I think when we went into halftime, we knew that we were not playing to our potential on defense and it’s more of a pride thing. We have pride, we have a defensive-minded coach and we have a lot of defensively-talented players. We weren’t playing to our capability and so, in the second half, we really upped the intensity. Just making them shoot harder threes.”
on multiple Bruins setting career-high point totals as season unfolds
“I think it’s extremely helpful. We have a lot of depth and when one person who normally scores doesn’t score as much as he normally does, we have other players to pick it up. I think that’s one of our strengths is our depth. If we continue to utilize that strength and other players are playing to their capabilities, we can do some good things.”
UCLA freshman guard/forward Jaime Jaquez Jr.
on development of team defense
“It’s a process. Every day we’re trying to go into practice and get better, every single day. Working on staying in front of our man, rotation off the help. It’s just a process. We’re going to get there. We’re going to get there.”
Denver head coach Rodney Billups
opening statement
“We lost to a really good team. They are really tough and they play hard. [Coach Cronin] wants those guys to get better. He doesn’t want those guys to make mistakes, you can tell from his substitution pattern. As a coach, you really like that. For the first 18 minutes, I think we played really well. Then UCLA went on a 7-0 run and we found ourselves treading back.”
on what they take away from their performance today
“For us, it’s a lesson more than a loss. When we share the ball and move the ball, we’re going to get some wins. We won’t see another UCLA on our schedule. Also, if we can extend those 18 minutes to an entire game, we will also get some wins.”
on where they go from here
“We really have to focus on our bigs. Our bigs are our best players. We have to play like ‘take-and-make’ an open shot. We just have to play with confidence. We’ll have to do this as the season continues.”
Denver senior guard Ade Murkey
overall statement
“I’m happy about our performance. I wish I could have done more, but I’m happy how our team did.”
on his performance tonight
“I feel like I gave it my all on offense and defensive. I just wanted to do more to help the team. We wanted to get the win.”
on where they go from here
“We go up. We compete a lot. We have a game on Tuesday. We’re just going to go up.”