Postgame Quotes - UCLA vs. Stanford
POSTGAME QUOTES
Stanford 74, UCLA 59
January 15, 2020
Mick Cronin, The Michael Price Family UCLA Men’s Head Basketball Coach
opening statement
“Well, Stanford’s obviously having a hell of a year. They’ve got a good, solid team. Guys that play to win. The point guard’s [Tyrell Terry] a really good player. They’re just clearly a better basketball team than we are. It should prove to you guys that recruiting rankings are about as important as what’s in your garbage can, because I don’t know where there’s any of those guys. So, they clearly outclassed us.”
on continuation second-half woes
“Yeah as the game goes on, our softness shows up. Our selfishness, at times, is evident. And it’s been, probably, to people that watched us all year, on the offensive end. Some of the shots we take and the turnovers, because certain guys don’t want to pass the basketball, but our lack of toughness as the games go on, you play against really good teams. It becomes a test of wills. Who’s going to make mistakes? They do a good job of taking care of the ball and eventually we just break down, defensively.”
on sophomore David Singleton’s performance
“David had his two best practices of the year the last two days. I don’t even know what day it is today. The last two days, he had two great practices. I’m looking for guys right now who will just listen because we have guys that won’t listen. I told them I’m done protecting them. We have guys who just refuse to listen and follow orders, so therefore, they don’t get to play. So, if you want to ask me about a certain guy, that’s the answer. To be honest with you, though, I had to keep playing certain guys that I don’t even think they deserved it, but I didn’t want to put others back in, so I was running out of guys.”
on the play of Singleton, Jalen Hill and Jaime Jaquez Jr.
“Well, our turnovers ruined the game at the end of the first half and then again in the second half, where they’re just running down shooting layups because we won’t pass the ball. Can’t defend that. They had 21 points off turnovers. I know your stat sheets are what they are, but I will say, I thought Jalen Hill played with – I thought he played with his heart tonight. I thought he competed and gave his best effort. He’s a young guy. He’s trying to learn. Jaime’s got a lot to learn, but I know he’s not afraid. Dave, like I said, he had a couple really good days of practice. He’s still got to improve on defense.”
UCLA redshirt sophomore forward/center Jalen Hill
on similar patterns displayed throughout recent games
“I sense the pattern of losing, and it sucks. Just going out there every time and it kind of seems inevitable. We have to find a way. It’s just hard.”
on if it’s simply a matter of getting more guys to play well on any given night
“Play hard. Play hard. That’s it. It’s not looking for your shot. It’s not looking for if I’m coming in or not. It’s when you’re out there, play the hardest and the smartest that you can. [Coach Cronin] is not asking anything different from us. He’s not telling us to go out there and do something that we can’t do. We’ve all played basketball our whole lives. All we have to do is go out there and play hard and the results will come. He really doesn’t even care about offense. The thing is, we’re not backing him up, basically. He’s given us everything in practice and he’s had our backs for the longest. It hurts to see that because there’s a lot of people in this world who don’t have your back. We’re failing them, to be honest.”
on what he thinks is the cause of these issues
“If I knew, we wouldn’t be having this problem. We wouldn’t be 8-9, 1-3 in conference [play]. It’s tough right now. It’s really tough. We just have to dig down deep inside and find something.”
UCLA freshman guard/forward Jaime Jaquez Jr.
on what players say to each other when games aren’t going their way
“We say the same thing every time, pretty much. The saying kind of gets old. Right now, we just have to do it. We have to go out there and be on the same page when we’re out there. And we’re not on the same page when we’re out there. We have to go back to practice. We have to take these losses and we take them to heart. We have another game. We still have to keep looking forward, but these losses – they’re getting tiring. We’re definitely going to try to get a win when we play Cal.”
on whether the need to come out strong in the second half was addressed ahead of tonight’s game
“Yeah, that’s kind of been a trend for the past three games – coming out strong and then, in the second half, not being all there mentally and just not getting the job done when it counts. I think that’s just our biggest issue. Just coming out strong and then the second half is where it matters. We’re just not getting the job done.”
Stanford head coach Jerod Haase
opening statement
“It’s just us being us. This year the guys have really grown up. I’ve been here three and a half years, saying the same message. The first half we kind of got away from it, but the second half we really locked in.”
about a key timeout call in the second half
“It was really good. Guys believed in the message and believed in each other. We wanted our guys to embrace adversity and believe in each other. Our defense really stepped up in the second half.”
on where they go from here
“We are going to go home, go to class and practice and prep for this Saturday. It’s a next-day mentality. We are going to enjoy it, tonight, but we are going to compete for Saturday’s game. We’re not looking ahead. We are just going to do what we always do.”
Stanford freshman guard Tyrell Terry
on what was the key to tonight’s victory
“For me, I would say tenacity. We just kept fighting. We really came out in the second half and just fought.”
on his offensive flow
“I had a slow start, in terms of scoring, but I got going by getting rebounds and assists, then my offense came to me.”
about the key timeout in the second half
“The coaches wanted us to do ‘turkey’ which is three consecutive stops. I felt like we did that.”
on playing in Pauley Pavilion
“It was just indescribable. You’ve had Russell Westbrook and Lonzo Ball playing here. I was very grateful. It was truly unreal.”
on where they go from here
“This is a very tough place to play. UCLA is very tough and to get anyone on the road in the Pac-12 is tough. We gave it our all and I’m very proud of our team.”
Stanford 74, UCLA 59
January 15, 2020
Mick Cronin, The Michael Price Family UCLA Men’s Head Basketball Coach
opening statement
“Well, Stanford’s obviously having a hell of a year. They’ve got a good, solid team. Guys that play to win. The point guard’s [Tyrell Terry] a really good player. They’re just clearly a better basketball team than we are. It should prove to you guys that recruiting rankings are about as important as what’s in your garbage can, because I don’t know where there’s any of those guys. So, they clearly outclassed us.”
on continuation second-half woes
“Yeah as the game goes on, our softness shows up. Our selfishness, at times, is evident. And it’s been, probably, to people that watched us all year, on the offensive end. Some of the shots we take and the turnovers, because certain guys don’t want to pass the basketball, but our lack of toughness as the games go on, you play against really good teams. It becomes a test of wills. Who’s going to make mistakes? They do a good job of taking care of the ball and eventually we just break down, defensively.”
on sophomore David Singleton’s performance
“David had his two best practices of the year the last two days. I don’t even know what day it is today. The last two days, he had two great practices. I’m looking for guys right now who will just listen because we have guys that won’t listen. I told them I’m done protecting them. We have guys who just refuse to listen and follow orders, so therefore, they don’t get to play. So, if you want to ask me about a certain guy, that’s the answer. To be honest with you, though, I had to keep playing certain guys that I don’t even think they deserved it, but I didn’t want to put others back in, so I was running out of guys.”
on the play of Singleton, Jalen Hill and Jaime Jaquez Jr.
“Well, our turnovers ruined the game at the end of the first half and then again in the second half, where they’re just running down shooting layups because we won’t pass the ball. Can’t defend that. They had 21 points off turnovers. I know your stat sheets are what they are, but I will say, I thought Jalen Hill played with – I thought he played with his heart tonight. I thought he competed and gave his best effort. He’s a young guy. He’s trying to learn. Jaime’s got a lot to learn, but I know he’s not afraid. Dave, like I said, he had a couple really good days of practice. He’s still got to improve on defense.”
UCLA redshirt sophomore forward/center Jalen Hill
on similar patterns displayed throughout recent games
“I sense the pattern of losing, and it sucks. Just going out there every time and it kind of seems inevitable. We have to find a way. It’s just hard.”
on if it’s simply a matter of getting more guys to play well on any given night
“Play hard. Play hard. That’s it. It’s not looking for your shot. It’s not looking for if I’m coming in or not. It’s when you’re out there, play the hardest and the smartest that you can. [Coach Cronin] is not asking anything different from us. He’s not telling us to go out there and do something that we can’t do. We’ve all played basketball our whole lives. All we have to do is go out there and play hard and the results will come. He really doesn’t even care about offense. The thing is, we’re not backing him up, basically. He’s given us everything in practice and he’s had our backs for the longest. It hurts to see that because there’s a lot of people in this world who don’t have your back. We’re failing them, to be honest.”
on what he thinks is the cause of these issues
“If I knew, we wouldn’t be having this problem. We wouldn’t be 8-9, 1-3 in conference [play]. It’s tough right now. It’s really tough. We just have to dig down deep inside and find something.”
UCLA freshman guard/forward Jaime Jaquez Jr.
on what players say to each other when games aren’t going their way
“We say the same thing every time, pretty much. The saying kind of gets old. Right now, we just have to do it. We have to go out there and be on the same page when we’re out there. And we’re not on the same page when we’re out there. We have to go back to practice. We have to take these losses and we take them to heart. We have another game. We still have to keep looking forward, but these losses – they’re getting tiring. We’re definitely going to try to get a win when we play Cal.”
on whether the need to come out strong in the second half was addressed ahead of tonight’s game
“Yeah, that’s kind of been a trend for the past three games – coming out strong and then, in the second half, not being all there mentally and just not getting the job done when it counts. I think that’s just our biggest issue. Just coming out strong and then the second half is where it matters. We’re just not getting the job done.”
Stanford head coach Jerod Haase
opening statement
“It’s just us being us. This year the guys have really grown up. I’ve been here three and a half years, saying the same message. The first half we kind of got away from it, but the second half we really locked in.”
about a key timeout call in the second half
“It was really good. Guys believed in the message and believed in each other. We wanted our guys to embrace adversity and believe in each other. Our defense really stepped up in the second half.”
on where they go from here
“We are going to go home, go to class and practice and prep for this Saturday. It’s a next-day mentality. We are going to enjoy it, tonight, but we are going to compete for Saturday’s game. We’re not looking ahead. We are just going to do what we always do.”
Stanford freshman guard Tyrell Terry
on what was the key to tonight’s victory
“For me, I would say tenacity. We just kept fighting. We really came out in the second half and just fought.”
on his offensive flow
“I had a slow start, in terms of scoring, but I got going by getting rebounds and assists, then my offense came to me.”
about the key timeout in the second half
“The coaches wanted us to do ‘turkey’ which is three consecutive stops. I felt like we did that.”
on playing in Pauley Pavilion
“It was just indescribable. You’ve had Russell Westbrook and Lonzo Ball playing here. I was very grateful. It was truly unreal.”
on where they go from here
“This is a very tough place to play. UCLA is very tough and to get anyone on the road in the Pac-12 is tough. We gave it our all and I’m very proud of our team.”