University of California, Los Angeles, Athletics
Postgame Quotes – UCLA at USC
POSTGAME QUOTES
USC 54, UCLA 52
Los Angeles, Calif. (Galen Center)
March 7, 2020
Mick Cronin, The Michael Price Family UCLA Men’s Head Basketball Coach
on the game-winning shot by Jonah Mathews
“Mathews hit a great shot.”
on how UCLA defended the final play
“They were going to set the screens for him. We had our most athletic big guy switched onto him. The kid made a great shot.”
on the team’s offense
“We really put ourselves in a hole, offensively. In the second half, especially, I know we had eight or nine [turnovers]. And in a possession game, a low-scoring possession, game you cannot have that many turnovers, when it’s a grinder like that. It’s different when it’s 90 to 80.”
on the team being able to stay in the game against USC
“I thought that we were extremely resilient. We’re playing all freshmen or sophomores and Chris [a junior] is in a new role in his career. We did not play well at all on the offensive end. Credit to USC’s defense, but we refused to give up. So, we’ve implemented that in our program – the competitive spirit. And we almost found a way to steal a game when you’re about as bad as you can be on offense, for a long portion of the game. Their defense was really good, but we had plays where we just threw the ball out of bounds and threw it to the other team. I don’t know if it was the crowd, but we had some bad turnovers. But our resiliency and our fight is a reason that we were still in the game, so I’m proud of our guys. It’s been a great run, an unbelievable run. They’ve got tremendous talent. In my opinion, Mathews is a pro. Okongwu is a pro. Rakocevic is a great senior. Mobley is going to play in the NBA. They’re at home. We are the youngest team, other than Stanford, in our league. You know, I’m proud of our fight and our scrap. We did not play well on the offensive end, and I’ve got to clean that up.”
on the Bruins’ defense
“We had our breakdowns on pick and roll defense, behind our pick and roll coverage. It was bad for a stretch. They hurt us on that. For the most part, it was pretty good.”
on David Singleton running some plays at point guard
“Yeah, strategy. Strategy.”
on any disappointment with losing the game today with the Pac-12 title on the line
“I’m not disappointed at all. Unbelievable regular season in my first year, and I couldn’t be more proud of my guys. Could not be more proud of my guys. Sure we wanted to win, it would’ve been great, but our season is not over. I’m here for the long haul. So, really proud of these guys. We almost won a game on the road on Senior Day against a team with NBA players that plays great defense. We’ve come a long way.”
on guarding Jonah Mathews at the end
“We made sure that we switched our biggest and most athletic guy on him. You’ve got to give him credit now. The guy made a step-back three over Jalen Hill. And too many times, people will pick apart what they did, but you’ve got to give the other team credit. The guy made a bigtime shot.”
on any truth to getting a loss out of the way as the team gets into the postseason
“I think that’s a media thing.”
on if there was anybody he thought did play well on offense
“You know, again, that’s on me. I’m the coach and I prepare the guys, and SC’s got a great defense. We struggled with turning the ball over. We didn’t make the extra pass sometimes against their pack-it-in help defense and that hurt us. We put way too much pressure on our defense. And still, we almost found a way to win.”
on Cody Riley making his free throws
“I would tell you what every basketball player who has ever turned themselves into a player would tell you – gym time. You know, a lot of guys tell you that they’d like to become players but they’ll spend all their time trying to get a date or being the funny guy. He spends his time in the gym and it shows. So I am happy for him. The guy lives in the gym.”
on how he’ll handle the next few days with the practice schedule
“We only played one game one week, so we’ll get back to it on Monday. But, it’s not World War Three at practice, at this time of year. We’ve got to clean some things up, offensively. We’ve got to be able to get the ball in the basket better to have a chance to win the Pac-12 Tournament.”
USC 54, UCLA 52
Los Angeles, Calif. (Galen Center)
March 7, 2020
Mick Cronin, The Michael Price Family UCLA Men’s Head Basketball Coach
on the game-winning shot by Jonah Mathews
“Mathews hit a great shot.”
on how UCLA defended the final play
“They were going to set the screens for him. We had our most athletic big guy switched onto him. The kid made a great shot.”
on the team’s offense
“We really put ourselves in a hole, offensively. In the second half, especially, I know we had eight or nine [turnovers]. And in a possession game, a low-scoring possession, game you cannot have that many turnovers, when it’s a grinder like that. It’s different when it’s 90 to 80.”
on the team being able to stay in the game against USC
“I thought that we were extremely resilient. We’re playing all freshmen or sophomores and Chris [a junior] is in a new role in his career. We did not play well at all on the offensive end. Credit to USC’s defense, but we refused to give up. So, we’ve implemented that in our program – the competitive spirit. And we almost found a way to steal a game when you’re about as bad as you can be on offense, for a long portion of the game. Their defense was really good, but we had plays where we just threw the ball out of bounds and threw it to the other team. I don’t know if it was the crowd, but we had some bad turnovers. But our resiliency and our fight is a reason that we were still in the game, so I’m proud of our guys. It’s been a great run, an unbelievable run. They’ve got tremendous talent. In my opinion, Mathews is a pro. Okongwu is a pro. Rakocevic is a great senior. Mobley is going to play in the NBA. They’re at home. We are the youngest team, other than Stanford, in our league. You know, I’m proud of our fight and our scrap. We did not play well on the offensive end, and I’ve got to clean that up.”
on the Bruins’ defense
“We had our breakdowns on pick and roll defense, behind our pick and roll coverage. It was bad for a stretch. They hurt us on that. For the most part, it was pretty good.”
on David Singleton running some plays at point guard
“Yeah, strategy. Strategy.”
on any disappointment with losing the game today with the Pac-12 title on the line
“I’m not disappointed at all. Unbelievable regular season in my first year, and I couldn’t be more proud of my guys. Could not be more proud of my guys. Sure we wanted to win, it would’ve been great, but our season is not over. I’m here for the long haul. So, really proud of these guys. We almost won a game on the road on Senior Day against a team with NBA players that plays great defense. We’ve come a long way.”
on guarding Jonah Mathews at the end
“We made sure that we switched our biggest and most athletic guy on him. You’ve got to give him credit now. The guy made a step-back three over Jalen Hill. And too many times, people will pick apart what they did, but you’ve got to give the other team credit. The guy made a bigtime shot.”
on any truth to getting a loss out of the way as the team gets into the postseason
“I think that’s a media thing.”
on if there was anybody he thought did play well on offense
“You know, again, that’s on me. I’m the coach and I prepare the guys, and SC’s got a great defense. We struggled with turning the ball over. We didn’t make the extra pass sometimes against their pack-it-in help defense and that hurt us. We put way too much pressure on our defense. And still, we almost found a way to win.”
on Cody Riley making his free throws
“I would tell you what every basketball player who has ever turned themselves into a player would tell you – gym time. You know, a lot of guys tell you that they’d like to become players but they’ll spend all their time trying to get a date or being the funny guy. He spends his time in the gym and it shows. So I am happy for him. The guy lives in the gym.”
on how he’ll handle the next few days with the practice schedule
“We only played one game one week, so we’ll get back to it on Monday. But, it’s not World War Three at practice, at this time of year. We’ve got to clean some things up, offensively. We’ve got to be able to get the ball in the basket better to have a chance to win the Pac-12 Tournament.”