.png&width=32&height=32&type=webp)
Postgame Quotes – UCLA 97, Cal State Dominguez Hills 56
POSTGAME QUOTES
UCLA 97, Cal State Dominguez Hills 56
Oct. 31, 2023
Mick Cronin, The Michael Price Family UCLA Men’s Head Basketball Coach
opening statement
“Very happy with our guys’ effort. We had 41 deflections. Obviously, you guys all know we only had eight scholarship guys tonight. Unfortunately, I’m used to coaching without my team. Just go back to last season. Last season, the conference tournament, the (NCAA) Tournament, the summer, Spain. So, it’s a bad habit. I’d like to end it. I’m trying to get these guys to understand what we’re all about at UCLA which is playing defense and have your mind on defense. If you got your mind on the right things, results will follow. As (associate athletic director Chris Carlson) told me, you’re trying to break bad habits and build good habits at the same time. It’s really hard, but that’s the life of coaching seven freshmen.”
on if the team was settling in on defense in the second half
“They only shot 32 percent in the first half. I think they got a little tired (and) missed some shots. They got some guys that can shoot who didn’t shoot it well tonight. I think we did get better. I would agree with you there.”
on if he was happy with the team’s intensity
“Oh, yeah. Look, when you’re coaching young guys – Rick Pitino taught me a long time ago to never ask guys to do things you haven’t trained them to do and you got to be realistic in what they’re capable of. They’re going to try and still make mistakes. My job is to make sure their mind is on the things we need them to be on so we can become who we want to become. And their mind was on the right stuff (tonight). Now, we have eight new guys that never realized we practice on game day. I don’t know if you’ve ever seen us. We don’t have shootaround. We have practice. And you see the results of a team that was ready today because of our preparation today in practice. Everything we do, they were in shock. I asked Aday Mara, ‘You guys do this?’ He said, ‘No, no.’ Full practice. An hour and a half. At noon. Game at six (o’clock). And we only had eight guys.”
on Sebastian Mack’s performance
“He’s got great quickness, man. When he does make the 3s, he’s a problem because he’s so fast if you get near him, he’s going to go by you. But since Dylan (Andrews) went down, he’s really been playing well at the point. He had seven assists. Since Dylan went down, he has slid back over to the point sharing it with Jan Vide. He struggled with it early because he’s 100 miles per hour on the gas. He’s coachable. He’s got real basketball aptitude and intelligence. He’s improving every day.”
on if his team answered any questions entering the game
“When you’re trying to build a house, you’ve got to pound nails every day. We laid some foundation tonight on our culture and who we are. I saw the football coach from Utah (Kyle Whittingham) who’s one of the best I’ve seen because winning there in football is unreal. He made a statement that, ‘When you get to us, you become us. We don’t change for you.’ We’re in the process of those guys becoming us. Where they came from, they didn’t play like us. Where here, if the other team scores, it’s a problem. I want five players unhappy. All coaches unhappy. And everybody on that bench unhappy if the other team scores. That’s how we play. That’s very new for him. Tonight was a step in right direction. I think their mind tonight was on the right thing. Their mind wasn’t on scoring. Their mind was on playing defense. We’ll score, I’m not worried about that, but you’ve got to be able to stop people.”
on why he chose the five players he did for the starting lineup
“Well, we only had eight. Ilane (Fibleuil), in particular, had been practicing really well. So, I wanted to give him a chance even though we were going to have to play small which we probably won’t a lot this year. His future is as a wing, a shooter and great rebounder. Sebastian has played really well in practice. That’s why I went with him. Obviously, Kenny (Nwuba) is the veteran guy. But I knew I was going to have to rotate them all because they were going to be tired.”
Junior Guard Lazar Stefanovic
on the team’s defense
“I think we did pretty good. When a team shoots 28%, that’s a pretty good job. I think we had 10 blocked shots. There were some mistakes, but our effort was good, and I think that would make Coach happy because the number one factor he was looking for happened.”
on his shooting performance (6-of-7 from the field)
“It’s pretty crazy. I’ve been working a lot on my shot, off-season, especially. With the coaches every day I’m shooting, and I ask the coaches to stay after practice. I know not every game is going to be like this, but I’ve just got to keep shooting and keep working, and hopefully the ball’s going to go in more than it doesn’t.”
Freshman Guard Jan Vide
on the transition to the college game
“The first thing I noticed when I came here is that basketball is played different; it’s more physical and faster-paced than I’m used to in Europe. But we practice a lot, we play a lot. We try to improve each other in practices and do the best we can to prepare for the opponents.”
on when the whole team is able to play together
“It’s going to be tough especially when Aday [Mara], Adem [Bona] and Berke [Buyuktuncel] all come back – we’ll be taller and bigger. We play with smaller guys and then we’re going to have those three protectors. It’s going to be way easier to have position. I think we’re going to be a better team.”
Freshman Guard Sebastian Mack
on finally playing a game
“It is good to get a game in against a different opponent. We’ve been playing against each other all day in practice, working as a team, I would say you need something like this. It keeps us on toes and ready to compete every time.”
on playing point guard after playing off-guard in high school
“It’s different, learning those new takes of basketball, but once you just listen, Coach Cronin is going to harp on you for doing it every day, and so I’m just going to be a sponge to everything he tells me and listen and apply it to my game.”
on addressing the opportunity to see more minutes without a full lineup
“On that floor, our guys trust us because we compete so much in practice. They know we’re always going to have their back, with or without them because we’re a team. We’ve got to be like Navy SEALs. We are going to be packed in and locked in with each other. I’m pretty sure those guys already knew what was going to happen in the aspect of how we were going to come out there and play.”
on Dylan Andrews’ leadership while he learns the point guard position
“When I came here, he told me a lot of different things about how Coach Cronin is, what he expects, and I feel like I needed that, like a big bro little bro type of relationship. He’s teaching me different things every day about how Coach Cronin sees it and how to be on the floor with him and other players as well.”
Cal State Dominguez Hills head coach Steve Becker
opening statement
“In the preseason, we were really shooting the lights out of the ball, but tonight, we were plagued by our lack of shooting. We shot 19 percent from the three-point line. Their length was disruptive. In the second half, UCLA made some adjustments. They got more physical on the glass in the second half. I really have a great group of kids. They’re tough and they’ll learn from this. Tonight was an ego test.”
on where they go from here
“Tonight was a great reminder of how you have to play fundamentally on the defensive end for all forty minutes. You’ve got to remember to stay down low and slide your feet. I give all the credit to UCLA. They played hard and they played great defense. They really played unselfishly.”
UCLA 97, Cal State Dominguez Hills 56
Oct. 31, 2023
Mick Cronin, The Michael Price Family UCLA Men’s Head Basketball Coach
opening statement
“Very happy with our guys’ effort. We had 41 deflections. Obviously, you guys all know we only had eight scholarship guys tonight. Unfortunately, I’m used to coaching without my team. Just go back to last season. Last season, the conference tournament, the (NCAA) Tournament, the summer, Spain. So, it’s a bad habit. I’d like to end it. I’m trying to get these guys to understand what we’re all about at UCLA which is playing defense and have your mind on defense. If you got your mind on the right things, results will follow. As (associate athletic director Chris Carlson) told me, you’re trying to break bad habits and build good habits at the same time. It’s really hard, but that’s the life of coaching seven freshmen.”
on if the team was settling in on defense in the second half
“They only shot 32 percent in the first half. I think they got a little tired (and) missed some shots. They got some guys that can shoot who didn’t shoot it well tonight. I think we did get better. I would agree with you there.”
on if he was happy with the team’s intensity
“Oh, yeah. Look, when you’re coaching young guys – Rick Pitino taught me a long time ago to never ask guys to do things you haven’t trained them to do and you got to be realistic in what they’re capable of. They’re going to try and still make mistakes. My job is to make sure their mind is on the things we need them to be on so we can become who we want to become. And their mind was on the right stuff (tonight). Now, we have eight new guys that never realized we practice on game day. I don’t know if you’ve ever seen us. We don’t have shootaround. We have practice. And you see the results of a team that was ready today because of our preparation today in practice. Everything we do, they were in shock. I asked Aday Mara, ‘You guys do this?’ He said, ‘No, no.’ Full practice. An hour and a half. At noon. Game at six (o’clock). And we only had eight guys.”
on Sebastian Mack’s performance
“He’s got great quickness, man. When he does make the 3s, he’s a problem because he’s so fast if you get near him, he’s going to go by you. But since Dylan (Andrews) went down, he’s really been playing well at the point. He had seven assists. Since Dylan went down, he has slid back over to the point sharing it with Jan Vide. He struggled with it early because he’s 100 miles per hour on the gas. He’s coachable. He’s got real basketball aptitude and intelligence. He’s improving every day.”
on if his team answered any questions entering the game
“When you’re trying to build a house, you’ve got to pound nails every day. We laid some foundation tonight on our culture and who we are. I saw the football coach from Utah (Kyle Whittingham) who’s one of the best I’ve seen because winning there in football is unreal. He made a statement that, ‘When you get to us, you become us. We don’t change for you.’ We’re in the process of those guys becoming us. Where they came from, they didn’t play like us. Where here, if the other team scores, it’s a problem. I want five players unhappy. All coaches unhappy. And everybody on that bench unhappy if the other team scores. That’s how we play. That’s very new for him. Tonight was a step in right direction. I think their mind tonight was on the right thing. Their mind wasn’t on scoring. Their mind was on playing defense. We’ll score, I’m not worried about that, but you’ve got to be able to stop people.”
on why he chose the five players he did for the starting lineup
“Well, we only had eight. Ilane (Fibleuil), in particular, had been practicing really well. So, I wanted to give him a chance even though we were going to have to play small which we probably won’t a lot this year. His future is as a wing, a shooter and great rebounder. Sebastian has played really well in practice. That’s why I went with him. Obviously, Kenny (Nwuba) is the veteran guy. But I knew I was going to have to rotate them all because they were going to be tired.”
Junior Guard Lazar Stefanovic
on the team’s defense
“I think we did pretty good. When a team shoots 28%, that’s a pretty good job. I think we had 10 blocked shots. There were some mistakes, but our effort was good, and I think that would make Coach happy because the number one factor he was looking for happened.”
on his shooting performance (6-of-7 from the field)
“It’s pretty crazy. I’ve been working a lot on my shot, off-season, especially. With the coaches every day I’m shooting, and I ask the coaches to stay after practice. I know not every game is going to be like this, but I’ve just got to keep shooting and keep working, and hopefully the ball’s going to go in more than it doesn’t.”
Freshman Guard Jan Vide
on the transition to the college game
“The first thing I noticed when I came here is that basketball is played different; it’s more physical and faster-paced than I’m used to in Europe. But we practice a lot, we play a lot. We try to improve each other in practices and do the best we can to prepare for the opponents.”
on when the whole team is able to play together
“It’s going to be tough especially when Aday [Mara], Adem [Bona] and Berke [Buyuktuncel] all come back – we’ll be taller and bigger. We play with smaller guys and then we’re going to have those three protectors. It’s going to be way easier to have position. I think we’re going to be a better team.”
Freshman Guard Sebastian Mack
on finally playing a game
“It is good to get a game in against a different opponent. We’ve been playing against each other all day in practice, working as a team, I would say you need something like this. It keeps us on toes and ready to compete every time.”
on playing point guard after playing off-guard in high school
“It’s different, learning those new takes of basketball, but once you just listen, Coach Cronin is going to harp on you for doing it every day, and so I’m just going to be a sponge to everything he tells me and listen and apply it to my game.”
on addressing the opportunity to see more minutes without a full lineup
“On that floor, our guys trust us because we compete so much in practice. They know we’re always going to have their back, with or without them because we’re a team. We’ve got to be like Navy SEALs. We are going to be packed in and locked in with each other. I’m pretty sure those guys already knew what was going to happen in the aspect of how we were going to come out there and play.”
on Dylan Andrews’ leadership while he learns the point guard position
“When I came here, he told me a lot of different things about how Coach Cronin is, what he expects, and I feel like I needed that, like a big bro little bro type of relationship. He’s teaching me different things every day about how Coach Cronin sees it and how to be on the floor with him and other players as well.”
Cal State Dominguez Hills head coach Steve Becker
opening statement
“In the preseason, we were really shooting the lights out of the ball, but tonight, we were plagued by our lack of shooting. We shot 19 percent from the three-point line. Their length was disruptive. In the second half, UCLA made some adjustments. They got more physical on the glass in the second half. I really have a great group of kids. They’re tough and they’ll learn from this. Tonight was an ego test.”
on where they go from here
“Tonight was a great reminder of how you have to play fundamentally on the defensive end for all forty minutes. You’ve got to remember to stay down low and slide your feet. I give all the credit to UCLA. They played hard and they played great defense. They really played unselfishly.”