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Postgame Quotes – Ohio State 67, UCLA 60
POSTGAME QUOTES
Ohio State 67, UCLA 60
Atlanta, Georgia (State Farm Arena)
Dec. 16, 2023
Mick Cronin, The Michael Price Family UCLA Men’s Head Basketball Coach
on the team not being able to close out games
“I wouldn’t say it’s the final minutes, but I would tell you it’s what I’ve known. Young players break down faster. We can’t impose our will. Really, really good teams get better in the second half. We get worse. The only way to solve that is to be deeper because nobody is going to become a sophomore or a junior until next year. So, you got to get some guys minutes so their fatigue lessens so we can’t break down at the end of the game. As soon as the guys we got out there start to get fatigued, we can’t get stops. There was a time that Ohio State scored five straight times in the second half. … Just no life and toughness on the ball. We got great kids. To me, it’s ability to play minutes at a high level. The reality of it is Ilane [Fibleuil] and Jan [Vide] and some other guys got to play because if we don’t lighten those guys’ minutes, it’s not going to change. To me, it’s not going to change. We gave up 45 points in the second half. Coming into today, we were giving up 26 percent in the first half from the 3-point line [and] 36 in the second. Today we gave up 34 field goal percentage in the first half [and] 56 in the second. This is the fifth team to score 40 or more on us in the second half of a game. Look, we played good enough to win. The problem was [UCLA] should be up 10 at half and they’re up one. That’s a problem. [UCLA] missed three free throws. One of them on the front of a bonus, so really four [free throws]. And [they] miss five layups. And Ilane Fibleuil on a two-on-one just gets stripped. You hold Ohio State to 22, you got to make some layups and you got to be up eight or 10 [points] in that scenario. You’re not going to shut them out forever. They’re the fourth-best offense in the country, or the fifth, coming in. … We’re not good enough to overcome all those missed layups.”
on the team still learning the offense
“Flow, rhythm. You’re alluding to rotations and offensive rhythm because they’re all playing together for the first time. That’s part of it. We’re improving. You missed layups. Games come down to layups and free throws. I really believe that. When you get two teams battling, you’ve got to make your layups and free throws. Especially in a war like that. That’s like a conference game. It will be a conference game. You got to make some layups. You can’t miss layups and free throws. It comes back to get you.”
on Berke Buyuktuncel’s injury
“I’d say he’s doubtful for the next game, but he’s starting to move better. Again, when Berke comes back, you start to change dynamics of rhythm and flow and who’s playing. Getting him to where he’s comfortable. He’s not the reason we lost today. Sure, we’d like to be at full strength, but everybody deals with injuries. To me guys, we should have been up 10 at half. I knew going into halftime we should be up 32-22 right now.”
Sophomore forward/center Adem Bona
on the team not being able to close out games
“As a team, you’ve got to be able to close out games. It’s happened multiple times now. It’s frustrating. We have to play together as a team. We have to keep our conditioning in the last couple of minutes. We got to stay solid and finish the game out. It’s frustrating we can’t do it against teams. We do it in the first half and the second half we can’t do it.”
on the young team keeping their heads up
“We’ve just got to do the tough stuff. It doesn’t matter if we’re younger or older, we just got to get the job done. Work hard. Toughness. It doesn’t matter what age range we’re in, we just got to get the job done.”
on what he saw from Ohio State entering the game
“We knew they shoot. They have a bunch of guards that shoot. They have physical bigs. We tried to take away their shots and make them take the shots we want them to take.”
on what took so long to get going offensively
“I don’t know. I just got to get better shots. I got to get to my spots where I can make shots. Not rushing. Taking my time. I tend to fall into a trap when I rush. In the second half, the coaches talked to me. I took my time and took better shots.”
on how much this young team has to learn to be tough
“We’re not even close to where we want to be. Playing with the guys I played with last year, I get a little glimpse of it – not little, I got a lot. Guys were tough. They can play all day. Now, we’re playing with some young guys. It doesn’t matter young or old or experience, we’ve just got to play tough the whole game.”
Ohio State 67, UCLA 60
Atlanta, Georgia (State Farm Arena)
Dec. 16, 2023
Mick Cronin, The Michael Price Family UCLA Men’s Head Basketball Coach
on the team not being able to close out games
“I wouldn’t say it’s the final minutes, but I would tell you it’s what I’ve known. Young players break down faster. We can’t impose our will. Really, really good teams get better in the second half. We get worse. The only way to solve that is to be deeper because nobody is going to become a sophomore or a junior until next year. So, you got to get some guys minutes so their fatigue lessens so we can’t break down at the end of the game. As soon as the guys we got out there start to get fatigued, we can’t get stops. There was a time that Ohio State scored five straight times in the second half. … Just no life and toughness on the ball. We got great kids. To me, it’s ability to play minutes at a high level. The reality of it is Ilane [Fibleuil] and Jan [Vide] and some other guys got to play because if we don’t lighten those guys’ minutes, it’s not going to change. To me, it’s not going to change. We gave up 45 points in the second half. Coming into today, we were giving up 26 percent in the first half from the 3-point line [and] 36 in the second. Today we gave up 34 field goal percentage in the first half [and] 56 in the second. This is the fifth team to score 40 or more on us in the second half of a game. Look, we played good enough to win. The problem was [UCLA] should be up 10 at half and they’re up one. That’s a problem. [UCLA] missed three free throws. One of them on the front of a bonus, so really four [free throws]. And [they] miss five layups. And Ilane Fibleuil on a two-on-one just gets stripped. You hold Ohio State to 22, you got to make some layups and you got to be up eight or 10 [points] in that scenario. You’re not going to shut them out forever. They’re the fourth-best offense in the country, or the fifth, coming in. … We’re not good enough to overcome all those missed layups.”
on the team still learning the offense
“Flow, rhythm. You’re alluding to rotations and offensive rhythm because they’re all playing together for the first time. That’s part of it. We’re improving. You missed layups. Games come down to layups and free throws. I really believe that. When you get two teams battling, you’ve got to make your layups and free throws. Especially in a war like that. That’s like a conference game. It will be a conference game. You got to make some layups. You can’t miss layups and free throws. It comes back to get you.”
on Berke Buyuktuncel’s injury
“I’d say he’s doubtful for the next game, but he’s starting to move better. Again, when Berke comes back, you start to change dynamics of rhythm and flow and who’s playing. Getting him to where he’s comfortable. He’s not the reason we lost today. Sure, we’d like to be at full strength, but everybody deals with injuries. To me guys, we should have been up 10 at half. I knew going into halftime we should be up 32-22 right now.”
Sophomore forward/center Adem Bona
on the team not being able to close out games
“As a team, you’ve got to be able to close out games. It’s happened multiple times now. It’s frustrating. We have to play together as a team. We have to keep our conditioning in the last couple of minutes. We got to stay solid and finish the game out. It’s frustrating we can’t do it against teams. We do it in the first half and the second half we can’t do it.”
on the young team keeping their heads up
“We’ve just got to do the tough stuff. It doesn’t matter if we’re younger or older, we just got to get the job done. Work hard. Toughness. It doesn’t matter what age range we’re in, we just got to get the job done.”
on what he saw from Ohio State entering the game
“We knew they shoot. They have a bunch of guards that shoot. They have physical bigs. We tried to take away their shots and make them take the shots we want them to take.”
on what took so long to get going offensively
“I don’t know. I just got to get better shots. I got to get to my spots where I can make shots. Not rushing. Taking my time. I tend to fall into a trap when I rush. In the second half, the coaches talked to me. I took my time and took better shots.”
on how much this young team has to learn to be tough
“We’re not even close to where we want to be. Playing with the guys I played with last year, I get a little glimpse of it – not little, I got a lot. Guys were tough. They can play all day. Now, we’re playing with some young guys. It doesn’t matter young or old or experience, we’ve just got to play tough the whole game.”