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Postgame Quotes – Villanova 65, UCLA 56
POSTGAME QUOTES
Villanova 65, UCLA 56
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania (Wells Fargo Center)
Dec. 9, 2023
Mick Cronin, The Michael Price Family UCLA Men’s Head Basketball Coach
on Villanova’s 3-pointers at the end of the game
“We had three plays that beat us. We walked away from a shooter twice and we didn’t get a rebound on a missed free throw. With that being said, give them credit. Always give the other team credit. They have a program with a lot of pride. They had an unbelievable crowd tonight, playing off-campus. They had all these people here after they lost a few in a row. It’s impressive. Big credit to their fanbase to have the type of crowd they had. That’s what happened on those three plays. We’re just not tough enough right now. Our margin for error isn’t what it has been. We’re the youngest team in the country playing a team that’s maybe the oldest team in the country. We can’t have those kind of mistakes. Obviously, Dylan [Andrews] going out hurt us. We were up four when he started cramping. Our offense went south when he went out.”
on who missed the crucial blockout on the free throw
“We missed multiple blockouts. But I would point mainly to Adem Bona. We’re playing teams – and I love him – but they’ve got two guys with 10 rebounds. If he wants to be who he needs to be, he’s got to get some games with 12 or 15 rebounds. He’s got to go get the ball. He’s got to go get the ball. Eric Dixon, it’s not like he’s a great athlete, he’s got 10 rebounds. The other kid, [Tyler] Burton, played four years at Richmond. Go get the ball. Multiple chances. [He’s had] multiple chances to be a dominant rebounder. We’re not going to win until that happens. We’re too young everywhere else. He’s got to be an all-league player for us. I’ve got to figure it out. I’ve got to get him there. I’ve got to get that out of him. But he was there. Somebody else snuck in there, but he was there on that play.”
on his assessment of Aday Mara’s performance so far this season
“I think that Aday is a wonderful kid that’s 18 and won’t turn 19 until after the season. In the United States, kids redshirt in the eighth grade and multiple freshmen are 19 and 20. We have four 18-year-olds. So, it’s a huge adjustment for him [with] the style and physicality of college basketball. But his attitude is great. He’s getting better. He’s fighting through it. He’s got a huge ceiling. He’s got a chance to be a great player. These games are wars. It’s all new for him.”
on what stuck out about Villanova on film
“Yeah, I’ve got enough problems on my own team. I give them credit for rebounding tonight. I thought they played really hard tonight.”
on if he liked the flow of the offense before Dylan Andrews went out
“I thought when we were pushing the ball, our offense is much better. When we push the ball and pass the ball. When we try to throw one pass and don’t get to the second and third pass, our offense looked terrible. I would say most coaches would say the same.”
on Sebastian Mack’s rough shooting night
“He’s a freshman figuring it out on the fly. Most freshmen are sitting on the bench.”
on if this Villanova team is different from previously Jay Wright Villanova-coached teams
“I think college basketball is different. I look down, and I mean, how many of their guys on their team signed to Villanova out of high school? Looking down, I’m going to say [Eric] Dixon and [Mark] Armstrong are the guys that play on scholarship? I might be missing somebody. … It’s a different world. That’s probably why Jay [Wright] is on T.V. He didn’t want any part of it. They’re still trying to compete and be physical. I don’t see any difference in the way they’re competing and all that type of stuff [or in] their physicality.”
on if his past experiences coaching against Villanova helped
“Look guys, if you don’t think we told them number one [Brendan Hausen] can shoot, you’re crazy. I’m dealing with young kids. My veteran guy is a transfer [Lazar Stefanovic]. My only transfer. There’s a great point for you. You can know your opponent you want as a coach, you’ve got to be able to get your guys to do it. We can’t have that kind of breakdown letting him shoot two open shots late in the game like that. If you do, you should lose. Even if he had missed them, we deserve to lose for letting him shoot, in my opinion. We got exactly what we deserve. I don’t know about the past and all of that. We scout everybody.”
on if it’s good to be in close games heading into conference play
“One thing about playing Villanova – since you guys have been asking questions about them, and I’m going to get out of here – is one thing that doesn’t change is their competitive fire and their toughness and their spirit. For us, with an extremely young team, if you don’t block out and go hit the guy, you’re going to end up on the ground. So, it’s good for us to experience all of it. There’s a lot we need to go through, unfortunately. But, they will teach you a lesson. You better come to play. You better to come to compete.”
Sophomore forward/center Adem Bona
on the missed boxouts and allowing two 3-pointers to Brendan Hausen
“It’s a physical part of the game. I take the blame for the boxout. We should be doing better than that as a team. Those were big time plays in the last minutes of the game. We just got to do better as a team and don’t put ourselves in that position, and also when we get into that position we focus and finish the play.”
on where the team failed short
“I would say we didn’t execute our gameplan, especially in the second half. Defensively, we gave a lot of offensive rebounds. And also in the first half we gave a lot [of offensive rebounds] up. Those are the areas we need to clean it up as a team. … We got to increase our toughness.”
on missing Dylan Andrews down the stretch
“Obviously, DA is a huge part of the team. We were missing him during a crucial part of the game. It unfortunately hurts the team. We got to keep playing as a team.”
on what it’s going to take to be a better rebounder
“Like I said, I got to improve my toughness level. I can’t be sleeping and boxout. I take it as a challenge for myself. Being one of the returners on the team, I should be setting the example for the freshmen and everybody on the team. I take it on myself. I should be getting more rebounds. I should be helping the team a lot more.”
on Aday Mara’s growth
“Loved his energy today. He played hard. He played more minutes. Defensively, he was great. I just believe with time, he’s going to develop into an amazing player and that’s going to help the team.”
Junior guard Lazar Stefanovic
on the missed boxouts and allowing two 3-pointers to Brendan Hausen
“They were huge. We talked about it in the locker room. We knew before the game we had to play tough and be strong and box out. Everything we do, we had to be physical. We didn’t do it for all 40 minutes. We did it at times. Like you said, [it was] the free throw boxout. I think we were coming back – I think we were down four at the time when the airball happened – we needed a stop and go get a bucket again. We couldn’t get it done.”
on missing Dylan Andrews down the stretch
“He’s an important guy for us. He gets a lot going in our offense. He’s a quick guy. He’s a defender. He passes the ball pretty well. He’s a good scorer as well. It hurt us.”
on how important it is to turn these strong showings into victories
“If we don’t figure it out, we’re not going to be where we want to be. We’ve got to sit down and realize. And I think we know what we got to do better. It comes down going out there and executing it and being the toughest team and playing smart. Knowing the scouting report and all that stuff. We’ve got to take our game to the next level as a team, as a group. Everybody, individually, if we do that, we’re going to be a better team.”
on Aday Mara’s growth
“He’s very, very talented. A good offensive player. Getting better on defense. He’s a really smart guy. He helps us a lot. It was good to see him being confident on the court.”
Villanova 65, UCLA 56
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania (Wells Fargo Center)
Dec. 9, 2023
Mick Cronin, The Michael Price Family UCLA Men’s Head Basketball Coach
on Villanova’s 3-pointers at the end of the game
“We had three plays that beat us. We walked away from a shooter twice and we didn’t get a rebound on a missed free throw. With that being said, give them credit. Always give the other team credit. They have a program with a lot of pride. They had an unbelievable crowd tonight, playing off-campus. They had all these people here after they lost a few in a row. It’s impressive. Big credit to their fanbase to have the type of crowd they had. That’s what happened on those three plays. We’re just not tough enough right now. Our margin for error isn’t what it has been. We’re the youngest team in the country playing a team that’s maybe the oldest team in the country. We can’t have those kind of mistakes. Obviously, Dylan [Andrews] going out hurt us. We were up four when he started cramping. Our offense went south when he went out.”
on who missed the crucial blockout on the free throw
“We missed multiple blockouts. But I would point mainly to Adem Bona. We’re playing teams – and I love him – but they’ve got two guys with 10 rebounds. If he wants to be who he needs to be, he’s got to get some games with 12 or 15 rebounds. He’s got to go get the ball. He’s got to go get the ball. Eric Dixon, it’s not like he’s a great athlete, he’s got 10 rebounds. The other kid, [Tyler] Burton, played four years at Richmond. Go get the ball. Multiple chances. [He’s had] multiple chances to be a dominant rebounder. We’re not going to win until that happens. We’re too young everywhere else. He’s got to be an all-league player for us. I’ve got to figure it out. I’ve got to get him there. I’ve got to get that out of him. But he was there. Somebody else snuck in there, but he was there on that play.”
on his assessment of Aday Mara’s performance so far this season
“I think that Aday is a wonderful kid that’s 18 and won’t turn 19 until after the season. In the United States, kids redshirt in the eighth grade and multiple freshmen are 19 and 20. We have four 18-year-olds. So, it’s a huge adjustment for him [with] the style and physicality of college basketball. But his attitude is great. He’s getting better. He’s fighting through it. He’s got a huge ceiling. He’s got a chance to be a great player. These games are wars. It’s all new for him.”
on what stuck out about Villanova on film
“Yeah, I’ve got enough problems on my own team. I give them credit for rebounding tonight. I thought they played really hard tonight.”
on if he liked the flow of the offense before Dylan Andrews went out
“I thought when we were pushing the ball, our offense is much better. When we push the ball and pass the ball. When we try to throw one pass and don’t get to the second and third pass, our offense looked terrible. I would say most coaches would say the same.”
on Sebastian Mack’s rough shooting night
“He’s a freshman figuring it out on the fly. Most freshmen are sitting on the bench.”
on if this Villanova team is different from previously Jay Wright Villanova-coached teams
“I think college basketball is different. I look down, and I mean, how many of their guys on their team signed to Villanova out of high school? Looking down, I’m going to say [Eric] Dixon and [Mark] Armstrong are the guys that play on scholarship? I might be missing somebody. … It’s a different world. That’s probably why Jay [Wright] is on T.V. He didn’t want any part of it. They’re still trying to compete and be physical. I don’t see any difference in the way they’re competing and all that type of stuff [or in] their physicality.”
on if his past experiences coaching against Villanova helped
“Look guys, if you don’t think we told them number one [Brendan Hausen] can shoot, you’re crazy. I’m dealing with young kids. My veteran guy is a transfer [Lazar Stefanovic]. My only transfer. There’s a great point for you. You can know your opponent you want as a coach, you’ve got to be able to get your guys to do it. We can’t have that kind of breakdown letting him shoot two open shots late in the game like that. If you do, you should lose. Even if he had missed them, we deserve to lose for letting him shoot, in my opinion. We got exactly what we deserve. I don’t know about the past and all of that. We scout everybody.”
on if it’s good to be in close games heading into conference play
“One thing about playing Villanova – since you guys have been asking questions about them, and I’m going to get out of here – is one thing that doesn’t change is their competitive fire and their toughness and their spirit. For us, with an extremely young team, if you don’t block out and go hit the guy, you’re going to end up on the ground. So, it’s good for us to experience all of it. There’s a lot we need to go through, unfortunately. But, they will teach you a lesson. You better come to play. You better to come to compete.”
Sophomore forward/center Adem Bona
on the missed boxouts and allowing two 3-pointers to Brendan Hausen
“It’s a physical part of the game. I take the blame for the boxout. We should be doing better than that as a team. Those were big time plays in the last minutes of the game. We just got to do better as a team and don’t put ourselves in that position, and also when we get into that position we focus and finish the play.”
on where the team failed short
“I would say we didn’t execute our gameplan, especially in the second half. Defensively, we gave a lot of offensive rebounds. And also in the first half we gave a lot [of offensive rebounds] up. Those are the areas we need to clean it up as a team. … We got to increase our toughness.”
on missing Dylan Andrews down the stretch
“Obviously, DA is a huge part of the team. We were missing him during a crucial part of the game. It unfortunately hurts the team. We got to keep playing as a team.”
on what it’s going to take to be a better rebounder
“Like I said, I got to improve my toughness level. I can’t be sleeping and boxout. I take it as a challenge for myself. Being one of the returners on the team, I should be setting the example for the freshmen and everybody on the team. I take it on myself. I should be getting more rebounds. I should be helping the team a lot more.”
on Aday Mara’s growth
“Loved his energy today. He played hard. He played more minutes. Defensively, he was great. I just believe with time, he’s going to develop into an amazing player and that’s going to help the team.”
Junior guard Lazar Stefanovic
on the missed boxouts and allowing two 3-pointers to Brendan Hausen
“They were huge. We talked about it in the locker room. We knew before the game we had to play tough and be strong and box out. Everything we do, we had to be physical. We didn’t do it for all 40 minutes. We did it at times. Like you said, [it was] the free throw boxout. I think we were coming back – I think we were down four at the time when the airball happened – we needed a stop and go get a bucket again. We couldn’t get it done.”
on missing Dylan Andrews down the stretch
“He’s an important guy for us. He gets a lot going in our offense. He’s a quick guy. He’s a defender. He passes the ball pretty well. He’s a good scorer as well. It hurt us.”
on how important it is to turn these strong showings into victories
“If we don’t figure it out, we’re not going to be where we want to be. We’ve got to sit down and realize. And I think we know what we got to do better. It comes down going out there and executing it and being the toughest team and playing smart. Knowing the scouting report and all that stuff. We’ve got to take our game to the next level as a team, as a group. Everybody, individually, if we do that, we’re going to be a better team.”
on Aday Mara’s growth
“He’s very, very talented. A good offensive player. Getting better on defense. He’s a really smart guy. He helps us a lot. It was good to see him being confident on the court.”