Postgame Quotes – UCLA 71, Boston University 40
POSTGAME QUOTES
UCLA 71, Boston University 40
Pauley Pavilion presented by Wescom
November 11, 2024
Mick Cronin, The Michael Price Family UCLA Men’s Head Basketball Coach
opening statement
“I’ll thank Coach Jones and his guys, I know the score didn’t indicate it, but I thought they were physical and they played really hard tonight. They’ve been dealing with some injuries, but I thought his guys gave us a physical battle. Our ball pressure was a problem for them throughout the game, but I thought that their guys played the right way, and they did a good job defensively on us, they held us to 40% for the game. I told Dom Harris, it’s okay. I was glad to see Aday [Mara] get assertive. He led us in rebounding and had seven rebounds in ten minutes. Rebounding’s an area of physicality where we’ve got to continue to improve. I was most happy tonight with our attitude of humility and the fact that we dove more on the floor tonight than we have in every scrimmage game and every exhibition game combined. In the first half, we surpassed our dives on the floor for the year."
on the team’s attitude improving
“I tried to send a message the last couple of days – I’ve got a lot of work to do. I didn’t like our attitude in Vegas, in fact I couldn’t stand it. I’ve been sick to my stomach for two days. I can’t stand not competing. I can deal with missed shots, I can’t deal with not competing physically. I was glad to see Aday give us a lot of physicality and get some offensive rebounds."
on scoring points off of turnovers
“I would say it was a different kind of turnover. We got some layups and dunks. We continue to struggle to shoot the ball. Obviously, Dom is 0-for-6, and he was third in the nation last year in three-point shooting. So we’ve got to go to rebounding. Real teams win when they don’t make shots. But to answer your question, I’d say we got a lot of layups and dunks off of a different kind of steals and turnovers in the back court that we were able to convert."
on the team’s response to the previous loss
“I didn’t give them much of a choice. That’s my job, and I own it. People can say I’m hard on them, but trust me I’m harder on myself. I didn’t like our competitive attitude in that game Friday, and I basically told them that if you’re going to play for me, this is how it’s going to be, or you’re not going to play for me.”
on the team’s defensive performance
“Our effort was great tonight. It couldn’t be much better, other than on the offensive glass. When we go to offensive rebounding, it’s percentage. Aday got some late, and we ended up 11-for-36. That’s still not in the range. The best teams get 35-40% of their misses, so we were definitely under that, and we were way under until Aday got those. But other than that, I thought our effort was great, I thought our attitude was great. I could care less about missed shots. I know we’ve got a bunch of guys that can shoot. Not my concern. That happens. We didn’t need them tonight because we held the team to 40 points. If we hold everybody to 40, we’ll win every game for the rest of the year.”
on Eric Dailey Jr.’s performance
“I thought his energy and effort were great. I still think his rebounding has to improve for him to get what he wants out of basketball. For him to make it and someday play for a bunch of money, he’s going to have to be a high-level rebounder as a wing and a defender. For us to win, we need the same thing. He can’t get one offensive rebound. I’ve got to work with him on his anticipation. He’s watching until he gets blocked out, and then it’s too late. When guys are open, we’re going to shoot it, and he’s got to know that. With his body and his athleticism, I’ve just got to teach him. But I loved his attitude, energy, and effort.”
on Skyy Clark’s performance
“Sixteen deflections, that’s one off of the record of guys that have played for me. I could care less about his points, he got six rebounds and sixteen deflections. He’s wreaking havoc all over the place. He’s got games where he’s going to score plenty of points. But he’s really trying to embrace what we’re trying to do with his effort.”
on Lazar Stefanovic’s performance
“Minus his one turnover, I thought he did a great job. If we’re going to have a big year, Lazar has to help us. He’s a senior, he played 40 minutes a game last year, he can make shots, he’s smart, he’s 6’6. He was the second leading rebounder on our team last year. I thought it was a great opportunity with Dylan out to get him in the lineup and try to get his confidence going.”
on Dylan Andrews’ injury
“I think he’s going to be fine, he’s got a little groin issue. There’s no need to push it at this point in the season. With those types of injuries, you have to just go by what the player says. You’re not going to have an x-ray. If it’s bothering him, you can’t play him.”
UCLA forward Eric Dailey Jr.
on practicing since their loss to New Mexico
"It’s been pretty intense. We don’t like to lose, and we want to do everything in our power to change the mistakes we made in our last game. Today, we showed that we can play defense and I know that we’ve got to keep this up.”
on Skyy Clark’s performance
“He’s tough on defense. Our motto is toughness, and he showed that today by harassing guards. There’s a lot of things that coach wants to see that don’t always show up on the stat sheet, including our hustle. I’ve known Skyy for a long time and I know he plays both sides of the ball. In college there’s a lot asked of you, so defense is one of the things. He’s got quick feet, he’s very active with his hands, and he showed you guys today”
UCLA guard Lazar Stefanovic
on converting off of turnovers
“It was our emphasis to put more pressure on them, to press and try to get steals. That was our game plan and we did a great job with it. Guys gave it 100%, it was a great effort, guys were diving on the floor and we got a lot of balls like that. It was part of the game plan today.”
on the team’s half-court offense
“I wouldn’t say it’s disjointed; I think there’s a lot of new guys on the team and we’re still learning how to play with each other. We’re getting better at it. All of the mistakes that we make in the half-court are controllable things, stuff that we can fix and learn from. We’re going to work on it and we’re going to get better at it. As time goes by, we’re going to be better and better in that area too.”
on being in the starting lineup today
“I didn’t know I was going to start for the game, but it’s the same mentality for every game. I try to give my best effort and help the team win the game. Nothing really changed. Whatever opportunity I get, I try to help my teammates out.”
Boston University Head Coach Joe Jones
opening statement
“I give UCLA a lot of credit. I knew they would come out and play with a lot of force. I’ve known Mick for a long time and he was not pleased about how the guys played against New Mexico. I think they (New Mexico) played harder. I knew that wouldn’t be the case tonight and I knew they (UCLA) would come out with a better effort. I thought they used their length and athleticism. We just didn’t have enough guys who could dribble or pass. It was very hard to run our offense.”
on the UCLA press
“They made us play faster than we wanted to. They were taking the passes away from us. We really struggled with that. Bottom line is, when you’re under that type of pressure and being sped up and really can’t get open, it doesn’t mean anything. It doesn’t really matter what we ran. I’m proud of our effort. The guys played really hard and they were not afraid to compete.”
on their three-point shooting (only 25%) and free-throw shooting
“We really had some good ones and we had some open ones we had to make. I think we are a better three-point shooting team. We only went to the line nine times, but we only shot 66 percent.”
on Kyrone Alexander
“I don’t think anyone played very well offensively, but he (Kyrone) was a bright spot. He only had two turnovers. He has been out of practice a lot, so he has been working on getting his rhythm back.”
UCLA 71, Boston University 40
Pauley Pavilion presented by Wescom
November 11, 2024
Mick Cronin, The Michael Price Family UCLA Men’s Head Basketball Coach
opening statement
“I’ll thank Coach Jones and his guys, I know the score didn’t indicate it, but I thought they were physical and they played really hard tonight. They’ve been dealing with some injuries, but I thought his guys gave us a physical battle. Our ball pressure was a problem for them throughout the game, but I thought that their guys played the right way, and they did a good job defensively on us, they held us to 40% for the game. I told Dom Harris, it’s okay. I was glad to see Aday [Mara] get assertive. He led us in rebounding and had seven rebounds in ten minutes. Rebounding’s an area of physicality where we’ve got to continue to improve. I was most happy tonight with our attitude of humility and the fact that we dove more on the floor tonight than we have in every scrimmage game and every exhibition game combined. In the first half, we surpassed our dives on the floor for the year."
on the team’s attitude improving
“I tried to send a message the last couple of days – I’ve got a lot of work to do. I didn’t like our attitude in Vegas, in fact I couldn’t stand it. I’ve been sick to my stomach for two days. I can’t stand not competing. I can deal with missed shots, I can’t deal with not competing physically. I was glad to see Aday give us a lot of physicality and get some offensive rebounds."
on scoring points off of turnovers
“I would say it was a different kind of turnover. We got some layups and dunks. We continue to struggle to shoot the ball. Obviously, Dom is 0-for-6, and he was third in the nation last year in three-point shooting. So we’ve got to go to rebounding. Real teams win when they don’t make shots. But to answer your question, I’d say we got a lot of layups and dunks off of a different kind of steals and turnovers in the back court that we were able to convert."
on the team’s response to the previous loss
“I didn’t give them much of a choice. That’s my job, and I own it. People can say I’m hard on them, but trust me I’m harder on myself. I didn’t like our competitive attitude in that game Friday, and I basically told them that if you’re going to play for me, this is how it’s going to be, or you’re not going to play for me.”
on the team’s defensive performance
“Our effort was great tonight. It couldn’t be much better, other than on the offensive glass. When we go to offensive rebounding, it’s percentage. Aday got some late, and we ended up 11-for-36. That’s still not in the range. The best teams get 35-40% of their misses, so we were definitely under that, and we were way under until Aday got those. But other than that, I thought our effort was great, I thought our attitude was great. I could care less about missed shots. I know we’ve got a bunch of guys that can shoot. Not my concern. That happens. We didn’t need them tonight because we held the team to 40 points. If we hold everybody to 40, we’ll win every game for the rest of the year.”
on Eric Dailey Jr.’s performance
“I thought his energy and effort were great. I still think his rebounding has to improve for him to get what he wants out of basketball. For him to make it and someday play for a bunch of money, he’s going to have to be a high-level rebounder as a wing and a defender. For us to win, we need the same thing. He can’t get one offensive rebound. I’ve got to work with him on his anticipation. He’s watching until he gets blocked out, and then it’s too late. When guys are open, we’re going to shoot it, and he’s got to know that. With his body and his athleticism, I’ve just got to teach him. But I loved his attitude, energy, and effort.”
on Skyy Clark’s performance
“Sixteen deflections, that’s one off of the record of guys that have played for me. I could care less about his points, he got six rebounds and sixteen deflections. He’s wreaking havoc all over the place. He’s got games where he’s going to score plenty of points. But he’s really trying to embrace what we’re trying to do with his effort.”
on Lazar Stefanovic’s performance
“Minus his one turnover, I thought he did a great job. If we’re going to have a big year, Lazar has to help us. He’s a senior, he played 40 minutes a game last year, he can make shots, he’s smart, he’s 6’6. He was the second leading rebounder on our team last year. I thought it was a great opportunity with Dylan out to get him in the lineup and try to get his confidence going.”
on Dylan Andrews’ injury
“I think he’s going to be fine, he’s got a little groin issue. There’s no need to push it at this point in the season. With those types of injuries, you have to just go by what the player says. You’re not going to have an x-ray. If it’s bothering him, you can’t play him.”
UCLA forward Eric Dailey Jr.
on practicing since their loss to New Mexico
"It’s been pretty intense. We don’t like to lose, and we want to do everything in our power to change the mistakes we made in our last game. Today, we showed that we can play defense and I know that we’ve got to keep this up.”
on Skyy Clark’s performance
“He’s tough on defense. Our motto is toughness, and he showed that today by harassing guards. There’s a lot of things that coach wants to see that don’t always show up on the stat sheet, including our hustle. I’ve known Skyy for a long time and I know he plays both sides of the ball. In college there’s a lot asked of you, so defense is one of the things. He’s got quick feet, he’s very active with his hands, and he showed you guys today”
UCLA guard Lazar Stefanovic
on converting off of turnovers
“It was our emphasis to put more pressure on them, to press and try to get steals. That was our game plan and we did a great job with it. Guys gave it 100%, it was a great effort, guys were diving on the floor and we got a lot of balls like that. It was part of the game plan today.”
on the team’s half-court offense
“I wouldn’t say it’s disjointed; I think there’s a lot of new guys on the team and we’re still learning how to play with each other. We’re getting better at it. All of the mistakes that we make in the half-court are controllable things, stuff that we can fix and learn from. We’re going to work on it and we’re going to get better at it. As time goes by, we’re going to be better and better in that area too.”
on being in the starting lineup today
“I didn’t know I was going to start for the game, but it’s the same mentality for every game. I try to give my best effort and help the team win the game. Nothing really changed. Whatever opportunity I get, I try to help my teammates out.”
Boston University Head Coach Joe Jones
opening statement
“I give UCLA a lot of credit. I knew they would come out and play with a lot of force. I’ve known Mick for a long time and he was not pleased about how the guys played against New Mexico. I think they (New Mexico) played harder. I knew that wouldn’t be the case tonight and I knew they (UCLA) would come out with a better effort. I thought they used their length and athleticism. We just didn’t have enough guys who could dribble or pass. It was very hard to run our offense.”
on the UCLA press
“They made us play faster than we wanted to. They were taking the passes away from us. We really struggled with that. Bottom line is, when you’re under that type of pressure and being sped up and really can’t get open, it doesn’t mean anything. It doesn’t really matter what we ran. I’m proud of our effort. The guys played really hard and they were not afraid to compete.”
on their three-point shooting (only 25%) and free-throw shooting
“We really had some good ones and we had some open ones we had to make. I think we are a better three-point shooting team. We only went to the line nine times, but we only shot 66 percent.”
on Kyrone Alexander
“I don’t think anyone played very well offensively, but he (Kyrone) was a bright spot. He only had two turnovers. He has been out of practice a lot, so he has been working on getting his rhythm back.”