Postgame Quotes – UCLA 85, Rider 50
POSTGAME QUOTES
UCLA 85, Rider 50
Los Angeles, Calif. (Pauley Pavilion)
November 4, 2024
Mick Cronin, The Michael Price Family UCLA Men’s Head Basketball Coach
opening statement
“We had 52 deflections tonight, everyone who played got one. We really have to work on blocking out, we knew that that was going to be an issue with this team tonight. For us when Eric Dailey is out of the game, our rebounding struggles. We didn’t play a big lineup. We didn’t play Tyler (Bilodeau) at the four, as much as he will with Aday in, because of their size. They were spreading us out, so we went small. We have to be a better rebounding team. It kills your defense, kills you fastbreak. But, they have tough kids I have a lot of respect for their coaching staff. Those guys are good guys, they have some tough athletic kids.”
on the forced turnovers
“I know a lot of guys with this KenPom stuff and this net stuff are trying to beat people by 50 [points]. First off, I’m the son of a coach, so we didn’t trap one time in the second half. I’m probably from a different era, I was trained from a different era. I just don’t believe in that, we didn’t trap in the second half. But I do think it helps you to try and work on stuff, and when Rider was putting in their backups to get them some minutes, I wasn’t going to press them because we don’t really have backups. Sometimes our guys off the bench play better. I’m not going to go running around pressing their backup freshman guard who has never played a division one game, trying to win by 50. We have to get better at a lot of things, because Friday night we play a good team, NCAA tournament pedigree. I thought it would be good for us to have to guard some pick-and-rolls and work on rotations.”
on the Bruins’ offense
“Skyy Clark is probably our best shooter every day. He got in foul trouble tonight, so he never really got going. We have a lot of guys that can shoot the ball on this team, so we don’t need to turn the ball over. We should not turn the ball over because we don’t need anybody to do too much on this team. You get some execution and get some ball movement, you have guys that can shoot the ball in the basket, or go make a play. There is just no need to take a hard shot. We don’t have to force Adem Bona the ball for lack of talent. We are still growing, but again I think everyone is going to through it. Every coach is probably saying this right now. We start four transfers and we are probably par for the course for 80% of the country. So you have to grow together, get in comfort zones together. I like Sebastian [Mack] in the sixth man role, he comes in with aggressive toughness in a lot of areas. Sometimes he gives you a hard punch off the bench, not a lot of teams have a guy like that who can fill in that role.”
on the bench minutes
“Aday has gotten stronger. Sebastian, with a guy that has a good athlete and has some ability, he needs discipline. Meaning decision making discipline, discipline defensively, box-out integrity, don’t miss box outs, be rock-solid with your defensive principles on the ball and off the ball. Late in the game he put his head and he did the stuff he did last year, he shouldn’t have done that. I wanted him to work on that. He just took off and he has to slow down and read the defense. So, it’s a work in progress. If he will keep letting me coach him and be hard on him and be demanding, then he will become a really good player. Aday is just much stronger physically.”
on Bruins’ junior William Kyle III
“It’s early and it’s a big adjustment. One thing about Will, he’s such a nice kid and he doesn’t ever want to make a mistake. He’s an athletic force of nature and he just needs to be aggressive. I’ve got to do a better job with him. I think he’s trying to think too much. You saw him late, he’s going to be a force.”
on the team’s 21 assists and offensive style
“We’ve just got more skilled players, and they’re older. If you watch the NBA and some of these lottery picks – they’re not getting in games, it’s hard. It takes time and guys get better as they go. I know this is a different time where everyone wants to be great right away, but it’s just not reality. Lebron wasn’t that good in his rookie year, it was his worst year. You get better as you get older - you learn how to win. The problem is that there’s so much “hype” in our game right now. It’s the commercialization of youth sports.”
on some guys potentially redshirting
“The plan right now, Eric Freeny is thinking things over. I love all three of those guys – Eric, Devin [Williams] and Brandon [Williams]. Devin and Brandon definitely want to redshirt. I think they’d be really good players, they just can’t get minutes on this team. There are not a lot of minutes on this team.”
on Dominick Harris’ lack of minutes
“It’s tough to give people minutes on this team.”
on Sebastian Mack’s grit and intensity
“He was third on the team in minutes tonight. He got in and he did really well. If Sebastian plays with discipline, he’ll be fine. If he starts gambling on defense, not blocking out, tries to do too many dribbles on offense – he’s not going to be fine. It’s a part of growth. What you did in high school, you cannot do in college. He’s just going through that transition. He’s making progress, but we’ll see. You can’t take one step forward and one step back, you’ll end up in the same place. That’s what I try to tell these guys.”
UCLA forward Tyler Bilodeau
on reading defenses in the post
"It all starts with my teammates, finding me with good passes, just facing up. I try to see what the defense is giving me, guys helping, kicking it out, giving me 1-on-1 or giving me space. If I can just let it go, something will work out.”
on the players he matches up with
“For me, I would say it doesn’t really matter. I’m just trying to do what’s best for this team, and if that’s to have the small guys in the matchup, post them up. Or having a bigger guy and being able to take him more to the perimeter. Just either one.”
UCLA guard Kobe Johnson
on the depth of the team
“I think that’s the motto of this team, next man up. If one of us gets in foul trouble like Skyy did, you’ve got to have people like Sebastian who steps up to be able to play the minutes that he got, be able to contribute, and help the team win.”
on his role on the team
“I was brought here just to bring that energy, bring that leadership, bring that grittiness. That’s exactly what Coach wanted me to do when I came here. I’m just trying to do whatever I can to help this team win, try to leave a mark with this team and this history. Try to do whatever. We’ve got a great group of guys and I think we can do something really special. I’m just trying to do whatever we can to help us win.”
UCLA guard Eric Dailey Jr.
on his defensive mindset
“I think that defense is just effort. I just go out there and try to play as hard as I can. I’m a big body, so I’ve got to use my body in the best way I can, and getting boards is one of the things I can do very well. Everybody on the team can rebound, though, everybody’s going to get boards. Our guards are going to rebound, it’s just part of the game, and a big part of this team. Just playing hard, and that’s what I love to do, play hard.”
Rider head coach Kevin Baggett
opening remarks
“I thought those guys did a good job getting after us early on. You know, their pressure was effective. I think some of our guys played tight. We did not play well. They forced us into some early turnovers, second-opportunities off the glass, which obviously they’re bigger, stronger, faster than we are, so we have to do a great job fundamentally blocking out, and we didn’t do that.
on what UCLA did to separate from Rider
“I think we took some rushed shots when we were trying to take our time, and we weren’t trying to run with those guys, and so once we started to take some bad shots, and they came down and made some shots, and then the next thing you know the lead got out of hand.”
UCLA 85, Rider 50
Los Angeles, Calif. (Pauley Pavilion)
November 4, 2024
Mick Cronin, The Michael Price Family UCLA Men’s Head Basketball Coach
opening statement
“We had 52 deflections tonight, everyone who played got one. We really have to work on blocking out, we knew that that was going to be an issue with this team tonight. For us when Eric Dailey is out of the game, our rebounding struggles. We didn’t play a big lineup. We didn’t play Tyler (Bilodeau) at the four, as much as he will with Aday in, because of their size. They were spreading us out, so we went small. We have to be a better rebounding team. It kills your defense, kills you fastbreak. But, they have tough kids I have a lot of respect for their coaching staff. Those guys are good guys, they have some tough athletic kids.”
on the forced turnovers
“I know a lot of guys with this KenPom stuff and this net stuff are trying to beat people by 50 [points]. First off, I’m the son of a coach, so we didn’t trap one time in the second half. I’m probably from a different era, I was trained from a different era. I just don’t believe in that, we didn’t trap in the second half. But I do think it helps you to try and work on stuff, and when Rider was putting in their backups to get them some minutes, I wasn’t going to press them because we don’t really have backups. Sometimes our guys off the bench play better. I’m not going to go running around pressing their backup freshman guard who has never played a division one game, trying to win by 50. We have to get better at a lot of things, because Friday night we play a good team, NCAA tournament pedigree. I thought it would be good for us to have to guard some pick-and-rolls and work on rotations.”
on the Bruins’ offense
“Skyy Clark is probably our best shooter every day. He got in foul trouble tonight, so he never really got going. We have a lot of guys that can shoot the ball on this team, so we don’t need to turn the ball over. We should not turn the ball over because we don’t need anybody to do too much on this team. You get some execution and get some ball movement, you have guys that can shoot the ball in the basket, or go make a play. There is just no need to take a hard shot. We don’t have to force Adem Bona the ball for lack of talent. We are still growing, but again I think everyone is going to through it. Every coach is probably saying this right now. We start four transfers and we are probably par for the course for 80% of the country. So you have to grow together, get in comfort zones together. I like Sebastian [Mack] in the sixth man role, he comes in with aggressive toughness in a lot of areas. Sometimes he gives you a hard punch off the bench, not a lot of teams have a guy like that who can fill in that role.”
on the bench minutes
“Aday has gotten stronger. Sebastian, with a guy that has a good athlete and has some ability, he needs discipline. Meaning decision making discipline, discipline defensively, box-out integrity, don’t miss box outs, be rock-solid with your defensive principles on the ball and off the ball. Late in the game he put his head and he did the stuff he did last year, he shouldn’t have done that. I wanted him to work on that. He just took off and he has to slow down and read the defense. So, it’s a work in progress. If he will keep letting me coach him and be hard on him and be demanding, then he will become a really good player. Aday is just much stronger physically.”
on Bruins’ junior William Kyle III
“It’s early and it’s a big adjustment. One thing about Will, he’s such a nice kid and he doesn’t ever want to make a mistake. He’s an athletic force of nature and he just needs to be aggressive. I’ve got to do a better job with him. I think he’s trying to think too much. You saw him late, he’s going to be a force.”
on the team’s 21 assists and offensive style
“We’ve just got more skilled players, and they’re older. If you watch the NBA and some of these lottery picks – they’re not getting in games, it’s hard. It takes time and guys get better as they go. I know this is a different time where everyone wants to be great right away, but it’s just not reality. Lebron wasn’t that good in his rookie year, it was his worst year. You get better as you get older - you learn how to win. The problem is that there’s so much “hype” in our game right now. It’s the commercialization of youth sports.”
on some guys potentially redshirting
“The plan right now, Eric Freeny is thinking things over. I love all three of those guys – Eric, Devin [Williams] and Brandon [Williams]. Devin and Brandon definitely want to redshirt. I think they’d be really good players, they just can’t get minutes on this team. There are not a lot of minutes on this team.”
on Dominick Harris’ lack of minutes
“It’s tough to give people minutes on this team.”
on Sebastian Mack’s grit and intensity
“He was third on the team in minutes tonight. He got in and he did really well. If Sebastian plays with discipline, he’ll be fine. If he starts gambling on defense, not blocking out, tries to do too many dribbles on offense – he’s not going to be fine. It’s a part of growth. What you did in high school, you cannot do in college. He’s just going through that transition. He’s making progress, but we’ll see. You can’t take one step forward and one step back, you’ll end up in the same place. That’s what I try to tell these guys.”
UCLA forward Tyler Bilodeau
on reading defenses in the post
"It all starts with my teammates, finding me with good passes, just facing up. I try to see what the defense is giving me, guys helping, kicking it out, giving me 1-on-1 or giving me space. If I can just let it go, something will work out.”
on the players he matches up with
“For me, I would say it doesn’t really matter. I’m just trying to do what’s best for this team, and if that’s to have the small guys in the matchup, post them up. Or having a bigger guy and being able to take him more to the perimeter. Just either one.”
UCLA guard Kobe Johnson
on the depth of the team
“I think that’s the motto of this team, next man up. If one of us gets in foul trouble like Skyy did, you’ve got to have people like Sebastian who steps up to be able to play the minutes that he got, be able to contribute, and help the team win.”
on his role on the team
“I was brought here just to bring that energy, bring that leadership, bring that grittiness. That’s exactly what Coach wanted me to do when I came here. I’m just trying to do whatever I can to help this team win, try to leave a mark with this team and this history. Try to do whatever. We’ve got a great group of guys and I think we can do something really special. I’m just trying to do whatever we can to help us win.”
UCLA guard Eric Dailey Jr.
on his defensive mindset
“I think that defense is just effort. I just go out there and try to play as hard as I can. I’m a big body, so I’ve got to use my body in the best way I can, and getting boards is one of the things I can do very well. Everybody on the team can rebound, though, everybody’s going to get boards. Our guards are going to rebound, it’s just part of the game, and a big part of this team. Just playing hard, and that’s what I love to do, play hard.”
Rider head coach Kevin Baggett
opening remarks
“I thought those guys did a good job getting after us early on. You know, their pressure was effective. I think some of our guys played tight. We did not play well. They forced us into some early turnovers, second-opportunities off the glass, which obviously they’re bigger, stronger, faster than we are, so we have to do a great job fundamentally blocking out, and we didn’t do that.
on what UCLA did to separate from Rider
“I think we took some rushed shots when we were trying to take our time, and we weren’t trying to run with those guys, and so once we started to take some bad shots, and they came down and made some shots, and then the next thing you know the lead got out of hand.”