Postgame Quotes – UCLA 111, Prairie View A&M 75
POSTGAME QUOTES
UCLA 111, Prairie View 75
Pauley Pavilion presented by Wescom
December 17, 2024
Mick Cronin, The Michael Price Family UCLA Men’s Head Basketball Coach
opening statement
“I’ve known Byron for a long time. I don’t care what their record is. They’re in the bottom 2% of resources, but he does a good job. His kids play hard, he’s intense, he makes adjustments. I’ve got a lot of respect for him. He’s been there for eleven years too. He’s a good coach. Tough turn around for us after an emotional win, but I was obviously happy with 26 assists. And our free throws were improved. I was really happy with our improvement at the foul line, that’s going to be important. A guy that gets fouled a lot like Tyler and Kobe, they were 7-7 and 4-5.”
on the team’s defense
“Look at their stats, they average 80 a game, and they don’t play home games. They’ve got guys who can shoot, it wasn’t like we weren’t trying. Number one [Jordan Tillmon], you’ve got to give him some credit, he had made four threes this year and six tonight. Sometimes you have to give the other guys credit. Now after he made four in a row, we could’ve woken up a bit and smelled the coffee, but that’s the challenge of coaching. Every day's a fight.”
on Prairie View A&M’s tempo
“We only got 61 shots and they got 51. But there were more fouls. It’s not a bad thing [before North Carolina]. Carolina’s got some really fast guys off of the bounce.”
on junior Tyler Bilodeau taking a hard fall
“He took a weird fall. There was no point in putting him back in, it was time to get some other guys some minutes, try to get some other guys going. There was no reason for him to be out there. He’s alright. He’s a hockey guy.”
on sophomore center Aday Mara’s performance
“I’m happy with the 11 rebounds. I know he can pass, the problem is his two turnovers. He’s got to quit traveling. He’s got to be able to catch it, turn, and when he feels pressure, have a pivot foot and make a simple pass. He tries to drag it, fake, because he wants to make an assist. I’m just trying to get him to catch it, turn, pivot, and hit the first open man. But I’m really happy with his 11 rebounds.”
on sophomore guard Sebastian Mack
“Wasn’t ready to play, didn’t deserve to play. The second piece to that was that he had a little knee swelling after the Arizona game.”
on the team’s ability to turn over other teams
“We try to train in practice. We’re accountable and we train to play extremely hard on the defensive end. We’re better at it this year because we have better players. Namely, two great defenders in Skyy Clark and Kobe. But Kobe can be much better than he is. He has to play with more discipline. He could be a pro, but there are things he can improve on. There’s a time to be solid and there’s a time to steal the ball. He steals the ball well and is a very effective passer, seven assists tonight.”
UCLA forward Eric Dailey Jr.
on the team’s depth
“I think that everybody was productive tonight with the minutes that they got, which shows that we’ve got depth, and shows that everybody can step up when their name is called. Everybody was, for the most part, ready.”
on playing a team that doesn’t get a lot of turnovers
“We just take our time, try not to turn the ball over, execute our offense, be strong with the ball, make smart plays, and look for the best shot possible. And when we shoot it, we go rebound it.”
UCLA guard Dylan Andrews
on his approach to this game
“Games like this, we’re getting ready to go to New York, and we’ve got Gonzaga coming up, too. We’ve got to play every game like it’s our last. I knew that they were a tough team and we were ready to play.”
on the depth of this UCLA team
“Everybody on the team is a potential scorer. It could be anybody’s night. Especially when we go to New York, it could be Eric Dailey’s night, it could be Kobe’s night, it could be Skyy’s night. That’s what I love about this team – everybody is ready when their name is called.”
on the Bruins making offensive adjustments
“All of the little things matter, especially when you’re going to big games like we have coming up. Making free throws. In the Arizona game we missed a lot of free throws. Limited turnovers, all the little things matter in those types of games, because those could be the points that you needed to win.”
on defensive adjustments
“We were trying to limit our fouls, we kept fouling towards the end of the game and stopping the clock. The main thing for us was to be in the gaps because they’re a driving team, and sometimes we failed at it.”
Prairie View Head Coach Byron Smith
overall statement
“That’s a heck of a basketball team. I’ve known Mick a very long time. That team is very talented. They have length and shooting. I think they are going to make a really good run in March and possibly compete for a championship. They really have everything.”
on which athletes stood out in tonight’s game
“Jordan Tillmon and also Nick Anderson. Nick was our leading scorer in conference all [last] season. We were just really out-manned tonight, but our team effort was a positive for me.”
on how they will build from this contest
“I don’t think we will see a team like this. We have two non-conference games coming up against Rice and Oklahoma. Those teams are good, but we won’t see a team like this [UCLA]. We also scored 75 points tonight and UCLA was holding teams to 59. We just won’t see this type of size in our conference.”
UCLA 111, Prairie View 75
Pauley Pavilion presented by Wescom
December 17, 2024
Mick Cronin, The Michael Price Family UCLA Men’s Head Basketball Coach
opening statement
“I’ve known Byron for a long time. I don’t care what their record is. They’re in the bottom 2% of resources, but he does a good job. His kids play hard, he’s intense, he makes adjustments. I’ve got a lot of respect for him. He’s been there for eleven years too. He’s a good coach. Tough turn around for us after an emotional win, but I was obviously happy with 26 assists. And our free throws were improved. I was really happy with our improvement at the foul line, that’s going to be important. A guy that gets fouled a lot like Tyler and Kobe, they were 7-7 and 4-5.”
on the team’s defense
“Look at their stats, they average 80 a game, and they don’t play home games. They’ve got guys who can shoot, it wasn’t like we weren’t trying. Number one [Jordan Tillmon], you’ve got to give him some credit, he had made four threes this year and six tonight. Sometimes you have to give the other guys credit. Now after he made four in a row, we could’ve woken up a bit and smelled the coffee, but that’s the challenge of coaching. Every day's a fight.”
on Prairie View A&M’s tempo
“We only got 61 shots and they got 51. But there were more fouls. It’s not a bad thing [before North Carolina]. Carolina’s got some really fast guys off of the bounce.”
on junior Tyler Bilodeau taking a hard fall
“He took a weird fall. There was no point in putting him back in, it was time to get some other guys some minutes, try to get some other guys going. There was no reason for him to be out there. He’s alright. He’s a hockey guy.”
on sophomore center Aday Mara’s performance
“I’m happy with the 11 rebounds. I know he can pass, the problem is his two turnovers. He’s got to quit traveling. He’s got to be able to catch it, turn, and when he feels pressure, have a pivot foot and make a simple pass. He tries to drag it, fake, because he wants to make an assist. I’m just trying to get him to catch it, turn, pivot, and hit the first open man. But I’m really happy with his 11 rebounds.”
on sophomore guard Sebastian Mack
“Wasn’t ready to play, didn’t deserve to play. The second piece to that was that he had a little knee swelling after the Arizona game.”
on the team’s ability to turn over other teams
“We try to train in practice. We’re accountable and we train to play extremely hard on the defensive end. We’re better at it this year because we have better players. Namely, two great defenders in Skyy Clark and Kobe. But Kobe can be much better than he is. He has to play with more discipline. He could be a pro, but there are things he can improve on. There’s a time to be solid and there’s a time to steal the ball. He steals the ball well and is a very effective passer, seven assists tonight.”
UCLA forward Eric Dailey Jr.
on the team’s depth
“I think that everybody was productive tonight with the minutes that they got, which shows that we’ve got depth, and shows that everybody can step up when their name is called. Everybody was, for the most part, ready.”
on playing a team that doesn’t get a lot of turnovers
“We just take our time, try not to turn the ball over, execute our offense, be strong with the ball, make smart plays, and look for the best shot possible. And when we shoot it, we go rebound it.”
UCLA guard Dylan Andrews
on his approach to this game
“Games like this, we’re getting ready to go to New York, and we’ve got Gonzaga coming up, too. We’ve got to play every game like it’s our last. I knew that they were a tough team and we were ready to play.”
on the depth of this UCLA team
“Everybody on the team is a potential scorer. It could be anybody’s night. Especially when we go to New York, it could be Eric Dailey’s night, it could be Kobe’s night, it could be Skyy’s night. That’s what I love about this team – everybody is ready when their name is called.”
on the Bruins making offensive adjustments
“All of the little things matter, especially when you’re going to big games like we have coming up. Making free throws. In the Arizona game we missed a lot of free throws. Limited turnovers, all the little things matter in those types of games, because those could be the points that you needed to win.”
on defensive adjustments
“We were trying to limit our fouls, we kept fouling towards the end of the game and stopping the clock. The main thing for us was to be in the gaps because they’re a driving team, and sometimes we failed at it.”
Prairie View Head Coach Byron Smith
overall statement
“That’s a heck of a basketball team. I’ve known Mick a very long time. That team is very talented. They have length and shooting. I think they are going to make a really good run in March and possibly compete for a championship. They really have everything.”
on which athletes stood out in tonight’s game
“Jordan Tillmon and also Nick Anderson. Nick was our leading scorer in conference all [last] season. We were just really out-manned tonight, but our team effort was a positive for me.”
on how they will build from this contest
“I don’t think we will see a team like this. We have two non-conference games coming up against Rice and Oklahoma. Those teams are good, but we won’t see a team like this [UCLA]. We also scored 75 points tonight and UCLA was holding teams to 59. We just won’t see this type of size in our conference.”