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Postgame Quotes – UCLA 71, Oregon 63
POSTGAME QUOTES
UCLA 71, Oregon 63
Los Angeles, Calif. (Pauley Pavilion)
February 3, 2024
Mick Cronin, The Michael Price Family UCLA Men’s Head Basketball Coach
opening statement
“Obviously, we continue to grow as a team. They made a big run at us. I think they made five threes in a row in the first half. Their five made threes in the first half we consecutive. I’m pretty sure. Big part of our game plan – look, they’re shooting almost 42 percent in the Pac-12 from the three-point line, making 9.8 a game. So, I was unhappy with the fact that we started letting them make threes. We won the game because they only made one in the second half. They’ve been lighting it up from the three-point line and they shoot it from multiple positions. Even tonight, they only had six makes, but they had four different guys make a three. Really, everybody 1-4 on their team shoots the ball. Again, we outrebound our opponents. Three straight wins. Fifteen, 14 and 11 offensive rebounds in our last three games, I’m pretty sure. Double-figure offensive rebounds. So, we’re plus-six rebounding and we’re plus-three in the turnover department. You get more possessions than your opponent. You don’t need to be an econ major at UCLA to figure out you got a better chance to win. But that takes effort to take care of the ball, turn them over and outrebound them. So I just think we’re learning what winning effort it is. There’s a difference between effort and winning effort. We played smart down the stretch. Really smart defensively. Our guys knew we had fouls to give, so we were aggressive closing off their drives. Berke [Buyuktuncel] took a charge. We got some strips. We were sitting on two fouls to give still. We communicated that to them in the last five minutes. Just playing smarter. Obviously, Dylan [Andrews] continues. Twenty-one [points] and seven [assists]. Dylan continues to grow as a player. Their pick and roll coverage, they kind of give you that shot. Caleb Love had 37 on them. They dropped [N’Faly] Dante really deep. Tyger [Campbell] had 28 last year against that drop defense. Dylan made nine baskets against it tonight. We had different guys step up. Adem [Bona] is such a huge factor even though his stats don’t show it tonight. He was dominant early, then obviously he got in foul trouble.”
on UCLA’s finishing run to end the game
“Yeah, you got to have the last one [run]. Got to have the last one. They’re running around out there with -- [Jermaine] Couisnard is 25 [years old]. Fifth-year. You’re running around out there with fourth or fifth-year guys who have played 140 or 150 college games. So, [Brennan] Rigsby. Multiple guys like that. [Mahamadou] Diawara. I think our guys was just learning how to compete against older players. But you got to have the last one [run]. I knew it was fool’s gold early. They got too much talent. They got guys who can put the ball in the basket. We did a great job on Jermaine Couisnard. He’s their leading scorer and he’s put a lot of points on a lot of people this year. For him to only make one basket.”
on Aday Mara’s performance
“I thought Aday played great. His two post moves in the first half just rolled out on him. If you guys saw practice, you could see the frustration on every guy that tries to guard him because he makes every one of those. But he’s just young, it happens. [N’Faly] Dante is five years older than him at least. Aday doesn’t turn 19 until I think it’s April 7th or 8th. Dylan got him a couple great lob passes and he continues to get better. I told you guys this when we were struggling. People wanted me to pile on the guys and start talking about our talent and all that type of stuff. We got great guys on the team and if you got guys that will listen, you just got to keep working with them. Aday Mara has a great attitude. I know a lot of people that said he was going to come here for one year. But he didn’t put that expectation on himself. And the truth is everybody that was around him told me that he was going to need multiple years here. The problem is other people write that stuff that make everybody think he’s going to be able to dominate and be a lottery pick. He didn’t think that. And I know the people – his parents didn’t think that. I know [Javier Mara], his dad who played in Spain, he definitely didn’t think that. Even though his English is bad, he communicated that to me pretty well. He continues to improve. … It’s a long year, guys. Long year. Everybody wants to rush to judgment. You got to give kids a chance to develop. And when they’re good kids, and they’ll listen, you got a chance as a coach.”
on Dylan Andrews and Sebastian Mack down the stretch
“They’re great. Again, their pick and roll coverage, they were giving them opportunities with their pick and roll coverage. After Aday catches a few lobs, then the big man is really backing up and giving them the shots. And they were doing a great job of reading [N’Faly] Dante. Once Aday got a few lobs, Dante was backing up and giving those guys the shot. They did a great job with that. I think the only one they missed, Sebastian got fouled on. They just didn’t call it.”
on UCLA closing out the game strong
“Well, you just got to have the last run. Again, you got to be in these type of games. You can look back and say hindsight 20-20. Trust me – because I do, it’s really hard for me to sleep – I have to remind myself that you probably had to go through the stuff we went through to get to where we are now as much you wish you could rewind. Like I mentioned to you, I could rattle off: the first time we played them [Oregon], Ohio State, Villanova, Marquette. Those all could have been wins. But again, you’re playing with a team that lost their five leading scorers from last year. You got to give kids a chance to grow.”
on Lazar Stefanovic’s performance
“Well, his rebounding has been unbelievably impressive. The only thing I’ll tell you I take credit for is I told him when he came here, because I know he’s athletic, and the difference is where he played that he just went back on defense. With his size and his athleticism, when the shot goes up and you play for me, if you’re not the point guard, you go get it. He’s just done a great job all year with his rebounding.”
UCLA freshman guard Sebastian Mack
on responding to Oregon’s comeback vs Arizona’s
"I would just say we were more calm. We’ve been in that situation before, and we know that last time, we took a loss on that one. So we went and practiced and we went over it, and we realized we just needed to be calm and be relaxed, and be a team, and we’d be able to get through it.”
on setting the tone for the game
“I feel like that’s what we needed. Just coming out there with a dog mentality, that right there, just taking steps, keep on going, down to the end of the game. I feel like, just like that, and us playing together as a unit, that’s what got us the W right there.”
on dealing with an injury
“Everybody’s beat up, I’m just one of many. I’m gonna be alright, just keep working on it, getting better.”
on playing defense down the stretch
“With a team like that, you don’t want to let them go. You want to limit them to as many possessions of scoring as you can.”
on the best part of winning in front of the Pauley Pavilion crowd
“Winning and being together as a unit. For me, I’m loving it right now.”
UCLA junior guard Lazar Stefanovic
on building momentum in the last few games
“It feels much, much better. We were in a tough spot, we needed to respond, and when that happened, we came together, and we decided that we needed to get better. On the court, we needed to get the job done. I think that’s the biggest thing. We stick together, we didn’t just go everybody to their side. We believe in each other, and we’ve started growing.”
on responding to their 40-point loss to Utah
“As I said before, we were in a really bad spot, so we had to respond. I guess, maybe, it made us respond. You can create a story, whatever you want, right now, but it happened, and we responded to it, and we’re playing much, much better now.”
on playing defense down the stretch
“Dylan said it, our focus was on stops. That’s what we were saying in the huddles, that we have got to get stops. It’s a lot easier to play offense when you get the stops, when you get the pressure that you’ve got to score. It gets the pressure off your back, you get to play a little bit more freely, and the shots go in.
on the best part of winning in front of the Pauley Pavilion crowd
“Thanks for the fans who’ve showed up. They helped us a lot today.”
UCLA sophomore guard Dylan Andrews
on building momentum in the last few games
“It just felt like we have a new team, especially, a lot of freshmen, a lot of young guys, and I feel like we have to learn how to finish off games, how to finish a college basketball game. That’s what I wanted to get out there, for sure. Just finish the games.”
on ending the game on a scoring run
“Our main goal, you know, it was good to see the ball go into the basket, of course, but I feel like our whole team was more focused on getting stops, finishing the possession, defensive rebounding, whatever happens on offense, making sure we capitalize on this because we just got the stops. That was our main focus right there.”
on what’s changed in his last few games
“Just being more confident on the court, really just letting the game align. My teammates trust me, my coaches trust me. I feel like confidence has been a big part of the way I’ve been playing.”
on his in-game communication with Coach Cronin
“I feel like I do that every game.”
on throwing lobs to Aday Mara
“Aday is a special player, especially being 18 years old. His IQ is beyond his years. Being a seven-footer, he can come off the screen, and just get to the basket, and you can throw it anywhere, he’ll grab it and put it right back in the basket. Just having that type of presence on the court helps out a lot, helps open the floor up, and other people are going to be open as well.”
Oregon Head Coach Dana Altman
opening statement
“We had three open shots at the end, but we just didn’t hit them and we didn’t get the stops. We didn’t execute the way the scouting report said. We were just saying to ourselves, ‘if they [UCLA[ didn’t get that one rebound…’”
on the team’s overall execution
“It really hasn’t happened this whole season. Bam [Jadrian Tracey] has hit some shots, but we just need to make the stops. Like I said, they made their stops and we didn’t.”
on what needs to change with the team
“I have to get them to guard better. Our perimeter guys need to be more active. That’s just all on me. All the guys just have to be active. We turned the ball over five times. There are no excuses. We just didn’t get it done. We can’t worry about the past games. We have nine games remaining, five at home, four on the road—we have to make it happen.”
on where they go from here
“We have to watch film and try to get better. We just didn’t give ourselves a chance tonight. We had good looks, but we had turnovers. We just didn’t get it done.”
UCLA 71, Oregon 63
Los Angeles, Calif. (Pauley Pavilion)
February 3, 2024
Mick Cronin, The Michael Price Family UCLA Men’s Head Basketball Coach
opening statement
“Obviously, we continue to grow as a team. They made a big run at us. I think they made five threes in a row in the first half. Their five made threes in the first half we consecutive. I’m pretty sure. Big part of our game plan – look, they’re shooting almost 42 percent in the Pac-12 from the three-point line, making 9.8 a game. So, I was unhappy with the fact that we started letting them make threes. We won the game because they only made one in the second half. They’ve been lighting it up from the three-point line and they shoot it from multiple positions. Even tonight, they only had six makes, but they had four different guys make a three. Really, everybody 1-4 on their team shoots the ball. Again, we outrebound our opponents. Three straight wins. Fifteen, 14 and 11 offensive rebounds in our last three games, I’m pretty sure. Double-figure offensive rebounds. So, we’re plus-six rebounding and we’re plus-three in the turnover department. You get more possessions than your opponent. You don’t need to be an econ major at UCLA to figure out you got a better chance to win. But that takes effort to take care of the ball, turn them over and outrebound them. So I just think we’re learning what winning effort it is. There’s a difference between effort and winning effort. We played smart down the stretch. Really smart defensively. Our guys knew we had fouls to give, so we were aggressive closing off their drives. Berke [Buyuktuncel] took a charge. We got some strips. We were sitting on two fouls to give still. We communicated that to them in the last five minutes. Just playing smarter. Obviously, Dylan [Andrews] continues. Twenty-one [points] and seven [assists]. Dylan continues to grow as a player. Their pick and roll coverage, they kind of give you that shot. Caleb Love had 37 on them. They dropped [N’Faly] Dante really deep. Tyger [Campbell] had 28 last year against that drop defense. Dylan made nine baskets against it tonight. We had different guys step up. Adem [Bona] is such a huge factor even though his stats don’t show it tonight. He was dominant early, then obviously he got in foul trouble.”
on UCLA’s finishing run to end the game
“Yeah, you got to have the last one [run]. Got to have the last one. They’re running around out there with -- [Jermaine] Couisnard is 25 [years old]. Fifth-year. You’re running around out there with fourth or fifth-year guys who have played 140 or 150 college games. So, [Brennan] Rigsby. Multiple guys like that. [Mahamadou] Diawara. I think our guys was just learning how to compete against older players. But you got to have the last one [run]. I knew it was fool’s gold early. They got too much talent. They got guys who can put the ball in the basket. We did a great job on Jermaine Couisnard. He’s their leading scorer and he’s put a lot of points on a lot of people this year. For him to only make one basket.”
on Aday Mara’s performance
“I thought Aday played great. His two post moves in the first half just rolled out on him. If you guys saw practice, you could see the frustration on every guy that tries to guard him because he makes every one of those. But he’s just young, it happens. [N’Faly] Dante is five years older than him at least. Aday doesn’t turn 19 until I think it’s April 7th or 8th. Dylan got him a couple great lob passes and he continues to get better. I told you guys this when we were struggling. People wanted me to pile on the guys and start talking about our talent and all that type of stuff. We got great guys on the team and if you got guys that will listen, you just got to keep working with them. Aday Mara has a great attitude. I know a lot of people that said he was going to come here for one year. But he didn’t put that expectation on himself. And the truth is everybody that was around him told me that he was going to need multiple years here. The problem is other people write that stuff that make everybody think he’s going to be able to dominate and be a lottery pick. He didn’t think that. And I know the people – his parents didn’t think that. I know [Javier Mara], his dad who played in Spain, he definitely didn’t think that. Even though his English is bad, he communicated that to me pretty well. He continues to improve. … It’s a long year, guys. Long year. Everybody wants to rush to judgment. You got to give kids a chance to develop. And when they’re good kids, and they’ll listen, you got a chance as a coach.”
on Dylan Andrews and Sebastian Mack down the stretch
“They’re great. Again, their pick and roll coverage, they were giving them opportunities with their pick and roll coverage. After Aday catches a few lobs, then the big man is really backing up and giving them the shots. And they were doing a great job of reading [N’Faly] Dante. Once Aday got a few lobs, Dante was backing up and giving those guys the shot. They did a great job with that. I think the only one they missed, Sebastian got fouled on. They just didn’t call it.”
on UCLA closing out the game strong
“Well, you just got to have the last run. Again, you got to be in these type of games. You can look back and say hindsight 20-20. Trust me – because I do, it’s really hard for me to sleep – I have to remind myself that you probably had to go through the stuff we went through to get to where we are now as much you wish you could rewind. Like I mentioned to you, I could rattle off: the first time we played them [Oregon], Ohio State, Villanova, Marquette. Those all could have been wins. But again, you’re playing with a team that lost their five leading scorers from last year. You got to give kids a chance to grow.”
on Lazar Stefanovic’s performance
“Well, his rebounding has been unbelievably impressive. The only thing I’ll tell you I take credit for is I told him when he came here, because I know he’s athletic, and the difference is where he played that he just went back on defense. With his size and his athleticism, when the shot goes up and you play for me, if you’re not the point guard, you go get it. He’s just done a great job all year with his rebounding.”
UCLA freshman guard Sebastian Mack
on responding to Oregon’s comeback vs Arizona’s
"I would just say we were more calm. We’ve been in that situation before, and we know that last time, we took a loss on that one. So we went and practiced and we went over it, and we realized we just needed to be calm and be relaxed, and be a team, and we’d be able to get through it.”
on setting the tone for the game
“I feel like that’s what we needed. Just coming out there with a dog mentality, that right there, just taking steps, keep on going, down to the end of the game. I feel like, just like that, and us playing together as a unit, that’s what got us the W right there.”
on dealing with an injury
“Everybody’s beat up, I’m just one of many. I’m gonna be alright, just keep working on it, getting better.”
on playing defense down the stretch
“With a team like that, you don’t want to let them go. You want to limit them to as many possessions of scoring as you can.”
on the best part of winning in front of the Pauley Pavilion crowd
“Winning and being together as a unit. For me, I’m loving it right now.”
UCLA junior guard Lazar Stefanovic
on building momentum in the last few games
“It feels much, much better. We were in a tough spot, we needed to respond, and when that happened, we came together, and we decided that we needed to get better. On the court, we needed to get the job done. I think that’s the biggest thing. We stick together, we didn’t just go everybody to their side. We believe in each other, and we’ve started growing.”
on responding to their 40-point loss to Utah
“As I said before, we were in a really bad spot, so we had to respond. I guess, maybe, it made us respond. You can create a story, whatever you want, right now, but it happened, and we responded to it, and we’re playing much, much better now.”
on playing defense down the stretch
“Dylan said it, our focus was on stops. That’s what we were saying in the huddles, that we have got to get stops. It’s a lot easier to play offense when you get the stops, when you get the pressure that you’ve got to score. It gets the pressure off your back, you get to play a little bit more freely, and the shots go in.
on the best part of winning in front of the Pauley Pavilion crowd
“Thanks for the fans who’ve showed up. They helped us a lot today.”
UCLA sophomore guard Dylan Andrews
on building momentum in the last few games
“It just felt like we have a new team, especially, a lot of freshmen, a lot of young guys, and I feel like we have to learn how to finish off games, how to finish a college basketball game. That’s what I wanted to get out there, for sure. Just finish the games.”
on ending the game on a scoring run
“Our main goal, you know, it was good to see the ball go into the basket, of course, but I feel like our whole team was more focused on getting stops, finishing the possession, defensive rebounding, whatever happens on offense, making sure we capitalize on this because we just got the stops. That was our main focus right there.”
on what’s changed in his last few games
“Just being more confident on the court, really just letting the game align. My teammates trust me, my coaches trust me. I feel like confidence has been a big part of the way I’ve been playing.”
on his in-game communication with Coach Cronin
“I feel like I do that every game.”
on throwing lobs to Aday Mara
“Aday is a special player, especially being 18 years old. His IQ is beyond his years. Being a seven-footer, he can come off the screen, and just get to the basket, and you can throw it anywhere, he’ll grab it and put it right back in the basket. Just having that type of presence on the court helps out a lot, helps open the floor up, and other people are going to be open as well.”
Oregon Head Coach Dana Altman
opening statement
“We had three open shots at the end, but we just didn’t hit them and we didn’t get the stops. We didn’t execute the way the scouting report said. We were just saying to ourselves, ‘if they [UCLA[ didn’t get that one rebound…’”
on the team’s overall execution
“It really hasn’t happened this whole season. Bam [Jadrian Tracey] has hit some shots, but we just need to make the stops. Like I said, they made their stops and we didn’t.”
on what needs to change with the team
“I have to get them to guard better. Our perimeter guys need to be more active. That’s just all on me. All the guys just have to be active. We turned the ball over five times. There are no excuses. We just didn’t get it done. We can’t worry about the past games. We have nine games remaining, five at home, four on the road—we have to make it happen.”
on where they go from here
“We have to watch film and try to get better. We just didn’t give ourselves a chance tonight. We had good looks, but we had turnovers. We just didn’t get it done.”