Postgame Quotes – UCLA 82, Stanford 74
POSTGAME QUOTES
UCLA 82, Stanford 74
Stanford, Calif. (Maples Pavilion)
February 7, 2024
Mick Cronin, The Michael Price Family UCLA Men’s Head Basketball Coach
on the Bruins’ contributions from several players off the bench
“Yeah, again, you know you have to get contributions from guys, I’m happy for those guys because they put a lot of time in, and practice, just as much as the guys that play more minutes. So you know, alert and aware is what we try to talk about on defense, especially when you're playing a team that's so tricky on offense. You have to be alert and aware and try to make get your hand on the ball, because they can confuse you pretty easily. Kenny was really alert and aware on that play, got his hand in, he not only deflected it, he recovered it as well. We've been working with Aday, working with his shooting, getting more arc on the ball.”
on the 3-pointers on both ends of the floor
“Yeah look, I mean, we win 33 to 12 [points from 3-pointers]. So, it's nice to be on the positive end of a 21-point difference. Our game plan was to do everything we could to eliminate their 3-point shooting.”
on what makes Stanford tricky to play against
“You have to find them early. Jerod Haase has done a good job with this particular Stanford team, they run the transition. They spread out. They just have so many shooters. We tried to stay attached to the Jones, we call them the Jones brothers, and try to stay attached to those guys. Try to be as accurate as we can with our hands, so they can't throw the ball quickly to the shooter – at least, that is what we tried to do.”
on his team’s 3-point shooting
“We try to play through Adem, it's no secret. We're better when we do. I mean he's 5-for-10 and he could easily have been 10-for-10. He usually makes all 10 of those, but he just draws so much attention. He puts a lot of pressure on the other team's defense. You want to double him, he becomes a really good passer. You got guys out there playing, his ball movement has greatly improved as the season has gone on.”
on Adem Bona’s play from last season to this season
“Adem is one of the best big men in college basketball, he’s a great athlete with unbelievable attitude, he’s just a great person. He fouls to much. Everybody's strength is their weakness, always, and his aggression is a strength at times, and sometimes it's his weakness and foul trouble. He's got an unbelievable future. Berke Buyuktuncel is playing catch up. It's been tough on Berke because he missed the summer, two months of practice with us because he had to play for the national team, which I support, but it put him behind because college basketball is very different than FIBA. For our international kids, it's a huge adjustment. Then he had a high ankle sprain and he missed three weeks, and then he hurt his hand and missed another seven to 10 days. He's literally in those three months of practice. It's been a hard adjustment for him. But he's got a world of talent, and it's just a matter of time before it shows. His hand is pretty banged up, he's just playing hurt.”
on how the team has gelled since the first Stanford game
“We've definitely grown offensively. We've grown offensively, we've got an identity with who our shooters are looking to shoot, we're looking to throw the ball to Adem, Dylan off the pick and roll. So, we've developed an offensive identity, and I just think we've learned to play hard the whole game. We have lost our top five scores from last year. We play hard and in spurts. But the mark of a good team is they played better defense as the game goes on. They turn it over less in the second half, and that's how I’ve won a lot of games for a long time. I'm getting old man, 21st year as a head coach. We only had nine turnovers on the road and forced 15, that gives you a real chance to win.”
on Sebastian Mack missing a few free throws tonight
“That happens. I tell you, they’re still young and there are a few times where Sebastian misses free throws and Adem missed a chip shot, and we get a look on our face, they get down on themselves, and you can't do that. That's what young teams do. You have to square your jaw and you have to want to get back to the foul line and make the next one. You have to want to get the ball back in the post and make them next one because it affects you, it definitely affects you. We're trying to make teams pick their poison. We have found our offensive identity, you can see as we didn't have one for a while, pretty obvious. But we're playing hard for 40 minutes now. Our team spirit is much better, our resolve is much better.”
UCLA sophomore forward Adem Bona
on minimizing Stanford’s shooters
“We knew one of their strengths is making triples, they have two great shooters in Michael Jones and Spencer Jones. We know if we take their shot away and make them do something else to make them go to the second option we will be successful. We stuck with our philosophy, getting the ball in and out, made some open threes, and whipped the ball around. We knew what to take away from them and move the ball in and out and get shots. The game plan worked out today.”
on UCLA’s four-game winning streak
“I wouldn’t say we are invincible, we are humble. We went through a tough spell at the beginning of the year, and we knew it wasn’t going to be fun if we kept going like that. We grew a lot and started playing harder.”
on what he has enjoyed the most during the winning streak
“I would say it’s the growth. Coming into the year I had a big role ahead of me, we have a bunch of young guys. We talked about how this was going to be a process, and I’m just excited to see that it’s coming together. When you work hard and you give 100 percent, it’s exciting to see the end result.”
UCLA redshirt sophomore guard Will McClendon
on how he was able to get so many good looks on the offensive end
“Adem Bona is a force down low and we kind of try to play inside out. He’s is going to draw a lot of attention and create different opportunities for our guards. The coaches have been really on us about being ready to shoot and it showed. We were ready to shoot and they were able to go in today.”
on the Bruins’ defensive stops
“They have a lot of shooters, they can shoot the ball really well. We've been working on getting high hands and being ready for their shots. They're a good shooting team and it showed today.”
on UCLA’s productive bench play
“We need everybody to be successful. So today it was Kenny [Nwuba] and Aday Mara. They were both ready and we needed both of those plays. We needed both of those free throws to go in and that's a big stop on someone who's really good down there in the post. It was huge for us.”
on what the best part of the four-game winning streak has been
“I think it's all about being the underdog and having that grit coming in to every game. A lot of people have been counting us out. We had a rocky start and I think just coming in, being together, and kind of being an underdog having a little chip on our shoulder.”
on former UCLA center Myles Johnson being in attendance
“Myles was actually my roommate my very first year, so it was great seeing Myles here. Wonderful guy, super smart, love Myles.”
UCLA 82, Stanford 74
Stanford, Calif. (Maples Pavilion)
February 7, 2024
Mick Cronin, The Michael Price Family UCLA Men’s Head Basketball Coach
on the Bruins’ contributions from several players off the bench
“Yeah, again, you know you have to get contributions from guys, I’m happy for those guys because they put a lot of time in, and practice, just as much as the guys that play more minutes. So you know, alert and aware is what we try to talk about on defense, especially when you're playing a team that's so tricky on offense. You have to be alert and aware and try to make get your hand on the ball, because they can confuse you pretty easily. Kenny was really alert and aware on that play, got his hand in, he not only deflected it, he recovered it as well. We've been working with Aday, working with his shooting, getting more arc on the ball.”
on the 3-pointers on both ends of the floor
“Yeah look, I mean, we win 33 to 12 [points from 3-pointers]. So, it's nice to be on the positive end of a 21-point difference. Our game plan was to do everything we could to eliminate their 3-point shooting.”
on what makes Stanford tricky to play against
“You have to find them early. Jerod Haase has done a good job with this particular Stanford team, they run the transition. They spread out. They just have so many shooters. We tried to stay attached to the Jones, we call them the Jones brothers, and try to stay attached to those guys. Try to be as accurate as we can with our hands, so they can't throw the ball quickly to the shooter – at least, that is what we tried to do.”
on his team’s 3-point shooting
“We try to play through Adem, it's no secret. We're better when we do. I mean he's 5-for-10 and he could easily have been 10-for-10. He usually makes all 10 of those, but he just draws so much attention. He puts a lot of pressure on the other team's defense. You want to double him, he becomes a really good passer. You got guys out there playing, his ball movement has greatly improved as the season has gone on.”
on Adem Bona’s play from last season to this season
“Adem is one of the best big men in college basketball, he’s a great athlete with unbelievable attitude, he’s just a great person. He fouls to much. Everybody's strength is their weakness, always, and his aggression is a strength at times, and sometimes it's his weakness and foul trouble. He's got an unbelievable future. Berke Buyuktuncel is playing catch up. It's been tough on Berke because he missed the summer, two months of practice with us because he had to play for the national team, which I support, but it put him behind because college basketball is very different than FIBA. For our international kids, it's a huge adjustment. Then he had a high ankle sprain and he missed three weeks, and then he hurt his hand and missed another seven to 10 days. He's literally in those three months of practice. It's been a hard adjustment for him. But he's got a world of talent, and it's just a matter of time before it shows. His hand is pretty banged up, he's just playing hurt.”
on how the team has gelled since the first Stanford game
“We've definitely grown offensively. We've grown offensively, we've got an identity with who our shooters are looking to shoot, we're looking to throw the ball to Adem, Dylan off the pick and roll. So, we've developed an offensive identity, and I just think we've learned to play hard the whole game. We have lost our top five scores from last year. We play hard and in spurts. But the mark of a good team is they played better defense as the game goes on. They turn it over less in the second half, and that's how I’ve won a lot of games for a long time. I'm getting old man, 21st year as a head coach. We only had nine turnovers on the road and forced 15, that gives you a real chance to win.”
on Sebastian Mack missing a few free throws tonight
“That happens. I tell you, they’re still young and there are a few times where Sebastian misses free throws and Adem missed a chip shot, and we get a look on our face, they get down on themselves, and you can't do that. That's what young teams do. You have to square your jaw and you have to want to get back to the foul line and make the next one. You have to want to get the ball back in the post and make them next one because it affects you, it definitely affects you. We're trying to make teams pick their poison. We have found our offensive identity, you can see as we didn't have one for a while, pretty obvious. But we're playing hard for 40 minutes now. Our team spirit is much better, our resolve is much better.”
UCLA sophomore forward Adem Bona
on minimizing Stanford’s shooters
“We knew one of their strengths is making triples, they have two great shooters in Michael Jones and Spencer Jones. We know if we take their shot away and make them do something else to make them go to the second option we will be successful. We stuck with our philosophy, getting the ball in and out, made some open threes, and whipped the ball around. We knew what to take away from them and move the ball in and out and get shots. The game plan worked out today.”
on UCLA’s four-game winning streak
“I wouldn’t say we are invincible, we are humble. We went through a tough spell at the beginning of the year, and we knew it wasn’t going to be fun if we kept going like that. We grew a lot and started playing harder.”
on what he has enjoyed the most during the winning streak
“I would say it’s the growth. Coming into the year I had a big role ahead of me, we have a bunch of young guys. We talked about how this was going to be a process, and I’m just excited to see that it’s coming together. When you work hard and you give 100 percent, it’s exciting to see the end result.”
UCLA redshirt sophomore guard Will McClendon
on how he was able to get so many good looks on the offensive end
“Adem Bona is a force down low and we kind of try to play inside out. He’s is going to draw a lot of attention and create different opportunities for our guards. The coaches have been really on us about being ready to shoot and it showed. We were ready to shoot and they were able to go in today.”
on the Bruins’ defensive stops
“They have a lot of shooters, they can shoot the ball really well. We've been working on getting high hands and being ready for their shots. They're a good shooting team and it showed today.”
on UCLA’s productive bench play
“We need everybody to be successful. So today it was Kenny [Nwuba] and Aday Mara. They were both ready and we needed both of those plays. We needed both of those free throws to go in and that's a big stop on someone who's really good down there in the post. It was huge for us.”
on what the best part of the four-game winning streak has been
“I think it's all about being the underdog and having that grit coming in to every game. A lot of people have been counting us out. We had a rocky start and I think just coming in, being together, and kind of being an underdog having a little chip on our shoulder.”
on former UCLA center Myles Johnson being in attendance
“Myles was actually my roommate my very first year, so it was great seeing Myles here. Wonderful guy, super smart, love Myles.”