.png&width=32&height=32&type=webp)
Postgame Quotes – Washington 94, UCLA 77
POSTGAME QUOTES
Washington 94, UCLA 77
Seattle, Wash. (Alaska Airlines Arena)
February 29, 2024
Mick Cronin, The Michael Price Family UCLA Men's Head Basketball Coach
on Washington shooting so efficiently from 3-point range
“We let them get on a roll, and We tried to give certain guys a chance to play and they immediately come in and let their man shoot. Just wildly disappointed with our lack of toughness. Now look, they don’t shoot the ball well, and they did tonight. So it creates problems because Wheeler is so fast. Now, we started it with a lack of intensity. We don’t have a guy who is tough enough. We lack toughness, when people pull our whole card, we struggled. USC pulled our whole card. They checked inside us, and we found out what happened there, this team did it tonight. Toughness wins, people wonder why I talk about stuff like that, it just does. Competitive toughness. That is a reason why they shot so tough. When we get a stop, just push someone out of the way and grab a rebound, and we want to turn and look at the ref for a foul. After a film session and talking about what happened against USC, we’ve just got too many guys making excuses.”
on the second loss in as many games
“I mean for me, it is what it is. I’m coaching the best I can with this group, obviously preparing going forward. I’m giving them everything I got, but I can’t play for them. You get on the road and you better be ready to defend. You can’t let a team like that make shots at home. If I told you that we had 18 assists and four turnovers and shot 45 percent from the field, you would say we would have won. That wasn’t a Mick Cronin team out there tonight. We looked soft all night, so very frustrating.”
on his team’s quick turnaround to play at Washington State
“I’m really not worried about that right now. I’m trying to figure out who I can build a program with, that’s what I told them. You can’t build your program without fight, it has nothing to do with making shots. All we talked about was don’t look at the scoreboard, I don’t care about the score, that’s not how winners build programs. You care about things you can control, your effort, your attitude, your focus on the game plan, and being tough and being physical. If the ball does not go in, it does not go in. Nobody is trying to miss shots, but right now we have to be able to do hard things, and you have to be able to get guys that want to do hard things, that it is kind of in their nature. Miami saw that in Jaime [Jaquez Jr.]. They were smart enough to see that. Of course, maybe that is always why they are so good. I saw it when I recruited Jaylen Clark too.”
UCLA sophomore Dylan Andrews
on Washington’s hot shooting
“You have to make shots in your home gym. It was just us, I feel like we weren’t on the same page. Mentally, we did not come into this game prepared, and Washington was hungry. We beat them at Pauley Pavilion, I feel like they hit us first.”
on difficulty with guard Washington on Thursday
“Just miscommunication on plays, leaving shooters wide-open like leaving #13 wide open, he’s a known shooter. Leaving Brooks wide open, those plays killed us and we allowed that to happen.”
on his role in helping out this team’s freshmen
“We have to talk to the guys, we always have conversations. Just knowing that even though it has been a tough season, the season is not over, we still have the Pac-12 Conference [Tournament]. We still have a couple of more games to worry about. We play everyone as hard as we can and the guys know that.”
Washington 94, UCLA 77
Seattle, Wash. (Alaska Airlines Arena)
February 29, 2024
Mick Cronin, The Michael Price Family UCLA Men's Head Basketball Coach
on Washington shooting so efficiently from 3-point range
“We let them get on a roll, and We tried to give certain guys a chance to play and they immediately come in and let their man shoot. Just wildly disappointed with our lack of toughness. Now look, they don’t shoot the ball well, and they did tonight. So it creates problems because Wheeler is so fast. Now, we started it with a lack of intensity. We don’t have a guy who is tough enough. We lack toughness, when people pull our whole card, we struggled. USC pulled our whole card. They checked inside us, and we found out what happened there, this team did it tonight. Toughness wins, people wonder why I talk about stuff like that, it just does. Competitive toughness. That is a reason why they shot so tough. When we get a stop, just push someone out of the way and grab a rebound, and we want to turn and look at the ref for a foul. After a film session and talking about what happened against USC, we’ve just got too many guys making excuses.”
on the second loss in as many games
“I mean for me, it is what it is. I’m coaching the best I can with this group, obviously preparing going forward. I’m giving them everything I got, but I can’t play for them. You get on the road and you better be ready to defend. You can’t let a team like that make shots at home. If I told you that we had 18 assists and four turnovers and shot 45 percent from the field, you would say we would have won. That wasn’t a Mick Cronin team out there tonight. We looked soft all night, so very frustrating.”
on his team’s quick turnaround to play at Washington State
“I’m really not worried about that right now. I’m trying to figure out who I can build a program with, that’s what I told them. You can’t build your program without fight, it has nothing to do with making shots. All we talked about was don’t look at the scoreboard, I don’t care about the score, that’s not how winners build programs. You care about things you can control, your effort, your attitude, your focus on the game plan, and being tough and being physical. If the ball does not go in, it does not go in. Nobody is trying to miss shots, but right now we have to be able to do hard things, and you have to be able to get guys that want to do hard things, that it is kind of in their nature. Miami saw that in Jaime [Jaquez Jr.]. They were smart enough to see that. Of course, maybe that is always why they are so good. I saw it when I recruited Jaylen Clark too.”
UCLA sophomore Dylan Andrews
on Washington’s hot shooting
“You have to make shots in your home gym. It was just us, I feel like we weren’t on the same page. Mentally, we did not come into this game prepared, and Washington was hungry. We beat them at Pauley Pavilion, I feel like they hit us first.”
on difficulty with guard Washington on Thursday
“Just miscommunication on plays, leaving shooters wide-open like leaving #13 wide open, he’s a known shooter. Leaving Brooks wide open, those plays killed us and we allowed that to happen.”
on his role in helping out this team’s freshmen
“We have to talk to the guys, we always have conversations. Just knowing that even though it has been a tough season, the season is not over, we still have the Pac-12 Conference [Tournament]. We still have a couple of more games to worry about. We play everyone as hard as we can and the guys know that.”