Postgame Quotes – UCLA 67, Oregon State 57
POSTGAME QUOTES
UCLA 67, Oregon State 57
Las Vegas, Nev. (T-Mobile Arena) – Pac-12 Tournament First Round
March 13, 2024
Mick Cronin, The Michael Price Family UCLA Men's Head Basketball Coach
opening statement
“Congratulations to Oregon State. Extremely young team. Probably the youngest in the country. The only team we play younger than us. Their kids play hard. Wayne's a great guy. Congratulations on their season. Obviously Dylan was unbelievable tonight – 11-for-15, 31 points. I tell these guys all the time that if you'll just play as hard as you can and work as hard as you can, results eventually come if you have talent. So he and I have been on a journey all year to replace Tyger and figure out how he can be him instead of Tyger – and just getting used to playing a lot of minutes. And he's gotten really comfortable in the last month, outside of the USC game – was a tough night for all of us, me included. We both had an off night that night. But other than that, he's been great. Our defense was excellent. And that was key to the game. You look really good when a guy gets 31 or more. It's a lot easier play calling. But I'll let you guys talk to them.”
on Andrews’ big performances over the last couple weeks
“Just not giving up. All I ask him to do is continue to play as hard as you can and work as hard as you can. He referenced it a little bit, and I'm sure he didn't go all into the pressure of the situation he was put in this year. And let's be honest, I would have loved to have got more around him to make it easier on him – some older guys. Nothing against anybody else. But that's the way it shook out as you know. So I put him in a tough spot. But it's obviously, adversity creates opportunity, too. But some people wilt under it, as you know. There's a lot of guys that get drafted, number one. And they hand them the starting job as a quarterback and they don't last two years. You're talking to a guy that grew up in Cincinnati. I saw some of that in the '80s and '90s. So just because you get the opportunity, it can crush you as well. So he's done a great job of just showing up every day because there's been some lows, for all of us, as you know. But he's shown a lot of character.”
on the team’s play today
“I’ll tell you this, you've just got to keep trying to go back to the things I say. I told you we were going to shoot a low percentage, in a nice way, before the season started. Young teams shoot a low percentage. Players shoot a higher percentage every year as they get older. Now I want you to go back and look at Kobe Bryant's career. Giannis is shooting 60 percent this year. It's unbelievable. It's just a reality. It takes a while to get yourself comfortable and get your feet wet. And nothing is 100 percent, but that's pretty strong what I just gave you. Young players shoot a low percentage, and as they gain experience. But you're talking about technical tweaks? I try to work with him on taking his time. But you rush when you're young and jittery. That's the biggest thing he and I have worked on.”
on Brandon Williams asserting himself
“Much more assertive. We were struggling. Berke was out of it today. Tomorrow is another day. Aday was playing well. We had the lead, let's give it a shot. Bilodeau was out, so didn't have to deal with him making 3s. I don't want to mess his name up, but No. 12 doesn't shoot it as well as Bilodeau. We don't practice hardly at all at this point. But I mean it wasn't that long -- three minutes maybe, four minutes. But I think we might have stretched the lead out while they were in there. You see Aday's journey. He scores, looks great in the second half. College basketball is physical. I could sit there and say they were fouling him, but you could call a foul every play in the low post. He just fouled a guy, fouled a guy. He's got to get strong enough to deal with it. When he gets there, his skill level is awesome. If you allow people to foul him he's going to struggle. I'm not saying I'm upset with the officiating; it's just the way college basketball; they're fouling every play in the low post. You're allowed to bang the guy to death. It's every game in every league. It's not just this league. It's just college basketball.”
on guarding Oregon State’s Jordan Pope
“We did a decent job. He shook loose on a play, I'll have to see film. First half second Dylan hit him with the Wile E. Coyote, which way did he go? He was wide open. Somebody tried to switch, but it was too late. But Wayne runs a million things for him. But if you need a set play, he's your guy. He got a lot of sets, a lot of plays. I love him. Wayne is a great guy. We've become friends. I'm going to miss playing against him.”
on Adem Bona initially shouldering the offensive load and Dylan stepping up
“Every game we play is our last if we don't win. Now, starting next week that will be for the whole country. So our best players are going to have to play well. Lazar got going a little in the second half. We need to get more from him. I thought Will was gun shy. Sebastian obviously foul trouble, never got into the game. We're going to need all these guys to step up in different ways. What I would tell you is don't underestimate this, guys. They added this stat to the stat sheet – I don't know when, I'm getting old -- but Adem got fouled 10 times. That puts a lot of pressure on the defense. That goes into why Dylan's so open. I know he had a tough night with his turnovers but I throughout we threw him the ball in spots where we shouldn't have thrown him the ball. And he had that drive to start the game, and I think he thought he was going to be able to do that night. I told him they're not going to -- any coach will say, go steal the ball when a 6-10 guy dribbles. But he got fouled 10 times. That's a strong statistic. When you can put that many fouls on your opponent, get your team that [much] closer to the bonus and get guys in foul trouble – even in a night where he gets 17 and six and he's still not at his best night. I just really feel some day, with development, that the kid's going to be an unbelievable player when his skill and mind catches up to his effort and attitude and athleticism. He just needs time with it, which nobody wants to give anybody this day and age.”
UCLA sophomore guard Dylan Andrews
on his big game
“I wouldn't say ‘carry the team,’ but we're more focused on the defensive end of everything. So it was good to have the offense come, but our main focus was stopping Jordan Pope and Bilodeau. And I feel we did a pretty good job of that because those are two players that can get hot and streaky, and then can win the game for them. I feel we did a good job, and the offensive part just came by itself.”
on his matchup against Oregon State’s Jordan Pope
“Jordan Pope, he's a great player. I have been playing against him when he was at Prolific Prep and I was at AZ Compass. So just to see that we're at the next level here playing is dope and a blessing. All credit to him. He can really shoot. You've got to really be on him the whole entire time, so you don't know if he's going to drive it or step back and pull up. But I give credit to my team for sure just knowing that it's not one person guarding him. We have all five knowing that when he has the ball we've all got to be locked in.”
on his confidence in his game the last few months
“Just confidence is a big thing, I would say. And just my teammates. They talk to me every day in the locker room and stuff like that. And just knowing that they trust me and whatever decision I make, they're okay with that. That plays a big part as well. And just knowing right now it's win or go home for us. I'm going to give my all the whole entire time.”
on being himself and not trying to be others
“The journey of just not being Tyger, it's different being the point guard at UCLA. You're going to go through adversity. But Coach trusts me, my teammates trust me, and I trust them.”
UCLA sophomore forward Adem Bona
on Dylan Andrews’ big game
“No, I think we were just playing as a team, finding the open man, get them to kick it one more, if I'm not open in the post I pass it. If he's not open he passes it. It's just moving the ball and finding the open man and trying to get an open shot.”
on playing in the last Pac-12 Tournament
“I think it's really amazing because we play for a school that has a lot of history in the Pac-12. Representing the school for the last time and the last time we're ever going to play in the Pac-12 is really big. And we really want to leave our mark in the Pac-12 for the last time, so we're doing everything to carry on the school name.”
Oregon State head coach Wayne Tinkle
opening statement
“Tough finish. It's been a real grind, but I'm really proud of our group for all that they've endured in the process of rebuilding things for us at Oregon State. We talked about the days of us "just being competitive" are now behind us, after year two of our rebuild. We gave ourselves chances in a lot of games, including tonight, in the second half, after a very poor offensive performance in the first half, and we're just a play or two away from that thing going down to the wire. Credit UCLA with one of the best defensive teams in the league for a reason. And then the Andrews kid throwing some real daggers at us throughout the game, but especially down the stretch. So proud of the group, and we're going to just keep forging ahead. We know what we've got to do moving forward, and it's our challenge to get there.”
on Dylan Andrews’ big day
“He had some tough ones, but we've got to get better defensively because there were times when we closed up underneath him with our hands down. This is after he's hit three, four, five, you've got to make a shooter a driver. We mixed up. We went man-to-man a lot and still back-to-back possessions, gave up 3s in man to man, one to him and one to Stefanovic on a little of a flare where we lost them. We've got to get better and get more disciplined and get tougher as we build this thing. We obviously know there's areas we've got to address this spring, but I love that we fought. This is a team that manhandled us on the glass up in Corvallis. We gave up a few, but we really battled them on the boards. So there's some positives out of here. The second half, when we ran offense and executed and moved the ball, we scored against them. We scored 35 in the second half. I don't know if the first half was a little bit of jitters or what. It didn't help that there were a couple of fouls on Tyler early, but these guys battled, and they're going to learn from this. And I know it's going to be great -- going to continue to be a character builder moving forward.
on the run that his team made during the second half
“You know, obviously didn't get off, we got off to a good start. It was, like, 11-10 us. And then we went on a drought which we've done multiple times this year where it's dribble, dribble, dribble, dribble, hold it, hold it, hold it, the clock's running down, someone's got to hero up. We've learned enough lessons about that, and I thought we would maybe avoid that in the postseason. And I've got to give credit to UCLA. They stymied us. They trapped this guy a few times. We didn't get to our spots to expose it. But then the second half we played with much more energy on the defensive end, and then we ran offense. We executed. We executed out of timeouts. We got him, the first play of the second half. We executed our sets. And that got us back in. And then we had a couple of possessions where we went away from it, thinking we're rolling now. We can play a little bit more instead of sticking to the turns of the ball, screening hard, cutting hard. And defensively we lost a couple of guys. We weren't rebounding as well as I wanted to start the second half. We put in Justin Rochelin. Seven rebounds in the second half. Tip our cap to him for his effort. But we flowed offensively, we executed, and we played with much more energy on the defensive end and on the glass. That's how we got back into it. And a couple of possessions where we didn't rely on our defensive principles and they made us pay from 3.”
on the last Pac-12 game
“For the next couple of years. I purposely didn't want to think about that a whole lot. I'm kind of over my disgust and frustration and I want to celebrate. In fact, when I did the pregame talk with the network off the bus, I finished with thanking everybody behind the scenes, behind the camera and in front of the camera, because it was a hell of a ride. And it's a shame that we're in the position that we're in, to be quite honest. And I'll probably lament on that stuff now that we're done, but we wanted to keep our focus on the present. And it's a damn shame. We say damn this, damn that, because of beaver dams. It's a dam shame. But it is what it is. We've got to regroup. We've got to retool. And I love where we're going to take our program and we're excited about where we're going. And that's what our motivation is going to continue to be.”
on what the team needs to work on this spring
“Inside presence, defensively, offensively, rebounding, shot blocking, scoring. We need some more help out on the perimeter. We need to shoot it better. We need more guys that can play. And physical athleticism. And those are the things we've got to address. I don't want to count and throw out a number and be wrong, we had a lot of close games, like three-, four-possession games this year. And when we've got what we need, we win the majority of those, and we're not quite there yet. And we're going to need some help. We're going to need some help with today's landscape. With NIL and all that stuff, we got things rolling early at Oregon State, and then we had a year where we were devastated by injuries, year three. We didn't panic and we reached out to Beaver Nation for help. We needed a new locker room. And some former players and Charlie Sitton brought a bunch of guys and they got the momentum going. We redid our locker room. You saw what happened after that. Now we messed up a couple of years ago, after our run. We messed up that next year. We're committing to our young group to get there. We know we'll get there. We need Beaver Nation to jump on board again and have our backs, because we've proven a couple different times that we've rebuilt this thing. And we're taking the challenge to get there. Now that we've got two years under our belt, get there right now.”
on his daughter playing for Tara VanDerveer at Stanford, and his thoughts on Tara breaking the all-time wins record
“So fired up about that. Thanks for asking. My daughter loved her experience at Stanford. Got out of sales and marketing and get into coaching because it's in her blood and because of the inspiration she got from Tara and the rest of their staff. I wrote her a note after she broke the record. We're very close with her. I hope she holds that forever. I'll just say that. And what she's done, not just for the women's game, not just college basketball on both sides, I'm talking college athletics. She's an incredible woman and incredible humanitarian, and we all know she's Tara. She's one of the best ever.”
Oregon State sophomore guard Jordan Pope
on Andrews’ big day
“It was tough. Credit to him. There was a time we cut the game pretty close and he came back answered with a big shot to Adem or a shooter. Shots like that are demoralizing when you're fighting back, clawing back, you're almost there and one miscue on defense, one relapse, it can get out of your hands just like that. It's definitely tough. Gotta get back to the drawing board trying to figure out how we can fix that moving forward.”
Oregon State senior forward Dexter Akanno
on Andrews’ big day
“Yes, like Jordan said, we were trying to claw back, make it close after struggling a bit in the first half. And He hit some really big shots. Credit to him.”