Postgame Quotes - California 80, UCLA 72
POSTGAME QUOTES
California 80, UCLA 72
San Francisco, Calif. (Chase Center)
November 25, 2025
Mick Cronin, The Michael Price Family UCLA Men’s Head Basketball Coach
opening statement
“Congratulations to Mark [Madsen] and his team. If I was watching this game, I would have been a fan of their team. I thought they had a great attitude. This time in my life, it’s something I appreciate. They deserved to win. They came ready to play. We had some guys who did not – that’s on me. It is what is, congratulations. I don’t look at the score. We had 20 deflections. It’s a low, maybe a five-year low. I came in to Haas Pavilion with a bunch of freshmen, and they had an NBA player, we held them to 53 and won the game. But our team attitude was terrible – it’s been a problem for a month. It affects performance. Get in a ring against somebody that wants to fight, give them confidence early, you’re in for a fight, aside from the fact we cannot make a free throw.”
on the Bruins’ early 8-0 start against California
“I think that right now we are good if things go well. I don’t think we’re very good if things don’t go well, until we get some leadership on our team at the guard position. That would help, and not panic with the ball. Things didn’t go well. We tried to go one on five, get our shot blocked, get our fourth foul – we go one on five, and we get six or seven turnovers. When things don’t go well, we fold, we get soft and panic real quick. Although we are an older team, we lack a toughness right now. But our guys didn’t think this was going to be a game, in my opinion. In my opinion, they thought they were going to come in here and rah-rah-rah, they are just way better. That’s my opinion, everybody’s got one, right, that’s what they say”
on senior guard Donovan Dent’s performance
“Yeah look, I’m not happy with our performance, but I will take the blame. You guys can read the stat sheet, you saw the game. You make your own assessments. When it comes to the game, how we play is my responsibility.”
on if anything about California’s gameplan that surprised him
“No. Zero. Absolutely zero. Two of the last three games, coming in, they had made 15 threes, in two of their last three games. They ran exactly what we went over, to a T. I think that their attitude was better. Their toughness was much better. Their execution was better. That is because their attitude was better. They came to get a big win. Our guys thought it would be a walk in the park. That’s just my opinion.”
on the Bruins’ struggles at the free throw line in November
“Yeah, the month doesn’t matter. I mean, they should be able to make free throws in July. If you are playing at this level, you’d think that you would shoot the ball better at the foul line. But I would say, in my humble opinion, again, just my opinion, that they were pressured free throws. That’s a big difference. I would allude to my earlier statement that, we’ve had games where we shot 20 for 22 or something, but we were winning those games easy. But I think our team struggles to take a punch. I would say, we got a glass jaw if you were to describe us as a fighter. That goes into the missing free throws. I don’t think it’s skill at all, not from the guys that miss them.”
on what he does next when he feels like his team needs to be tougher
“All you can do is go back to work, that’s it. Just go back to work and start pounding nails. We’ll toughen up or it’s going to be a long year. You can’t have a glass jaw. That’s scary right now, for us. That’s got me nervous.”
on what he can do in a huddle to help guys with their attitude and toughness
“Well, we have some guys injured so I was a little limited in terms of who to put in. So, not a lot of options with some of that going on. But trying to just keep rallying guys – you’re trying to win the game. You worry about that stuff when you talk after the game and practice. You are trying to make adjustments in timeout huddles and win, and it starts with not fouling, starts with not giving the game away at the foul line. There was a time in the second half where we were minus 10 at the foul line, in the second half alone. Now, I know that we made a little comeback, we got to the foul line some. But, just trying to make adjustments, trying to get guys to stop fouling and get a lineup out there that could give us a chance to win, which I was struggling with. But that is what you are doing in timeout huddles.”
on having an older team and experience on this roster
“Not very smart team, though. Those older teams are smarter. We are struggling with that.”
on if that has surprised him with this team
“Yes, yes, very much so. Very much so. Disappointed and surprised, but I think again, back to the earlier question, in the reference to the glass jaw – it’s easy to play well, when life is going well and you are winning by 20, it’s easy. In my opinion, that has got a lot to do with it. You have to learn how to play in a real game and make real game decisions. We had a guy wide open, and Dent just throws the ball away. You’ve got two people and the guy is slipping, and he’s unguarded. We don’t go high, and we don’t go low. And you wonder why the steal it. We are just not good enough right now. I know that nobody wants to hear that, but you are not good enough. We’re not good enough to stop a team from getting 80 points. Not good enough.”
UCLA junior Eric Dailey Jr.
on if the team entered the game with too casual of an attitude
“I mean, at the end of the day, we didn’t get the job done. That is the most important part. However we walked in tonight, I thought we had energy entering the game. But the result speaks for itself.”
on what he thinks happened after UCLA had an early 8-0 lead
“I think I’ve got to watch the film. It’s an emotional game, but I need to take time to watch the film.”
on how he thinks the team will need to respond after tonight’s loss
“Everybody has to get their mind right – get their minds right mentally, and get their bodies right, physically. We have a stretch of games where we’ll have to perform, playing some Big Ten games and some more high-level games, so we have got to be ready.”
on how he can help to provide some leadership for this team
“Yeah, most definitely. I’ll take it to heart every time. I’m a winner, so when I lose, I don’t take this lightly. Obviously, what I did wasn’t enough tonight, so I’ve got to be better.”
on how he would describe the locker room after the game
“We weren’t happy, obviously. But we’ll figure it out, we’ll figure it out.”
California 80, UCLA 72
San Francisco, Calif. (Chase Center)
November 25, 2025
Mick Cronin, The Michael Price Family UCLA Men’s Head Basketball Coach
opening statement
“Congratulations to Mark [Madsen] and his team. If I was watching this game, I would have been a fan of their team. I thought they had a great attitude. This time in my life, it’s something I appreciate. They deserved to win. They came ready to play. We had some guys who did not – that’s on me. It is what is, congratulations. I don’t look at the score. We had 20 deflections. It’s a low, maybe a five-year low. I came in to Haas Pavilion with a bunch of freshmen, and they had an NBA player, we held them to 53 and won the game. But our team attitude was terrible – it’s been a problem for a month. It affects performance. Get in a ring against somebody that wants to fight, give them confidence early, you’re in for a fight, aside from the fact we cannot make a free throw.”
on the Bruins’ early 8-0 start against California
“I think that right now we are good if things go well. I don’t think we’re very good if things don’t go well, until we get some leadership on our team at the guard position. That would help, and not panic with the ball. Things didn’t go well. We tried to go one on five, get our shot blocked, get our fourth foul – we go one on five, and we get six or seven turnovers. When things don’t go well, we fold, we get soft and panic real quick. Although we are an older team, we lack a toughness right now. But our guys didn’t think this was going to be a game, in my opinion. In my opinion, they thought they were going to come in here and rah-rah-rah, they are just way better. That’s my opinion, everybody’s got one, right, that’s what they say”
on senior guard Donovan Dent’s performance
“Yeah look, I’m not happy with our performance, but I will take the blame. You guys can read the stat sheet, you saw the game. You make your own assessments. When it comes to the game, how we play is my responsibility.”
on if anything about California’s gameplan that surprised him
“No. Zero. Absolutely zero. Two of the last three games, coming in, they had made 15 threes, in two of their last three games. They ran exactly what we went over, to a T. I think that their attitude was better. Their toughness was much better. Their execution was better. That is because their attitude was better. They came to get a big win. Our guys thought it would be a walk in the park. That’s just my opinion.”
on the Bruins’ struggles at the free throw line in November
“Yeah, the month doesn’t matter. I mean, they should be able to make free throws in July. If you are playing at this level, you’d think that you would shoot the ball better at the foul line. But I would say, in my humble opinion, again, just my opinion, that they were pressured free throws. That’s a big difference. I would allude to my earlier statement that, we’ve had games where we shot 20 for 22 or something, but we were winning those games easy. But I think our team struggles to take a punch. I would say, we got a glass jaw if you were to describe us as a fighter. That goes into the missing free throws. I don’t think it’s skill at all, not from the guys that miss them.”
on what he does next when he feels like his team needs to be tougher
“All you can do is go back to work, that’s it. Just go back to work and start pounding nails. We’ll toughen up or it’s going to be a long year. You can’t have a glass jaw. That’s scary right now, for us. That’s got me nervous.”
on what he can do in a huddle to help guys with their attitude and toughness
“Well, we have some guys injured so I was a little limited in terms of who to put in. So, not a lot of options with some of that going on. But trying to just keep rallying guys – you’re trying to win the game. You worry about that stuff when you talk after the game and practice. You are trying to make adjustments in timeout huddles and win, and it starts with not fouling, starts with not giving the game away at the foul line. There was a time in the second half where we were minus 10 at the foul line, in the second half alone. Now, I know that we made a little comeback, we got to the foul line some. But, just trying to make adjustments, trying to get guys to stop fouling and get a lineup out there that could give us a chance to win, which I was struggling with. But that is what you are doing in timeout huddles.”
on having an older team and experience on this roster
“Not very smart team, though. Those older teams are smarter. We are struggling with that.”
on if that has surprised him with this team
“Yes, yes, very much so. Very much so. Disappointed and surprised, but I think again, back to the earlier question, in the reference to the glass jaw – it’s easy to play well, when life is going well and you are winning by 20, it’s easy. In my opinion, that has got a lot to do with it. You have to learn how to play in a real game and make real game decisions. We had a guy wide open, and Dent just throws the ball away. You’ve got two people and the guy is slipping, and he’s unguarded. We don’t go high, and we don’t go low. And you wonder why the steal it. We are just not good enough right now. I know that nobody wants to hear that, but you are not good enough. We’re not good enough to stop a team from getting 80 points. Not good enough.”
UCLA junior Eric Dailey Jr.
on if the team entered the game with too casual of an attitude
“I mean, at the end of the day, we didn’t get the job done. That is the most important part. However we walked in tonight, I thought we had energy entering the game. But the result speaks for itself.”
on what he thinks happened after UCLA had an early 8-0 lead
“I think I’ve got to watch the film. It’s an emotional game, but I need to take time to watch the film.”
on how he thinks the team will need to respond after tonight’s loss
“Everybody has to get their mind right – get their minds right mentally, and get their bodies right, physically. We have a stretch of games where we’ll have to perform, playing some Big Ten games and some more high-level games, so we have got to be ready.”
on how he can help to provide some leadership for this team
“Yeah, most definitely. I’ll take it to heart every time. I’m a winner, so when I lose, I don’t take this lightly. Obviously, what I did wasn’t enough tonight, so I’ve got to be better.”
on how he would describe the locker room after the game
“We weren’t happy, obviously. But we’ll figure it out, we’ll figure it out.”