Postgame Quotes - UCLA 74, Oregon 63
POSTGAME QUOTES
UCLA 74, Oregon 63
Los Angeles, Calif. (Pauley Pavilion Presented by Wescom Financial)
December 6, 2025
Mick Cronin, The Michael Price Family UCLA Men’s Head Basketball Coach
opening statement
"It’s good to get a win. Trent’s still not back to normal. He will be hopefully, knock on wood, by next week. He just needs a few practices. He wanted to just gut it out for his team today. I thought, look, we started to miss a lot of easy shots and it happened in the second half. The rim starts shrinking on us. They fired some in. It’s good to have to go through that – it sucks at the time. We got to be able to go all in with defense. I thought the two big keys to save the game were offensive rebounds after missed free throws. Jamar Brown and then Eric Dailey, I think they got two, off missed free throws. That's the stuff that as coaches you try to teach because those are controllable efforts and plays that win the game. Skyy Clark had not missed in a shot in about three halves, so he was due to miss some shots. I was concerned at halftime because we were not going to keep making everything. We have got to get Tyler Bilodeau more shots because seven shots just isn’t enough for him, but it’s hard to manipulate where you want the ball to go. That’s just something I got to do a better job of, anyway, we shot an awful 32 percent and 20 percent in the second half, and were still able to win by 11. So you got to be happy with that.”
on Eric Dailey Jr.’s bounce back from last game
“One thing about Eric, man, is that he just doesn’t lack confidence. He always gives you effort. I’m most proud of his eight rebounds. He had one bad play in the second half, where there was a stretch that they hit some hard shots and that will happen. We had guys trying to save us on their own and we didn’t need saving. We were winning, so that’s an area where we still have to improve on. That was one time he turned it over. Donovan Dent drove baseline and turned it over trying to throw it. That’s where I have to coach them to be patient in those times.”
on Eric Dailey Jr.’s practice effort and maintaining this performance level
“Controlling his emotions and sometimes with guys who are so intense, they got to grow into learning how to not let it hurt for them. His intensity and passion are his strengths but at times, it's his weakness. He’s just got to learn how to control it. Just like when number four was running his mouth to him. I heard the whole thing but he just has to ignore the guy.”
on the defensive strategy of playing against Nate Bittle
“What we did defensively was not letting him score in the low post. We were both playing similar defenses and it kind of negates being able to force feed Bittle to be in the post. It’s hard to get that and Bittle didn’t get a lot of post touches, and he’s also coming off of injury.”
on Donovan Dent and Steven Jamerson ll defensive performance
“I thought both of their efforts were great. I'm trying to get Dent to not be so hard on himself on whether the ball goes in or not. I’m just trying to get him to focus on guarding Jackson Shelstad and making it hard for him, so I thought he did and was focused on that. Jamerson’s effort is always great, except for the bad foul where he went on a shot fake on a guy that was 6-5.”
UCLA junior Eric Dailey Jr.
on bouncing back after playing Washington
“Yeah, I mean, sometimes in basketball it’s not going to be your night. It’s part of the game. Good thing we play every other day. So, just reset my mind, reset my mind, do the same routines that I’ve been doing and just get ready to play another game, honestly. I mean, I don’t think I had a different mindset coming into this game from the last game. Just stay with my routine, just keep going.”
on his workout routine leading up to this game
“I ain’t going to lie – off the flight when we got back at like, 2:30 am, we got to Mo [Ostin Basketball Center] around like 3. I stayed in the gym until the next morning. I literally slept in the gym when we got back from Washington. So, that says right there. We got to Mo at like 3. I was in the gym from like 3:30 to about 4 or 5. I hopped in an ice bath for a few minutes. And I slept on our bunk beds in Mo Ostin. Woke up the next day around, like, 9:30, got in the gym again from like 10 to like 11:30. Then, went home, took a nap, came back. We practice at 7 pm, then I shot after practice. Then I didn’t sleep in the gym that day, but I was in the gym three times before our next practice.”
on the comfort of the bunk beds
“Hey, I don’t really care how comfy it was. I could have slept on the floor, honestly. But nah, I don’t know. It was just like a reset thing. Like, just scrap that whole game. Just for me personally, I love to win. Don’t get me wrong, I’m happy we won. But me personally, like, fouling that much, I can’t do that. I was happy – my teammates, you know, they got me in the good spirits, and it’s a family. So we always pick each other up.”
on what he tells Donovan Dent after he misses a shot
“I’d say keep your head up, You’re going to miss shots, you’re going to make shots. They don’t matter. We’re going to need you to keep shooting though, regardless, because that’s what he’s good at. He can put the ball in the hoop, and he can pass. So, keep shooting the ball and it’s going to go in eventually.”
UCLA senior Tyler Bilodeau
on keeping the rebounding numbers close with Oregon
“Yeah, I mean I think that’s been a big emphasis for us this season is the glass. It’s a big thing we’re working on. Keep trying to get better out of every game. It just comes down to toughness, who wants the ball more. So, something we need to keep improving on, but I thought we did a better job there.”
on having four personal fouls with nine minutes remaining
“Oh man, I didn’t even know I had four fouls. I didn’t even know.”
on not being able to receive many shot attempts
“Yeah, I mean, you’ve just got to do other things. Got to play defense, got to rebound. You know, there’s so many aspects to basketball, and you know, I know my teammates are going to contribute as well. So yeah, just got to stay in the game and keep playing the team game.”
on being able to avoid complacency coming out of halftime
“Yeah, I mean, it got a little close, but you know, I think we were able to keep the lead better than we did last game. So, you know, we just got to keep staying together there. Keep getting stops, stacking stops. We’ve got to get the rebounds; we can’t allow offensive rebounds. And just staying together.”
on holding Nate Bittle 0-for-10 from the field
“It’s just scouting report. Just making sure we sit on his left shoulder, the right hand. Just not letting him get any easy looks, especially on the 3-point line because we know he likes to shoot. So, it all came down to the scouting report.”
UCLA junior Xavier Booker
on the amount of pressure he places on himself
“I mean, I definitely hold myself to a high standard in that aspect. Especially given my length and my height I should be able to be a decent or a good defender around the rim. Especially rebounding too, just making my presence known around the rim, offensively and defensively. I definitely hold myself to a high standard, and my teammates and my coaches do too, so I’m just trying to get better every game.”
on Eric Dailey Jr.’s workout routine after the Washington game
“That just shows how bad he wants it. Every day in practice he’s always giving a bunch of energy. He’s always the most vocal guy in the gym, and that’s what we need. So I’m grateful to have a teammate like this, so that definitely just shows how bad he wants it.”
on his confidence level shooting behind the arc
“Yeah, I feel very confident in my abilities to shoot the ball. It’s something I’ve been doing for a long time. I work on it. So yeah, that’s the shot I work on. My teammates, coaches, they all tell me to be confident in everything I do, so that’s what I did.”
Oregon head coach Dana Altman
opening remarks
“Made too many mistakes.”
on which players stood out tonight
“Jackson [Shelstad] really fought hard. He gave it his all. He’s played 38 minutes, so I kind of felt that I played him too much. I should have got him out in the second half.”
on how they build on this contest
“We have lots of work to do. We just have to improve and get healthy.”
UCLA 74, Oregon 63
Los Angeles, Calif. (Pauley Pavilion Presented by Wescom Financial)
December 6, 2025
Mick Cronin, The Michael Price Family UCLA Men’s Head Basketball Coach
opening statement
"It’s good to get a win. Trent’s still not back to normal. He will be hopefully, knock on wood, by next week. He just needs a few practices. He wanted to just gut it out for his team today. I thought, look, we started to miss a lot of easy shots and it happened in the second half. The rim starts shrinking on us. They fired some in. It’s good to have to go through that – it sucks at the time. We got to be able to go all in with defense. I thought the two big keys to save the game were offensive rebounds after missed free throws. Jamar Brown and then Eric Dailey, I think they got two, off missed free throws. That's the stuff that as coaches you try to teach because those are controllable efforts and plays that win the game. Skyy Clark had not missed in a shot in about three halves, so he was due to miss some shots. I was concerned at halftime because we were not going to keep making everything. We have got to get Tyler Bilodeau more shots because seven shots just isn’t enough for him, but it’s hard to manipulate where you want the ball to go. That’s just something I got to do a better job of, anyway, we shot an awful 32 percent and 20 percent in the second half, and were still able to win by 11. So you got to be happy with that.”
on Eric Dailey Jr.’s bounce back from last game
“One thing about Eric, man, is that he just doesn’t lack confidence. He always gives you effort. I’m most proud of his eight rebounds. He had one bad play in the second half, where there was a stretch that they hit some hard shots and that will happen. We had guys trying to save us on their own and we didn’t need saving. We were winning, so that’s an area where we still have to improve on. That was one time he turned it over. Donovan Dent drove baseline and turned it over trying to throw it. That’s where I have to coach them to be patient in those times.”
on Eric Dailey Jr.’s practice effort and maintaining this performance level
“Controlling his emotions and sometimes with guys who are so intense, they got to grow into learning how to not let it hurt for them. His intensity and passion are his strengths but at times, it's his weakness. He’s just got to learn how to control it. Just like when number four was running his mouth to him. I heard the whole thing but he just has to ignore the guy.”
on the defensive strategy of playing against Nate Bittle
“What we did defensively was not letting him score in the low post. We were both playing similar defenses and it kind of negates being able to force feed Bittle to be in the post. It’s hard to get that and Bittle didn’t get a lot of post touches, and he’s also coming off of injury.”
on Donovan Dent and Steven Jamerson ll defensive performance
“I thought both of their efforts were great. I'm trying to get Dent to not be so hard on himself on whether the ball goes in or not. I’m just trying to get him to focus on guarding Jackson Shelstad and making it hard for him, so I thought he did and was focused on that. Jamerson’s effort is always great, except for the bad foul where he went on a shot fake on a guy that was 6-5.”
UCLA junior Eric Dailey Jr.
on bouncing back after playing Washington
“Yeah, I mean, sometimes in basketball it’s not going to be your night. It’s part of the game. Good thing we play every other day. So, just reset my mind, reset my mind, do the same routines that I’ve been doing and just get ready to play another game, honestly. I mean, I don’t think I had a different mindset coming into this game from the last game. Just stay with my routine, just keep going.”
on his workout routine leading up to this game
“I ain’t going to lie – off the flight when we got back at like, 2:30 am, we got to Mo [Ostin Basketball Center] around like 3. I stayed in the gym until the next morning. I literally slept in the gym when we got back from Washington. So, that says right there. We got to Mo at like 3. I was in the gym from like 3:30 to about 4 or 5. I hopped in an ice bath for a few minutes. And I slept on our bunk beds in Mo Ostin. Woke up the next day around, like, 9:30, got in the gym again from like 10 to like 11:30. Then, went home, took a nap, came back. We practice at 7 pm, then I shot after practice. Then I didn’t sleep in the gym that day, but I was in the gym three times before our next practice.”
on the comfort of the bunk beds
“Hey, I don’t really care how comfy it was. I could have slept on the floor, honestly. But nah, I don’t know. It was just like a reset thing. Like, just scrap that whole game. Just for me personally, I love to win. Don’t get me wrong, I’m happy we won. But me personally, like, fouling that much, I can’t do that. I was happy – my teammates, you know, they got me in the good spirits, and it’s a family. So we always pick each other up.”
on what he tells Donovan Dent after he misses a shot
“I’d say keep your head up, You’re going to miss shots, you’re going to make shots. They don’t matter. We’re going to need you to keep shooting though, regardless, because that’s what he’s good at. He can put the ball in the hoop, and he can pass. So, keep shooting the ball and it’s going to go in eventually.”
UCLA senior Tyler Bilodeau
on keeping the rebounding numbers close with Oregon
“Yeah, I mean I think that’s been a big emphasis for us this season is the glass. It’s a big thing we’re working on. Keep trying to get better out of every game. It just comes down to toughness, who wants the ball more. So, something we need to keep improving on, but I thought we did a better job there.”
on having four personal fouls with nine minutes remaining
“Oh man, I didn’t even know I had four fouls. I didn’t even know.”
on not being able to receive many shot attempts
“Yeah, I mean, you’ve just got to do other things. Got to play defense, got to rebound. You know, there’s so many aspects to basketball, and you know, I know my teammates are going to contribute as well. So yeah, just got to stay in the game and keep playing the team game.”
on being able to avoid complacency coming out of halftime
“Yeah, I mean, it got a little close, but you know, I think we were able to keep the lead better than we did last game. So, you know, we just got to keep staying together there. Keep getting stops, stacking stops. We’ve got to get the rebounds; we can’t allow offensive rebounds. And just staying together.”
on holding Nate Bittle 0-for-10 from the field
“It’s just scouting report. Just making sure we sit on his left shoulder, the right hand. Just not letting him get any easy looks, especially on the 3-point line because we know he likes to shoot. So, it all came down to the scouting report.”
UCLA junior Xavier Booker
on the amount of pressure he places on himself
“I mean, I definitely hold myself to a high standard in that aspect. Especially given my length and my height I should be able to be a decent or a good defender around the rim. Especially rebounding too, just making my presence known around the rim, offensively and defensively. I definitely hold myself to a high standard, and my teammates and my coaches do too, so I’m just trying to get better every game.”
on Eric Dailey Jr.’s workout routine after the Washington game
“That just shows how bad he wants it. Every day in practice he’s always giving a bunch of energy. He’s always the most vocal guy in the gym, and that’s what we need. So I’m grateful to have a teammate like this, so that definitely just shows how bad he wants it.”
on his confidence level shooting behind the arc
“Yeah, I feel very confident in my abilities to shoot the ball. It’s something I’ve been doing for a long time. I work on it. So yeah, that’s the shot I work on. My teammates, coaches, they all tell me to be confident in everything I do, so that’s what I did.”
Oregon head coach Dana Altman
opening remarks
“Made too many mistakes.”
on which players stood out tonight
“Jackson [Shelstad] really fought hard. He gave it his all. He’s played 38 minutes, so I kind of felt that I played him too much. I should have got him out in the second half.”
on how they build on this contest
“We have lots of work to do. We just have to improve and get healthy.”