Postgame Quotes - Minnesota 64, UCLA 61
POSTGAME QUOTES
Minnesota 64, UCLA 61
Pauley Pavilion presented by Wescom
February 18, 2025
Mick Cronin, The Michael Price Family UCLA Men’s Head Basketball Coach
opening statement
“I know you guys want to talk about missed free throws, but I don’t know what you want me to say about that. It doesn’t help. But our defense, on the last play, 25 is a ‘put your head down and drive’ guy, and the guy guarding him acted like he didn’t know it. He was pressuring him 10 feet outside of the 3-point line for no reason, and there was no help, no rotation. And also, because we didn’t rebound the ball. They get outrebounded on the season, they’re a negative rebounding team, and they outrebounded us. It was a hugely disappointing effort, that’s really all I have to say.”
on the team’s effort in the second half
“You’ll have to ask them. I feel like we didn’t play well, and if I say anything, I throw players under the bus. We didn’t play well, we were poorly coached, and that’s why we don’t play well. We were so poorly coached that we didn’t know that Dawson Garcia was going to spin back on his left hand, we had two guys on him, and we let him lay it in. So, I guess we didn’t go over that. We didn’t go over ‘Don’t let him just stand there and shoot it’ we didn’t go over ‘converge on him like everybody else in our league does’. I guess we didn’t go over it, so it’s all on me. If you let the other team’s leading scorer get 32, you deserve to lose.”
on his message at halftime
“We were up 11, but I was upset with some of our guys’ shot selection. We told our guys if they were going to converge on the post, they were going to have to pass it out. They’re a no-paint team. We were taking off-balance shots. I told them they weren’t going away; that was my message.”
on Minnesota’s team mentality
“I watch their spirit. I do this for a living. I watch teams, and you can see on film that they play like they’re an NCAA Tournament team. I can tell from their body language, and they’re competitive, and they’re the oldest team in the country. They’re trying to get to the Big Ten tournament or their season is over in two weeks. Their starting five’s careers are over next week, and they were playing like it. So, I told the guys, I told them for a couple of days, but we struggled.”
on UCLA’s team mentality
“We haven’t been through this. You win eight out of nine, and you lose humility and you start worrying about everything but defense. I’ve got guys in that locker room that are worried about shooting. They’re worrying about shooting, worried about points and if their shot goes in. They’re not worried about playing defense and getting the W, and that’s what happened tonight.”
on the team going 5-for-15 from the free throw line
“I hear you with the free throws. I’m not stupid, I can count. You miss 10 free throws as well as two front ends, it’s as bad as can be. We missed 10 free throws in the second half, and I’m well aware of that.”
on the team’s focus
“Even if we had won this game, I’m trying to build a team that has a chance in the NCAA tournament. I’m really disappointed that I have guys who are worried about the wrong thing. It’s a losing mentality to think about whether or not your shot goes in. We’re worried about the wrong things. We should have been worried about whether or not the free throw was going in! We weren’t tough enough to go play defense. Things aren’t going to go right all the time in life, go play defense.”
on the team’s struggles at the beginning of the second half
“It happens because all we’re worried about is our shooting and not playing defense. I know when my team’s mind is on the wrong stuff. Our crowd’s mind was on the wrong stuff. They make it worse when a guy misses a free throw. The stress in Pauley is crazy when a guy misses a free throw.”
on whether there was an element of exhaustion in this performance
“Absolutely not. Exhausted from what? We were off Saturday and Sunday. Were they exhausted? No. Toughness wins, and they were tougher than us. Even if we would have won this game, I would have been sick to my stomach at our lack of toughness.”
on building towards March
“I’m trying to. I failed tonight.”
UCLA guard Kobe Johnson
on the team’s mentality
“We weren’t the same team that we were today. I don’t know what happened, I don’t know what was in our systems, but we have to be better than we were today. All we can do right now is get better for the next game, get better for Ohio State, but this game shows us that we’re beatable. Any team can beat us in this league. We have to come out and be prepared from here on out.”
on the message in the locker room after this loss
“We’ve just got to be better. We played terrible on defense, gave up way more baskets than we should have by not being in the right spots on defense. We've got to be better at following the game plan.”
on the team’s mentality on defense
“We have to know that we can score whatever we want, but we have to be able to play defense at the same time. We can’t keep going back and forth and playing horse with the other team. We need to put together a bunch of stops and be able to build the lead.”
on their inability to guard Dawson Garcia in the second half
“We stopped following the scouting report on him. I thought we followed the scouting report pretty well in the first half, but in the second half, we let him get comfortable and do whatever he wanted. He showed us what he can do.”
UCLA forward Tyler Bilodeau
on whether or not the crowd contributed to the missed free throws
“No, that’s on the individual. I have to take accountability on that, I can’t miss free throws like that. I just have to be better.”
on losing after having the lead
“There’s not much to say – it’s unacceptable. But there’s nothing we can do about it now; we just have to focus on the next one.”
Minnesota head coach Ben Johnson
opening statement
“We have a ton of respect for that team and that coach. We were going to have to play beyond our best to have a chance. They made us play our best.”
on the weekend series against UCLA and USC
“This is a huge momentum for us. You want to be playing your best basketball at this time of year. You want to be sharp and just be playing your best basketball.”
on which players on his team stood out at UCLA
“Obviously, Dawson [Garcia], but Patterson really willed us with his energy and his spirit. His will alone when we were down. He told the guys not to give up. His competitive spirit really helped us.”
on where they go from here
“We are tough, team detail-oriented, and we can compete with anyone in this conference. In this league we have to remain who we are.”
Minnesota 64, UCLA 61
Pauley Pavilion presented by Wescom
February 18, 2025
Mick Cronin, The Michael Price Family UCLA Men’s Head Basketball Coach
opening statement
“I know you guys want to talk about missed free throws, but I don’t know what you want me to say about that. It doesn’t help. But our defense, on the last play, 25 is a ‘put your head down and drive’ guy, and the guy guarding him acted like he didn’t know it. He was pressuring him 10 feet outside of the 3-point line for no reason, and there was no help, no rotation. And also, because we didn’t rebound the ball. They get outrebounded on the season, they’re a negative rebounding team, and they outrebounded us. It was a hugely disappointing effort, that’s really all I have to say.”
on the team’s effort in the second half
“You’ll have to ask them. I feel like we didn’t play well, and if I say anything, I throw players under the bus. We didn’t play well, we were poorly coached, and that’s why we don’t play well. We were so poorly coached that we didn’t know that Dawson Garcia was going to spin back on his left hand, we had two guys on him, and we let him lay it in. So, I guess we didn’t go over that. We didn’t go over ‘Don’t let him just stand there and shoot it’ we didn’t go over ‘converge on him like everybody else in our league does’. I guess we didn’t go over it, so it’s all on me. If you let the other team’s leading scorer get 32, you deserve to lose.”
on his message at halftime
“We were up 11, but I was upset with some of our guys’ shot selection. We told our guys if they were going to converge on the post, they were going to have to pass it out. They’re a no-paint team. We were taking off-balance shots. I told them they weren’t going away; that was my message.”
on Minnesota’s team mentality
“I watch their spirit. I do this for a living. I watch teams, and you can see on film that they play like they’re an NCAA Tournament team. I can tell from their body language, and they’re competitive, and they’re the oldest team in the country. They’re trying to get to the Big Ten tournament or their season is over in two weeks. Their starting five’s careers are over next week, and they were playing like it. So, I told the guys, I told them for a couple of days, but we struggled.”
on UCLA’s team mentality
“We haven’t been through this. You win eight out of nine, and you lose humility and you start worrying about everything but defense. I’ve got guys in that locker room that are worried about shooting. They’re worrying about shooting, worried about points and if their shot goes in. They’re not worried about playing defense and getting the W, and that’s what happened tonight.”
on the team going 5-for-15 from the free throw line
“I hear you with the free throws. I’m not stupid, I can count. You miss 10 free throws as well as two front ends, it’s as bad as can be. We missed 10 free throws in the second half, and I’m well aware of that.”
on the team’s focus
“Even if we had won this game, I’m trying to build a team that has a chance in the NCAA tournament. I’m really disappointed that I have guys who are worried about the wrong thing. It’s a losing mentality to think about whether or not your shot goes in. We’re worried about the wrong things. We should have been worried about whether or not the free throw was going in! We weren’t tough enough to go play defense. Things aren’t going to go right all the time in life, go play defense.”
on the team’s struggles at the beginning of the second half
“It happens because all we’re worried about is our shooting and not playing defense. I know when my team’s mind is on the wrong stuff. Our crowd’s mind was on the wrong stuff. They make it worse when a guy misses a free throw. The stress in Pauley is crazy when a guy misses a free throw.”
on whether there was an element of exhaustion in this performance
“Absolutely not. Exhausted from what? We were off Saturday and Sunday. Were they exhausted? No. Toughness wins, and they were tougher than us. Even if we would have won this game, I would have been sick to my stomach at our lack of toughness.”
on building towards March
“I’m trying to. I failed tonight.”
UCLA guard Kobe Johnson
on the team’s mentality
“We weren’t the same team that we were today. I don’t know what happened, I don’t know what was in our systems, but we have to be better than we were today. All we can do right now is get better for the next game, get better for Ohio State, but this game shows us that we’re beatable. Any team can beat us in this league. We have to come out and be prepared from here on out.”
on the message in the locker room after this loss
“We’ve just got to be better. We played terrible on defense, gave up way more baskets than we should have by not being in the right spots on defense. We've got to be better at following the game plan.”
on the team’s mentality on defense
“We have to know that we can score whatever we want, but we have to be able to play defense at the same time. We can’t keep going back and forth and playing horse with the other team. We need to put together a bunch of stops and be able to build the lead.”
on their inability to guard Dawson Garcia in the second half
“We stopped following the scouting report on him. I thought we followed the scouting report pretty well in the first half, but in the second half, we let him get comfortable and do whatever he wanted. He showed us what he can do.”
UCLA forward Tyler Bilodeau
on whether or not the crowd contributed to the missed free throws
“No, that’s on the individual. I have to take accountability on that, I can’t miss free throws like that. I just have to be better.”
on losing after having the lead
“There’s not much to say – it’s unacceptable. But there’s nothing we can do about it now; we just have to focus on the next one.”
Minnesota head coach Ben Johnson
opening statement
“We have a ton of respect for that team and that coach. We were going to have to play beyond our best to have a chance. They made us play our best.”
on the weekend series against UCLA and USC
“This is a huge momentum for us. You want to be playing your best basketball at this time of year. You want to be sharp and just be playing your best basketball.”
on which players on his team stood out at UCLA
“Obviously, Dawson [Garcia], but Patterson really willed us with his energy and his spirit. His will alone when we were down. He told the guys not to give up. His competitive spirit really helped us.”
on where they go from here
“We are tough, team detail-oriented, and we can compete with anyone in this conference. In this league we have to remain who we are.”