Postgame Quotes - Wisconsin 86, UCLA 70
POSTGAME QUOTES
Wisconsin 86, UCLA 70
Big Ten Tournament, Quarterfinals
Indianapolis, Ind. (Gainbridge Fieldhouse)
March 14, 2025
Mick Cronin, The Michael Price Family UCLA Men’s Head Basketball Coach
on where the game went wrong against Wisconsin
“You have to give Wisconsin credit – they shot the lights out. We all have weaknesses and there are teams that can shoot it at five positions. We don’t match up well with teams like that, and we haven’t all year. Michigan made shots like that. We don’t have an athletic lineup that can just switch and really shut them down. They’re a hard team, we would have to beat them with offense. I watch certain teams play and I can tell that they’re a bad matchup for us. I knew the matchup was going to be a problem, so we were going to have to be a high-execution team today, and the message was, ‘We know we can’t try to win a three-point shooting contest’. So if they get hot, we can’t just grab it and shoot it and try to match them, and that’s what we did. That was hammered into them from the minute we found out we were playing them – we can’t do that. Case in point, we were losing at half at home when we played them. And we were shooting like 15 threes. In the second half, we shot five threes, and we were 15-20 from two. We shot over 60 percent and stopped trying to match them. We took the bait miserably, today. They’re a tough matchup for us.”
on William Kyle III’s performance
“I’d like to give William Kyle credit. I thought that he played incredibly hard and competed. I’m really proud of him, and it doesn’t surprise me. He hasn’t had a lot of minutes lately, but that’s who he is. It didn’t surprise me that he competed that way.”
on if Wisconsin did a better job of being physical against Aday Mara
“Look, the problem is that when I answer a question, then people say, ‘Cronin’s complaining about travel, he wants to leave UCLA,’ which is ridiculous. But you and I are together every week. All I do is answer your question. I didn’t say that. I just answered your question, and also, ‘Oh he hates to travel,’ I have never said that, ever. I’m not leaving UCLA until they make me leave, OK? So please stop with that. I just answered your question. Now, if I answer that question, it’s going to seem like I am making an excuse. Are they more physical with Aday? So the problem is if I answer that, then I am making an excuse. And I am not, I am not going to answer that. You know the answer, so you answer it. And I’m not making an excuse. They kicked out ass. We didn't throw the ball to him [Aday Mara] enough to really make it a factor. If I answer that, I’m complaining. Losers blame the officials, winners know why they win. And then winners know why they lose too. I try to teach these guys, if you get your ass kicked, that’s why you lost, and we took the bait and shot a bunch of threes, which I alluded to earlier. We shot 30 threes today, and that’s not who we are, to your point. We don’t shoot it well enough for that. We didn’t move the ball, and we didn’t get the ball to him. Did he get pushed? You can answer that. I don’t need the headline in your paper to say that I complained about the damn refs when I didn’t. We got our ass kicked, that is the headline.”
on John Tonje’s performance
“I voted for him for player of the year in the league. We had to rank them, and I put Tonje one, [Braden] Smith from Purdue two. Very close, but I gave Tonje the nod. That’s how good I think he is.”
on moving on from this game
“It’s not the first time I’ve lost in my career. Like I said, it’s a bad matchup for us. Our big guys struggle to guard the perimeter. I alluded to the Michigan game, where Vlad Goldin hit a couple of threes, and Danny [Wolf] hit a couple. We just don’t have that type of team. That’s what it is. Whether you win or lose, you have to try to get better. We did not follow the game plan. The predictability was 50-50, on whether or not they were going to get hot against us. They lost three of their last five and shot 25 percent from the three-point line. I told the guys that they were probably going to get hot again. That’s just who they are. We cannot grab it and shoot it and try to match them, and that’s what we did. That was the game. When we started doing that, playing like them instead of us, the game was over.”
UCLA guard Skyy Clark
on the team’s performance against Wisconsin
“I think we came out too flat. We let their two best players hit some shots to get them comfortable and confident, and that just rolled over into the rest of the game. There’s not really much to say.”
on moving on from this loss
“We just have to come in and bring our own energy. If we’re not on the West Coast, the bench and the players just have to bring more energy and we have to play tougher.”
UCLA guard Sebastian Mack
on guarding the three-point line
“To be honest, we let them get comfortable too early. Once you get a team like that that can hit threes all over the floor, it’s hard to stop them. We didn’t do what we were supposed to do, game plan wise, we failed miserably at that. They just played comfortably, and they looked like it too. We looked like a team that came out flat and just stayed flat. We’ve got to work on not relapsing like what we did today.”
Wisconsin 86, UCLA 70
Big Ten Tournament, Quarterfinals
Indianapolis, Ind. (Gainbridge Fieldhouse)
March 14, 2025
Mick Cronin, The Michael Price Family UCLA Men’s Head Basketball Coach
on where the game went wrong against Wisconsin
“You have to give Wisconsin credit – they shot the lights out. We all have weaknesses and there are teams that can shoot it at five positions. We don’t match up well with teams like that, and we haven’t all year. Michigan made shots like that. We don’t have an athletic lineup that can just switch and really shut them down. They’re a hard team, we would have to beat them with offense. I watch certain teams play and I can tell that they’re a bad matchup for us. I knew the matchup was going to be a problem, so we were going to have to be a high-execution team today, and the message was, ‘We know we can’t try to win a three-point shooting contest’. So if they get hot, we can’t just grab it and shoot it and try to match them, and that’s what we did. That was hammered into them from the minute we found out we were playing them – we can’t do that. Case in point, we were losing at half at home when we played them. And we were shooting like 15 threes. In the second half, we shot five threes, and we were 15-20 from two. We shot over 60 percent and stopped trying to match them. We took the bait miserably, today. They’re a tough matchup for us.”
on William Kyle III’s performance
“I’d like to give William Kyle credit. I thought that he played incredibly hard and competed. I’m really proud of him, and it doesn’t surprise me. He hasn’t had a lot of minutes lately, but that’s who he is. It didn’t surprise me that he competed that way.”
on if Wisconsin did a better job of being physical against Aday Mara
“Look, the problem is that when I answer a question, then people say, ‘Cronin’s complaining about travel, he wants to leave UCLA,’ which is ridiculous. But you and I are together every week. All I do is answer your question. I didn’t say that. I just answered your question, and also, ‘Oh he hates to travel,’ I have never said that, ever. I’m not leaving UCLA until they make me leave, OK? So please stop with that. I just answered your question. Now, if I answer that question, it’s going to seem like I am making an excuse. Are they more physical with Aday? So the problem is if I answer that, then I am making an excuse. And I am not, I am not going to answer that. You know the answer, so you answer it. And I’m not making an excuse. They kicked out ass. We didn't throw the ball to him [Aday Mara] enough to really make it a factor. If I answer that, I’m complaining. Losers blame the officials, winners know why they win. And then winners know why they lose too. I try to teach these guys, if you get your ass kicked, that’s why you lost, and we took the bait and shot a bunch of threes, which I alluded to earlier. We shot 30 threes today, and that’s not who we are, to your point. We don’t shoot it well enough for that. We didn’t move the ball, and we didn’t get the ball to him. Did he get pushed? You can answer that. I don’t need the headline in your paper to say that I complained about the damn refs when I didn’t. We got our ass kicked, that is the headline.”
on John Tonje’s performance
“I voted for him for player of the year in the league. We had to rank them, and I put Tonje one, [Braden] Smith from Purdue two. Very close, but I gave Tonje the nod. That’s how good I think he is.”
on moving on from this game
“It’s not the first time I’ve lost in my career. Like I said, it’s a bad matchup for us. Our big guys struggle to guard the perimeter. I alluded to the Michigan game, where Vlad Goldin hit a couple of threes, and Danny [Wolf] hit a couple. We just don’t have that type of team. That’s what it is. Whether you win or lose, you have to try to get better. We did not follow the game plan. The predictability was 50-50, on whether or not they were going to get hot against us. They lost three of their last five and shot 25 percent from the three-point line. I told the guys that they were probably going to get hot again. That’s just who they are. We cannot grab it and shoot it and try to match them, and that’s what we did. That was the game. When we started doing that, playing like them instead of us, the game was over.”
UCLA guard Skyy Clark
on the team’s performance against Wisconsin
“I think we came out too flat. We let their two best players hit some shots to get them comfortable and confident, and that just rolled over into the rest of the game. There’s not really much to say.”
on moving on from this loss
“We just have to come in and bring our own energy. If we’re not on the West Coast, the bench and the players just have to bring more energy and we have to play tougher.”
UCLA guard Sebastian Mack
on guarding the three-point line
“To be honest, we let them get comfortable too early. Once you get a team like that that can hit threes all over the floor, it’s hard to stop them. We didn’t do what we were supposed to do, game plan wise, we failed miserably at that. They just played comfortably, and they looked like it too. We looked like a team that came out flat and just stayed flat. We’ve got to work on not relapsing like what we did today.”