Postgame Quotes - UCLA 90, USC 63
POSTGAME QUOTES
UCLA 90, USC 63
Los Angeles, Calif. (Pauley Pavilion presented by Wescom)
March 8, 2025
Mick Cronin, The Michael Price Family UCLA Men’s Head Basketball Coach
opening statement
“I thought we played with tremendous conviction to our game plan. We had some egregious fouls in the first half, trying to foul guys that had no chance to score. That becomes a discipline issue. Things like that are why teams win or lose championships. You can lose a championship by fouling a guy taking a hard shot, getting ready to shoot over a 7-3 guy. You don’t reach in. But other than that, I thought our focus was unbelievable. Defensively, we made it extremely hard on them. We took away the things that they are the best at, which is going down the lane – Yates down the lane, Claude down the lane. In fairness to USC, they had to go to D.C., to Rutgers at the end of the season, come back and play Ohio State, who had already been here waiting on them. And then turn around and go to Oregon. That has a cumulative effect. You saw it in the second half. We were able to take two days off, Tuesday and Wednesday, and we’re going to take the next two [days] off. That’s important at this time of year. Credit to our guys, they were awesome. Skyy had a monster game. Aday, Eric, Tyler, our frontline was extremely productive. That’s why Will didn’t get in there that much. The other three guys were in such domination mode.”
on Skyy Clark’s performance
“He’s got 13 deflections, and he’s 7-for-10 from the field. When we get good guard play, we can beat anybody. And we have, we’ve beat four teams in the top 12 of the KenPom. When we get good guard play, we’re really good. Dylan or Skyy having a big game, Sebastian having a good game. When we get really good point guard play from one of those guys, we’re pretty good.”
on the team’s defensive performance
“I give the guys all of the credit. It’s not easy. I take a lot of heat for being intense, but this isn’t Little League. You don’t become this type of defensive team by standing over there and whispering sweet nothings to people. And the other thing is, in this era, our senior leader has known me since July. It’s not like I have Tyger or Jaime or Dave running around out there, who have been there for four years. You’ve got to pound nails fast and hard to be able to build a unit that can get it done. The most productive guys on this team have been Eric, Tyler, Kobe defensively, and Skyy. They’re all transfers, so it’s taken some time. But if we have good guard play, we have a chance. We have a real chance.”
on the offensive game plan
“The game was 42 to 16, points in the paint. We followed the game plan early. We got away from it a little bit. Then we lost Wesley Yates. I told those guys that he was their best player, period. He’s a pro and he had 21 tonight. In the second half, we limited his shots. There were times where we couldn’t get away from them because we weren’t exploiting the switch or we dribbled too much. We came out in the second half convicted to throw the ball on the side.”
on the team’s deflections
“We’ve had 50 plus and we had 46 tonight. We’ve had some games with 50 this year, but this is definitely our high in a Big Ten game. The guys did a great job of attacking their dribbler when they tried to iso and drive us because Yates and Claude are so good at that. Rob Palmer did an unbelievable job with the scout. We rotate the three guys, so he’s been on them for a while. We did a good job at USC, but we did a much better job tonight. I give him all of the credit.”
on the Big Ten Tournament
“Fortunately, we’re not leaving for a while. That’s the best news of the day. I’m not a big believer in conference tournaments, and I’ve been in a lot of them. The next tournament is what matters. My biggest fear all year was getting better and getting to March healthy and fresh. The cumulative effect of the travel is what concerns me. We’ve tried to handle it in a way, we took two days off this week, and we’re going to take the next two days off. We’ve got to make sure these guys are fresh when the big dance starts. Around here, they don’t hang a banner if we win the Big Ten tournament. Maybe a small one in our practice gym, but they’re not hanging one in Pauley if you don’t win the championship, that’s just the way it is. They might give us a T-shirt. UCLA, too many people are winning national championships around here in all kinds of stuff. They’re not worried about the Big Ten Tournament championship.”
on Eric Dailey Jr.’s career-high 25 points
“All I’m concerned about are his nine deflections, his growth defensively, and his intelligence defensively. And his understanding of how important that is to his future and our success. Too much goes on in youth basketball where it’s about me and not we. We’re trying to tell them they have to play defense and play smart.”
UCLA forward Eric Dailey Jr.
on the team’s momentum
“I feel like we have good momentum going into the tournament. Tonight, five guys were in double figures, and we had great defensive plays and deflections. We had a lot of movement and it looks like we hit a lot of shots tonight. This is the basketball that we know we can play, and we need to keep playing this brand of basketball through the tournament and going into March Madness. We’re going a long way with this.”
on earning a double-bye in the Big Ten Tournament
“That’s what happens when you believe in yourself, when you bet on yourself. I think as a team, we’ve fought through adversity, ups and downs, and we stayed together through all of it. That made us closer each time we went through something. As a team, we have this mindset that it’s only us in the locker room who really care about us. Having that mindset leads to the court, and we’ve put ourselves in a great position for these tournaments. It’s a big credit to our staff, our team, and our fans as well.”
on his defensive effort
“We’re at a defensive school, we have a defensive coach, we’ve got to play defense to play. That’s been one of the things I’ve been trying to work on. [Coach] tells me all the time what I need to do to get to the next level, and defense is that. Just having that intensity, that anticipation, knowing where to be, helping your guys, that’s all team defense. One-on-one defense is important as well. Just having the mindset of being a defensive guy has helped me grow my game as the season has gone on.”
UCLA guard Skyy Clark
on the team’s momentum
“I think this was our most complete game both offensively and defensively. We had a great week of practice going into this. I want to thank the fans, I think the positive energy that they brought really got us going and got us off to a great start, so shoutout to them.”
on his willingness to take charges
“It’s a lot of instincts. My pops played football, so I’ve got a little bit of those genes in me. Just watching their scout, I can pick up on their tendencies. I’ve guarded players like Darius Garland and James Harden over the summer, so picking up on stuff like that really helps.”
on senior night
“We’re going to miss those guys a lot. If they could play here another year, that would be amazing. It’s been fun having them all year, it’s been fun getting to know them all year. Kobe and Lazar are some of the dudes I’ve been closest with on the team, so it’s fun to have them for sure.”
on the energy tonight
“We knew it was a big game, obviously a rivalry game. We wanted to win and we knew that if we won, we’d get the double-bye. And also, it was senior night. It was a combination of the double-bye, rivalry game, the fans, senior night, all of it together. I think that energy just fed us for the entire game.”
on changing his game against USC
“I really just let the game come to me. I was taking my opportunities whenever I had them. My teammates were finding me on some of them, my bigs were setting great screens. Aday found me on a cut one time. Whatever opportunities I had, I was just trying to take advantage of them.”
USC head coach Eric Musselman
opening statement
“The pressure defense really got to us tonight. They beat us in every facet of the game. I don’t think these guys understand a rivalry game, even in game one, but especially in this game. We played the game tonight like it was a normal game. Give UCLA lots of credit – they played tougher and they had the will to win. Our turnovers were a problem. It’s hard to win with that many turnovers. Teams are shooting 70 percent against us in the first half. Some guys are having career nights. This is the same defense we used at Arkansas, [and] we used it at Nevada. We have a lack of foot speed. We had to play zone, but we were unprepared to play zone. When you can’t guard someone, you have to do something.”
on the upcoming Big Ten Tournament
“I’m not going to say anything about the Big Ten Tournament. First of all, we don’t even know who we are playing. Tonight should be about this game. I’m a competitor. I’m going to be ready.”
on their overall season
“It’s been up and down, but we’ll get better. We just have to get some defenders in there. The next two weeks are going to be busy for us.”
UCLA 90, USC 63
Los Angeles, Calif. (Pauley Pavilion presented by Wescom)
March 8, 2025
Mick Cronin, The Michael Price Family UCLA Men’s Head Basketball Coach
opening statement
“I thought we played with tremendous conviction to our game plan. We had some egregious fouls in the first half, trying to foul guys that had no chance to score. That becomes a discipline issue. Things like that are why teams win or lose championships. You can lose a championship by fouling a guy taking a hard shot, getting ready to shoot over a 7-3 guy. You don’t reach in. But other than that, I thought our focus was unbelievable. Defensively, we made it extremely hard on them. We took away the things that they are the best at, which is going down the lane – Yates down the lane, Claude down the lane. In fairness to USC, they had to go to D.C., to Rutgers at the end of the season, come back and play Ohio State, who had already been here waiting on them. And then turn around and go to Oregon. That has a cumulative effect. You saw it in the second half. We were able to take two days off, Tuesday and Wednesday, and we’re going to take the next two [days] off. That’s important at this time of year. Credit to our guys, they were awesome. Skyy had a monster game. Aday, Eric, Tyler, our frontline was extremely productive. That’s why Will didn’t get in there that much. The other three guys were in such domination mode.”
on Skyy Clark’s performance
“He’s got 13 deflections, and he’s 7-for-10 from the field. When we get good guard play, we can beat anybody. And we have, we’ve beat four teams in the top 12 of the KenPom. When we get good guard play, we’re really good. Dylan or Skyy having a big game, Sebastian having a good game. When we get really good point guard play from one of those guys, we’re pretty good.”
on the team’s defensive performance
“I give the guys all of the credit. It’s not easy. I take a lot of heat for being intense, but this isn’t Little League. You don’t become this type of defensive team by standing over there and whispering sweet nothings to people. And the other thing is, in this era, our senior leader has known me since July. It’s not like I have Tyger or Jaime or Dave running around out there, who have been there for four years. You’ve got to pound nails fast and hard to be able to build a unit that can get it done. The most productive guys on this team have been Eric, Tyler, Kobe defensively, and Skyy. They’re all transfers, so it’s taken some time. But if we have good guard play, we have a chance. We have a real chance.”
on the offensive game plan
“The game was 42 to 16, points in the paint. We followed the game plan early. We got away from it a little bit. Then we lost Wesley Yates. I told those guys that he was their best player, period. He’s a pro and he had 21 tonight. In the second half, we limited his shots. There were times where we couldn’t get away from them because we weren’t exploiting the switch or we dribbled too much. We came out in the second half convicted to throw the ball on the side.”
on the team’s deflections
“We’ve had 50 plus and we had 46 tonight. We’ve had some games with 50 this year, but this is definitely our high in a Big Ten game. The guys did a great job of attacking their dribbler when they tried to iso and drive us because Yates and Claude are so good at that. Rob Palmer did an unbelievable job with the scout. We rotate the three guys, so he’s been on them for a while. We did a good job at USC, but we did a much better job tonight. I give him all of the credit.”
on the Big Ten Tournament
“Fortunately, we’re not leaving for a while. That’s the best news of the day. I’m not a big believer in conference tournaments, and I’ve been in a lot of them. The next tournament is what matters. My biggest fear all year was getting better and getting to March healthy and fresh. The cumulative effect of the travel is what concerns me. We’ve tried to handle it in a way, we took two days off this week, and we’re going to take the next two days off. We’ve got to make sure these guys are fresh when the big dance starts. Around here, they don’t hang a banner if we win the Big Ten tournament. Maybe a small one in our practice gym, but they’re not hanging one in Pauley if you don’t win the championship, that’s just the way it is. They might give us a T-shirt. UCLA, too many people are winning national championships around here in all kinds of stuff. They’re not worried about the Big Ten Tournament championship.”
on Eric Dailey Jr.’s career-high 25 points
“All I’m concerned about are his nine deflections, his growth defensively, and his intelligence defensively. And his understanding of how important that is to his future and our success. Too much goes on in youth basketball where it’s about me and not we. We’re trying to tell them they have to play defense and play smart.”
UCLA forward Eric Dailey Jr.
on the team’s momentum
“I feel like we have good momentum going into the tournament. Tonight, five guys were in double figures, and we had great defensive plays and deflections. We had a lot of movement and it looks like we hit a lot of shots tonight. This is the basketball that we know we can play, and we need to keep playing this brand of basketball through the tournament and going into March Madness. We’re going a long way with this.”
on earning a double-bye in the Big Ten Tournament
“That’s what happens when you believe in yourself, when you bet on yourself. I think as a team, we’ve fought through adversity, ups and downs, and we stayed together through all of it. That made us closer each time we went through something. As a team, we have this mindset that it’s only us in the locker room who really care about us. Having that mindset leads to the court, and we’ve put ourselves in a great position for these tournaments. It’s a big credit to our staff, our team, and our fans as well.”
on his defensive effort
“We’re at a defensive school, we have a defensive coach, we’ve got to play defense to play. That’s been one of the things I’ve been trying to work on. [Coach] tells me all the time what I need to do to get to the next level, and defense is that. Just having that intensity, that anticipation, knowing where to be, helping your guys, that’s all team defense. One-on-one defense is important as well. Just having the mindset of being a defensive guy has helped me grow my game as the season has gone on.”
UCLA guard Skyy Clark
on the team’s momentum
“I think this was our most complete game both offensively and defensively. We had a great week of practice going into this. I want to thank the fans, I think the positive energy that they brought really got us going and got us off to a great start, so shoutout to them.”
on his willingness to take charges
“It’s a lot of instincts. My pops played football, so I’ve got a little bit of those genes in me. Just watching their scout, I can pick up on their tendencies. I’ve guarded players like Darius Garland and James Harden over the summer, so picking up on stuff like that really helps.”
on senior night
“We’re going to miss those guys a lot. If they could play here another year, that would be amazing. It’s been fun having them all year, it’s been fun getting to know them all year. Kobe and Lazar are some of the dudes I’ve been closest with on the team, so it’s fun to have them for sure.”
on the energy tonight
“We knew it was a big game, obviously a rivalry game. We wanted to win and we knew that if we won, we’d get the double-bye. And also, it was senior night. It was a combination of the double-bye, rivalry game, the fans, senior night, all of it together. I think that energy just fed us for the entire game.”
on changing his game against USC
“I really just let the game come to me. I was taking my opportunities whenever I had them. My teammates were finding me on some of them, my bigs were setting great screens. Aday found me on a cut one time. Whatever opportunities I had, I was just trying to take advantage of them.”
USC head coach Eric Musselman
opening statement
“The pressure defense really got to us tonight. They beat us in every facet of the game. I don’t think these guys understand a rivalry game, even in game one, but especially in this game. We played the game tonight like it was a normal game. Give UCLA lots of credit – they played tougher and they had the will to win. Our turnovers were a problem. It’s hard to win with that many turnovers. Teams are shooting 70 percent against us in the first half. Some guys are having career nights. This is the same defense we used at Arkansas, [and] we used it at Nevada. We have a lack of foot speed. We had to play zone, but we were unprepared to play zone. When you can’t guard someone, you have to do something.”
on the upcoming Big Ten Tournament
“I’m not going to say anything about the Big Ten Tournament. First of all, we don’t even know who we are playing. Tonight should be about this game. I’m a competitor. I’m going to be ready.”
on their overall season
“It’s been up and down, but we’ll get better. We just have to get some defenders in there. The next two weeks are going to be busy for us.”