Postgame Quotes - UCLA 67, Maryland 55
POSTGAME QUOTES
UCLA 67, Maryland 55
Los Angeles, Calif. (Pauley Pavilion presented by Wescom Financial)
January 10, 2025
Mick Cronin, The Michael Price Family UCLA Men’s Head Basketball Coach
opening statement
“Obviously, we need rebounding drills, but we can’t practice because there are too many guys hurt. So, we couldn’t really do box out drills the last two days because we already got two guys out, and boxing out the pad doesn’t help. We’ve got to box out live to simulate what Maryland does with their offensive rebounding. So if we could rebound, we’d win by 30. They wouldn’t have got to 40. Pretty simple. So, that being said, made some adjustments defensively, did a much better job of defense. They shot 30 percent from the field. And that’s worth getting 20 second chances; I don’t know if they got 20 shots off, but they got 20 offensive [rebounds]. So, they shot the ball 15 more times than us. And, you know, we’re never in doubt.”
on if he can elaborate on the defensive adjustments made
“No. You know what, I’m going to tell you a story I found interesting. Basketball coaches love attention. So the announcers come to shootaround, the announcers come in here, or the media comes in here. They’re smart. You ask the right questions. Basketball coaches have diarrhea of the mouth. ‘Yeah, here’s what I did, here’s what we do.’ Why the hell would I tell you? I mean, you really think that, like [Nick] Saban or [Bill] Belichick or Google Me [Curt Cignetti] would tell you? I mean, Google Me ain’t telling you nothing. He ain’t telling me nothing. But you guys, shoot, you ever listen to games? ‘In shootaround today, they were saying this is the game plan’. Now, everybody in the league is listening. You know, so I don’t understand that in basketball. Maybe I’m a bad guy, but, you know, [the media] isn’t in there when we go to do our game plan. They’re out. So yeah, defensively we made some adjustments. You figure it out. I’m not going to sit here and tell Ohio State or Penn State.”
on Steven Jamerson II’s performance
“I will say this, the first half, when we had the lineup with Eric [Dailey Jr.] at the four, and Jamerson at the five, we went from maybe down two to up 17. So I think it was two things. I got Tyler [Bilodeau] out, it was a bad night for him – didn’t have a rebound. He got a lot in common with me today, same amount of rebounds. That lineup though with Eric and Steve, we started to rebound. That’s all it was. And then we moved the ball. Steve’s best game by far as a Bruin, best game by far. We forced a lot of shot clock violations, but, we’re still trying to put me in the hospital with fouling with two and three seconds on the shot clock. It’s just unbelievable. I think there was two, maybe three. I know there was two – Donny and Jamar.
on if the defensive changes were opponent specific or more general
“We’ll see. Good question, though.”
on having Tyler Bilodeau sit between Skyy Clark and Brandon Williams after his third person foul
“Yeah, because he doesn’t listen to me sometimes, so maybe he’ll listen to them. I explained to them, tell him how egregiously – let me be nicer – juvenile, that foul was. Because I looked at them, and they’re like ‘Why would you get your third foul, doing what you just did?’ But I should have gone to law school like my mom told me. Billable hours, man. I should have. That’s what happens. You got a senior, why would he do that? So I took a shot that maybe he’d listen to Brandon and Skyy.”
on his message to Tyler Bilodeau through his recent fouling issues
“In life, with decision making, I tell my players this – decision making will probably shape the pattern of your life. So, it’s very congruent with what you do in basketball. The problem in basketball is you affect the rest of our lives when you make bad decisions. So as a coach, you can just keep trying to make better decisions. That’s all you can do. I long for the days when I recruited a guy for three years and coaching for four or five. You can really help a guy at that point and impact a guy. But I won’t change. Times have changed with that and recruiting has changed. Donny Dent can come in here and tell you how much effort I put into getting him to have seven assists and no turnovers – because he was a walking turnover. He had eight against us last year in New Mexico. Now, you can ask him. I’m relentless on him.”
on the collective culture of the team
“We’ve got great guys, man. We got great guys, we really do. That’s by design. Number one, I like to be able to tell Tyler’s mom Cass, or Big Steve [Jamerson], who’s about two feet smaller than little Steve Jamerson, or Eric Dailey Sr., when you’re recruiting, I like to promise them that you won’t be on a team with bad guys. I mean, that matters to me. So, we got all good guys on our team. Problem is we’ve got to have players that rebound – they know it. Our first shot defense was unbelievably good. They just shot 20 percent if we could have got a rebound. Think about that now. I don’t care who you’re playing. It’s college basketball.”
on Trent Perry’s performance
“I like the fact that he had eight deflections and two steals and fought through a little bit of a cramp. Because I like to tease my West Coast guys.”
on the deflection total tonight
“31. Trent had eight.”
UCLA senior forward Eric Dailey Jr.
on playing the four position alongside Steven Jamerson II
“I mean, honestly, when I’m at the four, it feels like the three, but there’s just a slower defender trying to guard me. We are both energetic guys on that glass and if one of us doesn’t get the rebound then the other one will. So just having moments of crashing hard and being vocal is important. I am proud of Steven and how he played by giving us lots of effort on the glass. He even stepped up and hit some free throws which was really big for us.“
on the defensive switch in the game and how it will be going forward
“Yeah we can definitely carry this going forward. It's really our defensive attitude and effort and there’s nothing else. Tactics on defense help but at the end of the day just don’t let your man score and help your teammates out.”
UCLA sophomore guard Trent Perry
on stepping up with multiple injuries on the Bruins’ squad
“At the end of the day, it’s just basketball. Eric Dailey always tells us pregame in the locker room that it is just another day, and we are blessed to have another opportunity to be able to play basketball. We’re just blessed to live, so we might as well just go out there and give it our all and try to get a win. That’s what we got tonight.”
on his defensive performance and getting eight deflections tonight
“I’m just trying to give it my all regardless and you know today I got the bone with the most deflections in the game. You get a bone and sign it when you get the most deflections, and this is my first one of the year, for me.”
on the defensive adjustments made in the game
“I think we were just talking a lot more. We aren't mind readers so talking is important. Usually when we do things we don’t talk it out and I think today we did all of that. We were all in sync with each other. “
on feeling more confident in late-game situations
“I mean, I’ve just been confident throughout this entire year. You know last year was a little bit of a growing pain for me. I mean Eric, who is like my big brother, told me to keep pushing and keep my mindset correct. We talk a lot and he always tells me that freshman year is the hardest for your college career, but I’ve already been through it. So I might as just get back to my original self and stay confident and knock down those big shots.”
UCLA redshirt senior center Steven Jamerson II
on tonight being his best game as a Bruin
“I agree with Coach, that tonight was probably my best game, so far, being here. I was a lot calmer and a lot more confident in my abilities. Just going out there and Coach having faith in me to keep me in the game, it just kept me going and rolling and that was great.”
on the different schemes seen in practice
“I think it helped me for sure and they emphasized staying in front of the ball. The coaches do a really great job of pointing out every single detail they see on the court, so it helped me grow and continue to be better defensively whenever we have different types of practices.”
On the confidence and support system he has with his team
“It’s like having a bigger and extended family behind my back. They make sure that I know there’s support for me and they want me to grow and get better so that I can help them in return. I want to make sure that I can continue to get better and that they continue to have confidence in me. It’s great for my growth and for our team’s growth.”
Maryland head coach Buzz Williams
on the team’s second-half performance
“I thought in the second half we were much better at the things we could control. We were more poised. Our pace was a little better. I think that we did a phenomenal job on the glass, and arguable for the entire game. In the first half, we rebounded 52 percent of misses. I would say, just looking at the box score, we did a good job of that in the second half. I think that playing with 10 turnovers in the first half, versus three in the second half, is a big difference. Making zero free throws in the first half versus nine in the second half is a big difference. Obviously, if you don’t give it to the other team, you have the ball more. I thought that we did a better job of getting the ball below the free throw line. Some of that was in the half court, some of that was because we did a better job getting stops. They made half of their shots in the first half and 32 percent in the second half. It’s all correlated. It is encouraging that our response in the second half was good. We have to continue to find ways to put it together from start to finish instead of always playing from behind for long stretches of the game. Arguably the best second half we’ve played in Big Ten play, but the first was too eerily similar to many of our other halves.”
on David “Diggy” Coit playing on the ball
“I don’t have the answer on that. I do think that Diggy [Coit] has the propensity to score. I wouldn’t have thought that he would be struggling in the manner that he is. Part of that is the attention that he draws, which is a good thing on the back side of it. On the other end, we’re trying to find ways to cover up some of his deficiencies defensively, and he’s working harder at that and I do think he’s made improvement in regards to understanding what we’re doing and that execution of it. As do the kids that are playing with him while he’s on the floor. I thought our plan, specific to him defensively, was probably the best plan we’ve had. I thought our ball screen coverage was much better. They set a lot of ball screens. I thought our plan was clear. I thought the execution of that was better. We did a lot better job on unclean rebounds, rebounds that were more traffic related. Somebody gets a fingertip on it, the ball hits the floor, that gave us a chance. Is Diggy the answer? Don’t know. Is Dre [Andrew Miller} or DA [Darius Adams] the answer? Don’t know. We’re still trying, unfortunately, we’re still trying to find some consistency from that.”
UCLA 67, Maryland 55
Los Angeles, Calif. (Pauley Pavilion presented by Wescom Financial)
January 10, 2025
Mick Cronin, The Michael Price Family UCLA Men’s Head Basketball Coach
opening statement
“Obviously, we need rebounding drills, but we can’t practice because there are too many guys hurt. So, we couldn’t really do box out drills the last two days because we already got two guys out, and boxing out the pad doesn’t help. We’ve got to box out live to simulate what Maryland does with their offensive rebounding. So if we could rebound, we’d win by 30. They wouldn’t have got to 40. Pretty simple. So, that being said, made some adjustments defensively, did a much better job of defense. They shot 30 percent from the field. And that’s worth getting 20 second chances; I don’t know if they got 20 shots off, but they got 20 offensive [rebounds]. So, they shot the ball 15 more times than us. And, you know, we’re never in doubt.”
on if he can elaborate on the defensive adjustments made
“No. You know what, I’m going to tell you a story I found interesting. Basketball coaches love attention. So the announcers come to shootaround, the announcers come in here, or the media comes in here. They’re smart. You ask the right questions. Basketball coaches have diarrhea of the mouth. ‘Yeah, here’s what I did, here’s what we do.’ Why the hell would I tell you? I mean, you really think that, like [Nick] Saban or [Bill] Belichick or Google Me [Curt Cignetti] would tell you? I mean, Google Me ain’t telling you nothing. He ain’t telling me nothing. But you guys, shoot, you ever listen to games? ‘In shootaround today, they were saying this is the game plan’. Now, everybody in the league is listening. You know, so I don’t understand that in basketball. Maybe I’m a bad guy, but, you know, [the media] isn’t in there when we go to do our game plan. They’re out. So yeah, defensively we made some adjustments. You figure it out. I’m not going to sit here and tell Ohio State or Penn State.”
on Steven Jamerson II’s performance
“I will say this, the first half, when we had the lineup with Eric [Dailey Jr.] at the four, and Jamerson at the five, we went from maybe down two to up 17. So I think it was two things. I got Tyler [Bilodeau] out, it was a bad night for him – didn’t have a rebound. He got a lot in common with me today, same amount of rebounds. That lineup though with Eric and Steve, we started to rebound. That’s all it was. And then we moved the ball. Steve’s best game by far as a Bruin, best game by far. We forced a lot of shot clock violations, but, we’re still trying to put me in the hospital with fouling with two and three seconds on the shot clock. It’s just unbelievable. I think there was two, maybe three. I know there was two – Donny and Jamar.
on if the defensive changes were opponent specific or more general
“We’ll see. Good question, though.”
on having Tyler Bilodeau sit between Skyy Clark and Brandon Williams after his third person foul
“Yeah, because he doesn’t listen to me sometimes, so maybe he’ll listen to them. I explained to them, tell him how egregiously – let me be nicer – juvenile, that foul was. Because I looked at them, and they’re like ‘Why would you get your third foul, doing what you just did?’ But I should have gone to law school like my mom told me. Billable hours, man. I should have. That’s what happens. You got a senior, why would he do that? So I took a shot that maybe he’d listen to Brandon and Skyy.”
on his message to Tyler Bilodeau through his recent fouling issues
“In life, with decision making, I tell my players this – decision making will probably shape the pattern of your life. So, it’s very congruent with what you do in basketball. The problem in basketball is you affect the rest of our lives when you make bad decisions. So as a coach, you can just keep trying to make better decisions. That’s all you can do. I long for the days when I recruited a guy for three years and coaching for four or five. You can really help a guy at that point and impact a guy. But I won’t change. Times have changed with that and recruiting has changed. Donny Dent can come in here and tell you how much effort I put into getting him to have seven assists and no turnovers – because he was a walking turnover. He had eight against us last year in New Mexico. Now, you can ask him. I’m relentless on him.”
on the collective culture of the team
“We’ve got great guys, man. We got great guys, we really do. That’s by design. Number one, I like to be able to tell Tyler’s mom Cass, or Big Steve [Jamerson], who’s about two feet smaller than little Steve Jamerson, or Eric Dailey Sr., when you’re recruiting, I like to promise them that you won’t be on a team with bad guys. I mean, that matters to me. So, we got all good guys on our team. Problem is we’ve got to have players that rebound – they know it. Our first shot defense was unbelievably good. They just shot 20 percent if we could have got a rebound. Think about that now. I don’t care who you’re playing. It’s college basketball.”
on Trent Perry’s performance
“I like the fact that he had eight deflections and two steals and fought through a little bit of a cramp. Because I like to tease my West Coast guys.”
on the deflection total tonight
“31. Trent had eight.”
UCLA senior forward Eric Dailey Jr.
on playing the four position alongside Steven Jamerson II
“I mean, honestly, when I’m at the four, it feels like the three, but there’s just a slower defender trying to guard me. We are both energetic guys on that glass and if one of us doesn’t get the rebound then the other one will. So just having moments of crashing hard and being vocal is important. I am proud of Steven and how he played by giving us lots of effort on the glass. He even stepped up and hit some free throws which was really big for us.“
on the defensive switch in the game and how it will be going forward
“Yeah we can definitely carry this going forward. It's really our defensive attitude and effort and there’s nothing else. Tactics on defense help but at the end of the day just don’t let your man score and help your teammates out.”
UCLA sophomore guard Trent Perry
on stepping up with multiple injuries on the Bruins’ squad
“At the end of the day, it’s just basketball. Eric Dailey always tells us pregame in the locker room that it is just another day, and we are blessed to have another opportunity to be able to play basketball. We’re just blessed to live, so we might as well just go out there and give it our all and try to get a win. That’s what we got tonight.”
on his defensive performance and getting eight deflections tonight
“I’m just trying to give it my all regardless and you know today I got the bone with the most deflections in the game. You get a bone and sign it when you get the most deflections, and this is my first one of the year, for me.”
on the defensive adjustments made in the game
“I think we were just talking a lot more. We aren't mind readers so talking is important. Usually when we do things we don’t talk it out and I think today we did all of that. We were all in sync with each other. “
on feeling more confident in late-game situations
“I mean, I’ve just been confident throughout this entire year. You know last year was a little bit of a growing pain for me. I mean Eric, who is like my big brother, told me to keep pushing and keep my mindset correct. We talk a lot and he always tells me that freshman year is the hardest for your college career, but I’ve already been through it. So I might as just get back to my original self and stay confident and knock down those big shots.”
UCLA redshirt senior center Steven Jamerson II
on tonight being his best game as a Bruin
“I agree with Coach, that tonight was probably my best game, so far, being here. I was a lot calmer and a lot more confident in my abilities. Just going out there and Coach having faith in me to keep me in the game, it just kept me going and rolling and that was great.”
on the different schemes seen in practice
“I think it helped me for sure and they emphasized staying in front of the ball. The coaches do a really great job of pointing out every single detail they see on the court, so it helped me grow and continue to be better defensively whenever we have different types of practices.”
On the confidence and support system he has with his team
“It’s like having a bigger and extended family behind my back. They make sure that I know there’s support for me and they want me to grow and get better so that I can help them in return. I want to make sure that I can continue to get better and that they continue to have confidence in me. It’s great for my growth and for our team’s growth.”
Maryland head coach Buzz Williams
on the team’s second-half performance
“I thought in the second half we were much better at the things we could control. We were more poised. Our pace was a little better. I think that we did a phenomenal job on the glass, and arguable for the entire game. In the first half, we rebounded 52 percent of misses. I would say, just looking at the box score, we did a good job of that in the second half. I think that playing with 10 turnovers in the first half, versus three in the second half, is a big difference. Making zero free throws in the first half versus nine in the second half is a big difference. Obviously, if you don’t give it to the other team, you have the ball more. I thought that we did a better job of getting the ball below the free throw line. Some of that was in the half court, some of that was because we did a better job getting stops. They made half of their shots in the first half and 32 percent in the second half. It’s all correlated. It is encouraging that our response in the second half was good. We have to continue to find ways to put it together from start to finish instead of always playing from behind for long stretches of the game. Arguably the best second half we’ve played in Big Ten play, but the first was too eerily similar to many of our other halves.”
on David “Diggy” Coit playing on the ball
“I don’t have the answer on that. I do think that Diggy [Coit] has the propensity to score. I wouldn’t have thought that he would be struggling in the manner that he is. Part of that is the attention that he draws, which is a good thing on the back side of it. On the other end, we’re trying to find ways to cover up some of his deficiencies defensively, and he’s working harder at that and I do think he’s made improvement in regards to understanding what we’re doing and that execution of it. As do the kids that are playing with him while he’s on the floor. I thought our plan, specific to him defensively, was probably the best plan we’ve had. I thought our ball screen coverage was much better. They set a lot of ball screens. I thought our plan was clear. I thought the execution of that was better. We did a lot better job on unclean rebounds, rebounds that were more traffic related. Somebody gets a fingertip on it, the ball hits the floor, that gave us a chance. Is Diggy the answer? Don’t know. Is Dre [Andrew Miller} or DA [Darius Adams] the answer? Don’t know. We’re still trying, unfortunately, we’re still trying to find some consistency from that.”