University of California, Los Angeles, Athletics
Postgame Quotes - Indiana 98, UCLA 97 (2OT)
POSTGAMEย QUOTES
Indiana 98, UCLA 97 (2-OT)
Los Angeles, Calif. (Pauley Pavilion presented by Wescom Financial)
January 31, 2026
ย
Mick Cronin, The Michael Price Family UCLA Menโs Head Basketball Coachย
opening statement
โDefense was awful all night. We deserved to lose. We went through a stretch where we were pouting and letting one shot affect the next shot. We couldnโt score for a long time, thatโs how we got down 10, missing wide open shot after wide open shot. Because we acted like somebody stole our favorite toy, and weโre a three-year-old. Our defense was awful all night, for the most part.โ
ย
on the defensive effort of the final play
โOur defense was awful all night. We went over that play five times yesterday at the end of practice. Five times last night, and five times this morning. We showed that play on film 10 times in the last two days.โ
ย
on the out of bounds call, at the end of the game
โOf course, my staff told me it was our ball. I just watched it. It sure looked like it was off Indianaโs elbow. I just watched it. Iโm watching it on a small iPad. I watched it one time. I donโt know, itโs what I saw.โ
ย
asking if โhe got an explanation for that last callโ
โDid it look like I did? What would the explanation be? Itโs Indianaโs ball. What are you asking?โ
ย
asking who the ball went off of, on the review
โWho the hell cares? Who it went off of? Indiana or UCLA. They clearly said it went off us. They said, I said, everybody here on our video says itโs our ball.โ
ย
on the defensive effort in the opening 10 minutes
โOur defense was bad all night. They missed shots. That doesnโt mean itโs good defense.โ
ย
on Trent Perryโs shot making in regulation
โWe went through a stretch where we couldnโt make a shot. Sometimes a lid gets on the basket. And guys fell pressure, and missed shots can be contagious, and thatโs what happened to us. You got good players, and then you just got to keep on playing. One will go in. Just got to, at the end of the game, youโve got to play it out, man. The only thing we did well tonight, in my opinion, was play out the last two minutes. Clock, score, and thatโs when they actually listen to me on how to press. They didnโt listen to our scouting report for the game. I can tell you that. And thatโs why you lose. Everybody thinks that you win and lose in this game because of players. And thereโs only a few teams that have way better players than everyone else. The rest of the games are won by execution. Trust me, Iโve won over 500 of them, I know, and Iโve never had superior talent. Execution wins games, and its defensive execution, block out execution. Obviously baseline out of bounds at the end of game execution. When we drew up the play that they ran in our huddle and went over it 15 times and showed it five on film.โ
ย
on the defensive effort in preceding games
โWhat you were doing before today in life doesnโt matter, man. What the hell has that got to do with anything? And today doesnโt matter; we play Tuesday.โ
ย
on how to refocus the team after todayโs loss
โYou keep coaching them, man. You just keep coaching.โ
ย
on the officiating tonight
โI have no comments on officiating. No.โ
ย
on Jamar Brownโs effort tonight
โYeah, when we lose buddy, Iโm not like a lot of the people in life. I see no bright spots. I apologize, but thatโs just how I feel. The guyโs one for six. He had eight [rebounds].โ
ย
on how his coaching changes during dry shooting spells
โYou talking about when weโre missing shots, what do I say? I always say the same thing, no matter what. Just worry about defense, rebounding, and effort. Unlike everybody else, I donโt even talk to them about whether shots go it. Defense, rebound, effort, execution. There is no magic potion on shooting.โ
ย
on UCLA welcoming back so many alumni on Saturday evening
โYeah, Iโm so busy that I didnโt see one person. Weโve got the best, obviously, the best basketball alumni in the history of college basketball. So now that you mention it, I feel worse about the outcome โ because we have the best alumni in the history of college basketball.โ
ย
UCLA senior Donovan Dent
on the officiating towards the end of the game
โThere were some tough calls there at the end, and especially the charge of Eric Dailey Jr. was a big one. We just had to stay together as a group and just keep fighting through all the fouls they were calling.โ
ย
on how a tough loss like this brings the team together
โYeah, itโs huge for us. We rallied back down late in the second half and that just builds our confidence as a team. Like we know we can fight back and win any game we really want to get into, so it just gives us confidence going into the next one. It just sucks being on the bad side of this.โ
ย
UCLA sophomore Trent Perry
on the last play defensively
โAt the end of the day, Iโm just proud of how we fought. We sent a good team to double overtime and I'm glad we fought through that. Unfortunately, we were on the other end of the game and we lost, but Iโm just proud of how we fought and came together. Weโre going to carry on with this lesson and move on to the next one.โ
ย
on the struggles in the second half
โNumber seven, Nick Dorn, he had some pretty big shots and even though he shot six of 15, he still had some big shots and he got hot. We just had to talk a little bit better, but yeah we canโt just lose shooters like that in the end.โ
ย
on his mindset with his last second shots
โI just wanted to win. Everyone had this certain energy that we arenโt going to lose the ball game. Unfortunately we lost, and the shots mattered, but we still lost and thereโs nothing really else to say about it.โ
ย
on how a tough loss like this brings the team together
โFrom my point of view, I feel like early in the season we would have gone down and held our heads. Sometimes even in the second half when the offense wasnโt going our way, we still came together and had some big stops and big shots. Iโm proud of our team for the way we fought tonight."
ย
Indiana head coach Darian DeVries
his thoughts on the victory
โRoad wins are incredibly hard, especially when we thought we had the win. Everyone just needed to step up and everyone really contributed to this win.
ย
on the problem at the end of regulation
โWe just had a hard time getting the ball in. Someone stepped out of bounds. We had some veteran stuff out there, but overall, we were able to get the win. We just have to watch guys leaving their feet on the pass.โ
ย
on Nick Dornโs play
โHe was great. Heโs been really coming along.โ
ย
on the team huddle at the end of regulation
โTuck [DeVries] did a great job of rallying the guys. He basically told the guys to flush it. This is a really hard-fought game. Both teams made great plays and were looking to get a win.โ
ย
on the overall effort of his team and how several players fouled out
โOur guys showed a lot of guts. There was a lot of character. We had to play a lot of guys. We had guys in spots that theyโve never been in before.โ
ย
on what they take from this
โFor a group, another thing we can learn is the good and the bad from todayโs contest. Itโs a great win, weโre going to recover, get to the hotel and get ready for โSC. We canโt celebrate too long. This is how this league is.โ
ย
Indiana junior Nick Dorn
on how he played today
โI thought I played pretty well. Thereโs a couple things I could have cleaned up.โ
ย
on his overall improvement
โI just stay in the gym, seeing shots going in helps my confidence.โ
ย
on the huddle they had at the end of regulation
โWe were just trying to be resilient. We knew he had to keep fighting. The job was not finished.โ
ย
Indiana 98, UCLA 97 (2-OT)
Los Angeles, Calif. (Pauley Pavilion presented by Wescom Financial)
January 31, 2026
ย
Mick Cronin, The Michael Price Family UCLA Menโs Head Basketball Coachย
opening statement
โDefense was awful all night. We deserved to lose. We went through a stretch where we were pouting and letting one shot affect the next shot. We couldnโt score for a long time, thatโs how we got down 10, missing wide open shot after wide open shot. Because we acted like somebody stole our favorite toy, and weโre a three-year-old. Our defense was awful all night, for the most part.โ
ย
on the defensive effort of the final play
โOur defense was awful all night. We went over that play five times yesterday at the end of practice. Five times last night, and five times this morning. We showed that play on film 10 times in the last two days.โ
ย
on the out of bounds call, at the end of the game
โOf course, my staff told me it was our ball. I just watched it. It sure looked like it was off Indianaโs elbow. I just watched it. Iโm watching it on a small iPad. I watched it one time. I donโt know, itโs what I saw.โ
ย
asking if โhe got an explanation for that last callโ
โDid it look like I did? What would the explanation be? Itโs Indianaโs ball. What are you asking?โ
ย
asking who the ball went off of, on the review
โWho the hell cares? Who it went off of? Indiana or UCLA. They clearly said it went off us. They said, I said, everybody here on our video says itโs our ball.โ
ย
on the defensive effort in the opening 10 minutes
โOur defense was bad all night. They missed shots. That doesnโt mean itโs good defense.โ
ย
on Trent Perryโs shot making in regulation
โWe went through a stretch where we couldnโt make a shot. Sometimes a lid gets on the basket. And guys fell pressure, and missed shots can be contagious, and thatโs what happened to us. You got good players, and then you just got to keep on playing. One will go in. Just got to, at the end of the game, youโve got to play it out, man. The only thing we did well tonight, in my opinion, was play out the last two minutes. Clock, score, and thatโs when they actually listen to me on how to press. They didnโt listen to our scouting report for the game. I can tell you that. And thatโs why you lose. Everybody thinks that you win and lose in this game because of players. And thereโs only a few teams that have way better players than everyone else. The rest of the games are won by execution. Trust me, Iโve won over 500 of them, I know, and Iโve never had superior talent. Execution wins games, and its defensive execution, block out execution. Obviously baseline out of bounds at the end of game execution. When we drew up the play that they ran in our huddle and went over it 15 times and showed it five on film.โ
ย
on the defensive effort in preceding games
โWhat you were doing before today in life doesnโt matter, man. What the hell has that got to do with anything? And today doesnโt matter; we play Tuesday.โ
ย
on how to refocus the team after todayโs loss
โYou keep coaching them, man. You just keep coaching.โ
ย
on the officiating tonight
โI have no comments on officiating. No.โ
ย
on Jamar Brownโs effort tonight
โYeah, when we lose buddy, Iโm not like a lot of the people in life. I see no bright spots. I apologize, but thatโs just how I feel. The guyโs one for six. He had eight [rebounds].โ
ย
on how his coaching changes during dry shooting spells
โYou talking about when weโre missing shots, what do I say? I always say the same thing, no matter what. Just worry about defense, rebounding, and effort. Unlike everybody else, I donโt even talk to them about whether shots go it. Defense, rebound, effort, execution. There is no magic potion on shooting.โ
ย
on UCLA welcoming back so many alumni on Saturday evening
โYeah, Iโm so busy that I didnโt see one person. Weโve got the best, obviously, the best basketball alumni in the history of college basketball. So now that you mention it, I feel worse about the outcome โ because we have the best alumni in the history of college basketball.โ
ย
UCLA senior Donovan Dent
on the officiating towards the end of the game
โThere were some tough calls there at the end, and especially the charge of Eric Dailey Jr. was a big one. We just had to stay together as a group and just keep fighting through all the fouls they were calling.โ
ย
on how a tough loss like this brings the team together
โYeah, itโs huge for us. We rallied back down late in the second half and that just builds our confidence as a team. Like we know we can fight back and win any game we really want to get into, so it just gives us confidence going into the next one. It just sucks being on the bad side of this.โ
ย
UCLA sophomore Trent Perry
on the last play defensively
โAt the end of the day, Iโm just proud of how we fought. We sent a good team to double overtime and I'm glad we fought through that. Unfortunately, we were on the other end of the game and we lost, but Iโm just proud of how we fought and came together. Weโre going to carry on with this lesson and move on to the next one.โ
ย
on the struggles in the second half
โNumber seven, Nick Dorn, he had some pretty big shots and even though he shot six of 15, he still had some big shots and he got hot. We just had to talk a little bit better, but yeah we canโt just lose shooters like that in the end.โ
ย
on his mindset with his last second shots
โI just wanted to win. Everyone had this certain energy that we arenโt going to lose the ball game. Unfortunately we lost, and the shots mattered, but we still lost and thereโs nothing really else to say about it.โ
ย
on how a tough loss like this brings the team together
โFrom my point of view, I feel like early in the season we would have gone down and held our heads. Sometimes even in the second half when the offense wasnโt going our way, we still came together and had some big stops and big shots. Iโm proud of our team for the way we fought tonight."
ย
Indiana head coach Darian DeVries
his thoughts on the victory
โRoad wins are incredibly hard, especially when we thought we had the win. Everyone just needed to step up and everyone really contributed to this win.
ย
on the problem at the end of regulation
โWe just had a hard time getting the ball in. Someone stepped out of bounds. We had some veteran stuff out there, but overall, we were able to get the win. We just have to watch guys leaving their feet on the pass.โ
ย
on Nick Dornโs play
โHe was great. Heโs been really coming along.โ
ย
on the team huddle at the end of regulation
โTuck [DeVries] did a great job of rallying the guys. He basically told the guys to flush it. This is a really hard-fought game. Both teams made great plays and were looking to get a win.โ
ย
on the overall effort of his team and how several players fouled out
โOur guys showed a lot of guts. There was a lot of character. We had to play a lot of guys. We had guys in spots that theyโve never been in before.โ
ย
on what they take from this
โFor a group, another thing we can learn is the good and the bad from todayโs contest. Itโs a great win, weโre going to recover, get to the hotel and get ready for โSC. We canโt celebrate too long. This is how this league is.โ
ย
Indiana junior Nick Dorn
on how he played today
โI thought I played pretty well. Thereโs a couple things I could have cleaned up.โ
ย
on his overall improvement
โI just stay in the gym, seeing shots going in helps my confidence.โ
ย
on the huddle they had at the end of regulation
โWe were just trying to be resilient. We knew he had to keep fighting. The job was not finished.โ
ย