Mick Cronin, The Michael Price Family UCLA Men’s Head Basketball Coach
opening statement
“Our offense got us beat. Can’t shoot 30 percent from the field, 50 from the foul line. We would have to play a high school team to win with those numbers. They shot 38 percent, but you can’t shoot 30 percent and win. And then you get to the foul line, we’re 7-for-16 in the second half, so what are you going to do? If they’re just going to keep jacking threes, it is what it is, but they shot 38 percent for the game. We kept them off the foul line. We had some bad breakdowns. We’re a young team. We had three or four possessions where it was like… who’s guarding the guy? And that’s our youth. Our inexperience comes out. Young teams, a guy gets a little tired—and it’s not just one guy. As soon as one guy gets a little tired, he gets lost. We cover for him and while we’re covering for him, they find the open man, bang, three. Could be in halfcourt, could be in transition. There are three or four possessions like that. Until we get battle-hardened, we’re just a young team. We’re a work in progress. But up until this point, we’ve been able to score inside. You’ve watched us every game. Jalen (Hill) and Cody (Riley) shooting almost 60 percent, both of them, [and] today, they’re 3-for-16. It’s hard to win that way. Where are we going to get our points?”
on if he has ever coached a team with one scorer in double digits
“Oh yeah, shoot, we went to the NCAA Tournament one year at Cincinnati, had nobody average double figures. But we were a great defensive team.”
on his team’s offensive performance
“I thought that Cody and Jalen, today, they were in a rush, they weren’t on balance. When we had our chances, they just didn’t get it in the basket. Three-for-16. I’d say maybe two of those were jump shots from Cody. The rest, they’re 3-for-14 four feet in. Can’t win. You just can’t win, unless you shoot lights out from three. But we’re 7-for-16. That’s about good for us. About where we should be. Got to make free throws, you got to make layups.”
on limiting “snowball effect”
“Trying to keep these guys positive as much as I can. We don’t have, as you know, we don’t have Jaylen Hands to make threes five feet behind the line. There are times where I’m just trying to find a lineup where we can generate some offense today. I think, overall, our attitude’s good. Our guys are trying. Right now, we just don’t have that one guy that can just get us 20.”
on Shareef O’Neal
“I thought his effort was great. He was all over the place… Right now, with all our young guys, it’s just like depositing money in the bank that’s going to pay off for us. Whether it’s Shareef, all those guys. Really, other than Prince (Ali) and Alex (Olesinski), we just got a lot of young, inexperienced guys. Even Chris (Smith), where he’s got to be a relied-upon player. It’s new to him. Developing his toughness.”
on what outrebounding opponent means
“Well, that’s an effort stat. We can control effort. We try to do that. You’re always happy with that. I thought [Notre Dame] made some threes—I thought three or four times we made some really not-smart rotations that hurt us. But we weren’t going to win with the offense we had today. It just wasn’t going to happen. I’m just trying, with these guys, it’s all a process. Just trying to teach them what they have to do…”
opening statement
“Our offense got us beat. Can’t shoot 30 percent from the field, 50 from the foul line. We would have to play a high school team to win with those numbers. They shot 38 percent, but you can’t shoot 30 percent and win. And then you get to the foul line, we’re 7-for-16 in the second half, so what are you going to do? If they’re just going to keep jacking threes, it is what it is, but they shot 38 percent for the game. We kept them off the foul line. We had some bad breakdowns. We’re a young team. We had three or four possessions where it was like… who’s guarding the guy? And that’s our youth. Our inexperience comes out. Young teams, a guy gets a little tired—and it’s not just one guy. As soon as one guy gets a little tired, he gets lost. We cover for him and while we’re covering for him, they find the open man, bang, three. Could be in halfcourt, could be in transition. There are three or four possessions like that. Until we get battle-hardened, we’re just a young team. We’re a work in progress. But up until this point, we’ve been able to score inside. You’ve watched us every game. Jalen (Hill) and Cody (Riley) shooting almost 60 percent, both of them, [and] today, they’re 3-for-16. It’s hard to win that way. Where are we going to get our points?”
on if he has ever coached a team with one scorer in double digits
“Oh yeah, shoot, we went to the NCAA Tournament one year at Cincinnati, had nobody average double figures. But we were a great defensive team.”
on his team’s offensive performance
“I thought that Cody and Jalen, today, they were in a rush, they weren’t on balance. When we had our chances, they just didn’t get it in the basket. Three-for-16. I’d say maybe two of those were jump shots from Cody. The rest, they’re 3-for-14 four feet in. Can’t win. You just can’t win, unless you shoot lights out from three. But we’re 7-for-16. That’s about good for us. About where we should be. Got to make free throws, you got to make layups.”
on limiting “snowball effect”
“Trying to keep these guys positive as much as I can. We don’t have, as you know, we don’t have Jaylen Hands to make threes five feet behind the line. There are times where I’m just trying to find a lineup where we can generate some offense today. I think, overall, our attitude’s good. Our guys are trying. Right now, we just don’t have that one guy that can just get us 20.”
on Shareef O’Neal
“I thought his effort was great. He was all over the place… Right now, with all our young guys, it’s just like depositing money in the bank that’s going to pay off for us. Whether it’s Shareef, all those guys. Really, other than Prince (Ali) and Alex (Olesinski), we just got a lot of young, inexperienced guys. Even Chris (Smith), where he’s got to be a relied-upon player. It’s new to him. Developing his toughness.”
on what outrebounding opponent means
“Well, that’s an effort stat. We can control effort. We try to do that. You’re always happy with that. I thought [Notre Dame] made some threes—I thought three or four times we made some really not-smart rotations that hurt us. But we weren’t going to win with the offense we had today. It just wasn’t going to happen. I’m just trying, with these guys, it’s all a process. Just trying to teach them what they have to do…”
