Everything Alabama's Next Opponent UCLA Said After Beating Abilene Christian
For the first time since 2017, the No. 11-seed UCLA men's basketball team booked a spot in the Sweet 16 of the NCAA Tournament, posting a 67-47 victory over No. 14-seed Abilene Christian at Bankers Life Fieldhouse.
With the win, the Bruins (20-9) advanced to face No. 2-seed Alabama (26-6) on Sunday.
UCLA registered its third win of this season's NCAA Tournament in five days. The Bruins had picked up wins over Michigan State (86-60 in OT) on Thursday night in the First Four and versus BYU (73-62) on Saturday.
Sophomore guard Johnny Juzang continued his hot play, scoring a game-high 17 points on 7 of 15 shooting from the field, including 3 of 7 from behind the 3-point arc.
Junior forward Cody Riley (12 points, 12 rebounds) and sophomore guard Jaime Jaquez Jr. (10 points) were the two other Bruins to score in double figures.
Coach Mick Cronin
First of all, I'd like to congratulate Coach Golding and Abilene Christian on a great season. Obviously they had our attention. They've got some kids that play unbelievably hard. I thought the key to today's game was the fact that we did not take them lightly. We had tremendous respect for them, their coaching, their opponent, their players I should have said, as our opponent.
Again, congrats to them.
Our guys were awesome today. They're a team that's so hard to play against defensively. For us only to have eight turnovers was just a tremendous job by our guys and a very short prep. Obviously our third game, flying from LA and then having to play at Purdue and up and back twice. The guys have been through a lot in the last couple weeks on our team, but it's brought them together. They've showed a lot of character. They're really easy to coach right now. They're fun to coach, and I give our players absolutely all the credit in the world. They made today's game look a lot easier than it was. It was not easy in person.
This is a very, very good Abilene Christian team that beat Texas, took Texas Tech to the wire, gave Arkansas all they wanted. They dominated their conference tournament. So very, very happy with today's win.
Q. You knew you were going to have to take care of the ball and you did a great job of that. But the defensive end really stood out, as well, and it felt like that's just continued to kind of carry this team in the postseason. What has happened on that end that's really clicking right now?
MICK CRONIN: Well, I've told the guys this since I became their coach. We're going to have to get a lot tougher. We're going to have to learn how to do hard, uncomfortable things, physical things. We're going to have to believe in the uncomfortable things that go into winning. And when we do that, we'll start winning, because we have enough talent on the roster. We've lost a lot of talent as the season has gone on, but we've continued to try to get better at the things that go into winning, whether it's executing and taking care of the ball on offense, being physical and rebounding, and being the better defensive team.
So my message to them -- because I was concerned that we would turn it over because they're so good at what they do, that we were just going to have to win a super ugly game. So my message was the better defensive team will win this game, and just continue to focus and worry about defense.
We've embraced that since the halftime of the Michigan State game. We've been an elite defensive team for our last five halves of basketball. And on the board was "Defense was why we're alive and defense is why we'll survive in this tournament."
Q. Offensively all three of your first-half turnovers were kind of unforced - two guys stepped out of bounds and you had a charge. So you did a great job of taking care of the ball. How were you able to withstand their pressure?
MICK CRONIN: Well, I would say, again, I give my players all the credit because yesterday, so Sunday, we watched -- again, our wins Thursday and Saturday night, we got back at 3:00 a.m. after we beat Michigan State. We got back at 1:00 a.m. after we beat BYU. To try to calm those guys down and get them to bed, get them treated led us to Sunday, where all we could do was treat Jaime and Tyger and let those guys rest and watch film. First time in my life I put guys in a chair and had a walk-through with no defense. They watched the coaches go through what we were going to go through defensively while they sat and rested on the baseline.
So our preparation was this morning in our shootaround. That's all we really had to deal with, the fact that we weren't going to be able to run our normal offense because they just don't let you do it.
The kids did a great job of being able to deal with that really with no practice preparation.
Q. Throughout the season you've been saying it's a matter of your players buying in and believing what you're telling them and coaching of them. Would you say that this was an example of that in this game that they're now doing what you're telling them to do?
MICK CRONIN: Well, I think they've been all year, to be honest with you. Sometimes the other team just wins. We dropped some games late in the season. It wasn't because they weren't trying, they weren't buying in. We were playing really good teams, as I've been trying to tell everybody all year, with the Pac-12 continuing to be undefeated. I think we're at three teams in the Sweet 16. We've got two more to play still, I think.
Part of that, it isn't that they just did. I think what they have learned is one or two mistakes can beat you. We've eliminated some and-ones. We've just gotten better. We're more trained. It takes time. We're still a young team with no seniors.
And again, you lose Chris, you reinvent yourself. Then you lose Jalen, you've got to reinvent yourself.
We've made it look seamless with Johnny, but it's his first year on our team and our program. So these guys have been through a lot, and I would wrap that up as I think they have come together has been really the key. They're playing for each other. And they're holding each other accountable because they want to win.
Q. Giving all the players credit, I completely see that and understand that. Who did the scout on Abilene Christian, and how hard is that for someone on your staff to turn that around, especially for a team that plays so uniquely as they do?
MICK CRONIN: Yeah, well, Rod, Darren and Mike rotate everything. It was Darren today. I'm glad you brought that up because I told you guys this when I got the job, when I announced the staff, that what I did was went out and hired three guys that I thought should already be head coaches. So I have a huge advantage in that I have three guys that are veteran -- Coach Palmer has got state championships in multiple years of college -- in high school, multiple years of college experience. Darren Savino should have been a head coach a couple years ago. Unfortunately it didn't happen, when I left Cincinnati. And he'll get his day. And Mike Lewis is -- he's the young pup on our staff, even though he's the baldest guy. They do a great job for me.
Today was Darren, but the way we do things, we all recruit. We don't have a "my guy, my scout." We try to do everything as a team, as a staff, and it's all about the four letters on the front.
Q. You've been here two years now, but at the same time because of the COVID stuff, obviously that strips some experience you guys could have had last year in March. I assume it cut into practice time even into this year. The fact that you guys were able to get from where you were when you took over this team to where you are right now in terms of kind of doing those uncomfortable things and learning how to win these games, what does it say about this group of players?
MICK CRONIN: Part of the reason I took the job is I knew that we had some talent on the roster. 15 years ago when I took the Cincinnati job, Connor Barwin, my buddy who played in the NFL many years is now smartly retired with his health, came in my office, he said, hey, Coach, I'll help you out, I'll play another year of basketball, but your job is to recruit. I can only help you for a year.
So players matter. That being said, I will say this: For the West Coast teams, we have a huge disadvantage. Six months without seeing your team. When teams in the south and back east and teams that had summer workouts, and we did not see our players for six months. How do you develop a guy's body? In LA, as you guys know, everything was closed. You can't get in the weight room.
And then trying to continue the -- we were on such a run at the end of the year last year, and trying to reinforce all the things we taught, my biggest fear was six months, we're going to be starting over.
It hasn't been easy, so I think everybody in the Pac-12 has really dealt with that, and what I would say is that's what hurt the Pac-12 early in the year, all of us. And you see that everybody has gotten so much better as the year went on because none of us had any type of summer.
Q. Near the end of the game as you guys were closing this out, one of my colleagues called me and remarked that it seemed, at least from a distance, that this is a very likable team. What is it like on the inside for you, and what kind of connections, say, have you built with these players?
MICK CRONIN: Well, I would say this: If you see a guy playing for me, he's a good guy. Like he's just not -- it's not going to last. There are certain things that I'm just not cut out to do.
A guy may not -- he may not be the tough guy that people say needs to play for me because I love Johnny because he can get some baskets, right. My job is to help him with the defense and the strength and the toughness.
But if you're on our team, you're going to be a good guy. We've got great guys on the team, and I learned that even thinking right now about Prince Ali and Alex Olesinski, great guys. They could have easily left when I got the job, went and played their fifth year somewhere else. We've got really, really good guys on our team, and sometimes like I've got to make myself get on some of them because they're such good guys.
The whole thing is, the key is, it's easy to be a good guy, but playing for each other is the reason you'll advance -- survive and advance in this tournament, because it's so, so hard because nobody is going down easily. You have to play for each other.
And then you've got to have some guys step up and play well, which obviously Johnny struggled in the first half, he got it in the bucket the second half, and Jake Kyman made some great shots. Coaching can be overrated as well, now.
Q. Going to the Sweet 16 in your second year at UCLA, two years on the job. Is this where you expected the program to be at this point?
MICK CRONIN: Well, I would have liked to have the chance to play in the NCAA Tournament my first year, so you know, I really -- I leave that to other people. I try to just do the day-to-day. The macro thing of did they hire the right coach or where is he going, what's he doing. I leave that to you guys, man. I just try to -- I'm going to try to enjoy every day I get to be the coach at UCLA, enjoy the heck out of this as much as you can. Hopefully we can get out of the hotel for a little bit tomorrow.
But our progress, to give you an answer, we've definitely improved. But you've got to continue to recruit, and there's so many -- when you have my job, I kid around, like Bob Myers was part of the committee that hired me. I'm Bob Myers and Steve Kerr. I've got to coach the team but then I have my other hat that I have to wear that's personnel, where are we at, where are we going to be next year. So I'm happy with our recruiting, our player development, and hopefully we've got some guys that are very committed to our program that think they're in the right place because they're at an elite school on the best campus in America, and I know I'm happy to be there.
Q. I know yesterday you said that you told the guys to quiet down a little bit after the last game, not to celebrate too much. What was it like in the locker room after the game tonight? Did you give them a little bit more of a leash?
MICK CRONIN: No ice baths, none of -- first of all, we're all tired, to be honest with you. Some guys are sitting in the chair, you can tell they're tired. I tried to give Jaime a rest in the first half. He's begging me to go back in. I'm like, Jaime, you've played 95 minutes, let me give you five minutes on the bench.
So I think they're tired. But they know my message. My message has been since we beat Michigan State, look, guys, I didn't come to Westwood to win a game or two, and that's always going to be my message. Remember who you play for, because I'm trying to breed confidence in them, especially the way we ended the season.
Yeah, they can have all the fun they want. They're going to go -- Chris Smith will put the name up and all that, but my message -- I said this my whole career really, you play in a tournament, there's only one winner. You'd better not say we're happy to -- because we won a few games and we survived this weekend. Yeah, I want to enjoy it. It's great. But that's not our purpose. I could care less about my resume. I came to Westwood for a reason, and we've got games to win.
Q. There was something made obviously about the four-game losing streak going into the tournament, but if you look everybody who lost is still playing, and you guys are still playing. What does that say about the overall state of the league?
MICK CRONIN: Yes, I was. Yes, I was. I thought the key for me was making sure we learned Colorado is great, we almost beat them on the road. Oregon as you saw today, we were up 10 in the second half. We just missed free throws that cost us the last two games. But against really good teams.
So I was not in panic mode at all until the bracket came out, and now you've got to play against Tom Izzo and Michigan State at Purdue. We're flying in from LA.
I thought if we could get by the first one, we would have a chance to stay alive.
The second part of your question, no, not surprised at all. As you know, you know me, I coached in the Big East in the heyday - 11 teams in the NCAA Tournament. So I know good teams. And it's not just because I'm a homer. Oregon State really, really does not surprise me. They really figured it out late in the year. We should have beaten them, but they played really well. They won three in a row on the road late in the year late in our conference. Their only loss in the last eight is Oregon. You know how good they are. So all those teams are really solid, well-coached teams.
The Pac-12, when I got the job, people would say, oh, you go out there, your teams will play hard, you'll win. I've got news for you, teams in the Pac-12 play hard. We have excellent coaching in the Pac-12, and I mean that. Teams -- it's way more competitive physically than the rest of the country knows because most people are sleeping when we play, and the coaching is really, really good.
Q. When Chris went down, how did that leadership -- I don't know if it's a void or vacuum or what, but how did that get filled?
MICK CRONIN: Well, on the court, because we don't have a senior, it's really been a committee thing. I think guys are still to this day, to answer your question, growing into that role, because we don't have that one guy that's been that dominant guy at UCLA. He was the only guy on our team that ever played in a tournament game.
We don't really have that guy, but I think now they're all becoming that. So more important was adjusting to playing without him, because it affected our defense, and as a coach, as the time has gone on we've had to make some adjustments because when we lost Chris and we lost Jalen Hill, we're not nearly as long defensively as we used to be.
So there was a lot of adjustments to be made, but the kids collectively have really kind of stepped up. There's not been one guy on the leadership front.
Q. After playing three in five days, now you're going to get a few days off. How welcomed is that?
MICK CRONIN: Extremely. For all of us. Extremely. And I've also petitioned my buddy Dan Gavitt to let me out of the hotel. I need a chair outside just to sit outside for one hour when we get back to the hotel.
But no, we'll get out of the hotel tomorrow. I know they've got some things planned for the teams that are still alive and get our rooms cleaned. It's really been like a frat house on our floor. We're all on the same floor. There's nomads, there's nobody at the desk. It's been a heck of an experience, it really has.
Q. Kind of like teenagers at home, right? God knows what those rooms look like.
MICK CRONIN: Yeah, exactly. Trust me, I know. If I could get my daughter out of her room to speak to me -- she used to sit on my lap for eight hours a day, make me watch every show. Now she's 14 and I can't get her to talk to me anymore. I think everybody out there knows exactly...
Cody Riley
Q. You guys knew you were going to have to be locked in, but you played one of your most complete games of the season tonight. What went into that being to locked in on both ends of the court?
CODY RILEY: You know, the guys are just excited. This is March Madness, so we just locked in and we saw that they beat Texas, so we had a lot of respect for them from the jump and knew what they were capable of defensively with the quick guards that they have and their activity on defense. So we were locked in and tried our best not to turn the ball over and take care of it and share the ball and make good team plays.
Q. You showed a lot of hops tonight. What was it like, especially on that alley-oop, how much fun was that?
CODY RILEY: It was a lot of fun. I'm glad Dave saw me. It was fun to get up and down, play by the rim. It was good.
Q. With about eight minutes left, Abilene Christian went on a little run and you guys called a time-out there and Mick seemed pretty animated in the huddle. What was he telling you guys at that point?
CODY RILEY: He was just telling us, it's not over. This is what they do. They turn teams over, so if we start turning the ball over and let them get going, they could make it a close game. We had to put them away while we were up, and that's what we did.
Q. It seems from the time Mick showed up last year you guys were pretty quick to kind of buy into this thing of kind of taking care of the little things. At what point do you feel you guys actually became good at taking care of those little things?
CODY RILEY: Last year I noticed that everybody was on the same page as far as defense first, like don't worry about missing shots or how many shots you get up. The offensive side is going to come naturally to us. It's what we work on all the time. We really had to step our game up defensively, and once we did that as a unit and we were all playing together, we're a really good team when we do that.
Q. Obviously the scouting report on Abilene was how they could force turnovers and get going in transition. What did you guys do to limit them getting going in that way?
CODY RILEY: We knew that they were going to be scrambling and playing chaotic and trying to get us to speed up. Going into the game we just knew that we couldn't let them do that. We couldn't let them speed us up and let the game get going up and down and let their defense create offense for them. We knew that was their best way of scoring points on offense. With that mindset, we went into it and we capitalized and we won the game.
Q. You guys lost four -- three to end the regular season, one in the Pac-12 tournament and now you've won three. What is that feeling like, and can you also talk about the resilience of the team and what it's like to buy into what Coach Cronin has been talking about?
CODY RILEY: Yeah, those first games that we lost, they were close games, and they were minor hiccups that caused us to lose the game and lack of focus for 40 minutes. Coming in here we knew that we were capable of winning games. We were right there, towards the end of the season, in most of the games that we lost.
So we still had our confidence, and we knew that things were going to start turning our way once we got out here for March Madness, and just like I said before, just locking in on defense. That's what's got us to where we are right now. That's what got us past Michigan State in the first four and BYU, also. That's been our main focus right here, and we're going to keep doing it.
Q. What was the reaction like in the locker room? I know Coach was saying that after the last game he tried to keep you guys composed, but now that you're moving on to the next weekend, Sweet 16 is a little bit bigger. What was that like heading into the locker room and celebrating with the guys?
CODY RILEY: You know, everybody was excited, chest bumping. Luckily there wasn't no water being thrown, but besides that, the coaches were animated and jumping up and down and there was a lot of energy in the locker room. Everybody is just happy to be here.
Q. I saw Mark Few for Gonzaga did a handstand in a mosh pit with his team. Did Coach Cronin do that?
CODY RILEY: No, hopefully Coach Cronin will do that, and hopefully we'll get it on camera, too.
Q. A question about leadership. You had your senior Chris Smith go down on New Year's Eve with a torn ACL. As one of the juniors on the team, do you try to lead vocally or by example or some other style?
CODY RILEY: I try to lead by listening to Coach and sticking to our team principles and trying to bring the energy defensively, talking on the court and trying to just lead by example the best way I can, and also just being the best player I can at the same time.
Q. It's been a heck of a period between the Lakers and the Dodgers. Is there something in the LA smog that's got you guys on a chance to win a championship?
CODY RILEY: It might be something in the air. I'm glad we brought it out here, and hopefully we can keep things rolling for LA.
Q. I just wonder how you would characterize this last week and change here with these three wins, and what the significance of getting to the Sweet 16 is for you, given the four games in a row you lost and obviously having to go through the first four and whatnot?
CODY RILEY: Yeah, I think it shows the resilience of the group, the togetherness. We never broke down and separated or nothing like that. We always stayed together, had plenty of team talks about how important it is going down late in the season to stick together and just never lose hope at all. Even though that stretch we lost four games was pretty rough and we had some practices where we got better. We learned from them, they were really hard, and it kind of motivated us to come out here and prove that we're a lot better team than that.
Q. Cody, did you maybe take advantage of their aggressiveness when you were on offense? The way the ball was moving around, it was kind of like they were always a step behind.
CODY RILEY: Yeah, yeah, definitely. That's something in walk-throughs preparing for them, we knew they were going to be a scramble team, so we tried to keep the floor spread and just let them make the mistakes as far as pressuring up or being in the gaps too much and just skip the ball and get open shots. We have a lot of great shooters. Once we did that and got things rolling, it was hard to stop.
Q. You've played three games in five days; won them all. Do you welcome the time off here now until your next game, or do you maybe feel, hey, we want to keep going?
CODY RILEY: Yeah, we would love to keep playing, but we have a little break, so I guess it's good for us to rest up, heal up. But it's a lot of fun just to be out here. I would love to play as many times as I can. Just the experience of being out here in March Madness, with it being my first time is something amazing, even without the fans. Just the energy that it brings. I think we have a little break, so we're going to rest up and practice and watch film and find out who wins this next game and see who we play and be ready for them.
Q. Considering how much has happened since that 2018-19 season and to get to the Sweet 16 now, how satisfying is it for you and some of the guys still left on the roster from then?
CODY RILEY: Yeah, it's great. Everything we've done since that time is for right now. The ups and downs, the tough practices with Coach Cronin, everything we did is for now. It's amazing, but we're not finished. We still have games that we think we can win, and we're going to take it as far as we can.
Q. You guys had a nice little dance on the court after the game. Did anybody kind of lead that or was it just kind of impromptu, and what were you thinking out there when that's going on?
CODY RILEY: Yeah, I think Dave is the one that really goes out there and does his little thing, does his little dance and everything, and everybody else tags along just because we're excited and we're all having fun. It's just great to see, though. It's great to be around.
Q. Can you talk about where the areas that your defense has improved on? Is it more in the interior paint or more in the perimeter?
CODY RILEY: I feel like just the attention to detail to the teams because every team is different. This team, they didn't have very good shooters, so we had to make sure we were in the gaps. It's going to be different every game, but the biggest jump we made was being locked into the scouting report and being aware for the whole game and not doing it one half but doing it for 40 minutes. That's where we're going to take it to a new level.
Q. You had Jaylen Clark out there for the good chunk of the game today, really the only freshman out there. What did you think about what he brought on the defensive side, his athleticism, getting after the ball? What does he bring to your defense and how good is it to have a young guy like him out there bringing a little energy?
CODY RILEY: Yeah, it's great having J-Clark and seeing him out there and when he's out there, we're looking for him to bring the defensive intensity to pick us up. He's young but he's very adamant on defense and aggressive. That's that we need. That's what we are looking for.
It's great to see him out there moving. He's versatile, he's strong down low and he can also move on the outside perimeter guarding guards, moving his feet well. It's great to see him out there working, and I'm looking forward to seeing the improvement in him.
Transcript courtesy of asapsports.com
