What Mick Cronin Said After UCLA's Close Loss to Arizona

The No. 15 UCLA Bruins shook off some early season concerns and rose to the occasion against rival No. 5 Arizona in the Intuit Dome for the Hall of Fame Classic, but lost in thrilling fashion, 69-65.

Many were dubious on the Bruins because of their early-season struggles against middling teams like Eastern Washington and Pepperdine to start the year, but they initiated the intensity and rode with one of the nation's best all game.

The story of the night was physicality and winning on the margins, and the Bruins set the tone physically and did everything right on the margins, the Wildcats just executed more down the stretch.

Below is a transcript of Bruins coach Mick Cronin's full postgame following the thrilling loss.

Mick Cronin Postgame vs Arizona

ucl — Nov 14, 2025; Inglewood, California, USA; UCLA Bruins head coach Mick Cronin reacts to a play during the first half of the Hall of Fame Series game against the Arizona Wildcats at Intuit Dome. Mandatory Credit: Kiyoshi Mio-Imagn Images | Kiyoshi Mio-Imagn Images

Opening statement

“Hard fought game, we didn’t execute down the stretch. They did and that was the story of the game. On the bigger picture, we gave up 60 percent from the field in the second half, and they made 13 layups. I don’t even know how we were winning. We have to get better defensively, and much better on the backboard. We had our chances and we didn’t execute our offense down the stretch. On defense, we gave up layups and my teams don't give up layups with the game on the line.”

On UCLA's 12 first half turnovers

“We turned it over 12 times, and we were sloppy with the ball. I told this team if we don't turn the ball over and take it in the second half, we will score 40 points. We can score if we don't turn it over. I always give the other team credit. When you turn it over, it’s effort-related for the other team.”

ucl — Nov 14, 2025; Inglewood, California, USA; UCLA Bruins forward Tyler Bilodeau (34) reacts to a play during the first half of the Hall of Fame Series game against the Arizona Wildcats at Intuit Dome. Mandatory Credit: Kiyoshi Mio-Imagn Images | Kiyoshi Mio-Imagn Images

On last four shots of the game

“Well, they’re shooting layups. The guy is a hell of a player, so he’s definitely not going to miss layups. Then we also didn’t rotate to him on the perimeter pass. The whole stadium was wondering if anyone was going to rotate to him. He wanted to drive it and was waiting for anyone to rotate, and said I’m going to go down the lane and shoot a layup because he's a smart and great player, but no one rotated to him.”

On physicality of the game

“We did some things well and we got to get a lot better and more production off our bench. Their bench destroyed ours, but I'm guessing Tommy [Lloyd] didn’t start Dell’Orso because he wanted to bring in an offensive player. We also brought in Trent who’s a good player, and we got to develop our bench, get better on defense, and better on rebounding. I knew all that coming in. But our guys competed in a great game. They got a hell of a team as usual.”

ucl — Nov 14, 2025; Inglewood, California, USA; Arizona Wildcats forward Ivan Kharchenkov (8) drives between UCLA Bruins center Xavier Booker (1) and forward Eric Dailey Jr. (3) during the first half of the Hall of Fame Series game at Intuit Dome. Mandatory Credit: Kiyoshi Mio-Imagn Images | Kiyoshi Mio-Imagn Images

On UCLA's final possession

“With Book and Donny being a lot of pick and rolls, and they’re both new – they haven’t been in that situation together, so we need to go through that. We got two new guys in pick and rolls a lot, late in the game. We weren’t quite on the same page, so that’s an area we can grow. The other piece is Eric didn’t practice in October, literally for a month. He’s an unbelievable worker, so he stayed in shape. With him playing behind the line, playing the three, he’s only going to get better with reps.

"At times, he will revert to the things he did last year because he was playing the four, within our offense. There are still some things he can still get better at. It’s hard to figure out the best way to incorporate him when he missed 26 of our 30 practices we get in the fall. That’s an area where we can really get better at.”

UCLA returns on Tuesday, Nov. 18, to take on Mike Bibby's Sacramento State Hornets for the Empire Classic in Pauley Pavilion.

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