NCAA MEN'S BASKETBALL CHAMPIONSHIP: FIRST FOUR

March 18, 2021

Mick Cronin

UCLA Bruins

Mackey Arena

Postgame Media Conference

UCLA - 86, Michigan State - 80 (OT)

THE MODERATOR: Coach, an opening statement.

COACH CRONIN: Well, obviously happy with our guys. We've been through a tough year with injuries and losing guys and then recently struggled to close some games out and -- despite playing well at times.

So the players really needed this. So I'm really, really happy for the guys. They've been battling hard and really concerned with their confidence being shook after what we've gone through in the last few weeks. Pac-12 obviously didn't help us, making us go to Oregon in our last week, put us on a three-game road trip. Lost Johnny for the USC game. And then Oregon State got on a roll, and we missed free throws and lost that one. So our confidence was definitely shaken.

We were trying, as a coaching staff, make sure we pumped them up as much as we could getting ready for tonight. But Michigan State came out playing well. Their offensive execution in the first half was as good as I've seen them. Their shooting, their passing. They pretty much got whatever they wanted against us.

We huddled up at halftime as a coaching staff and tried to turn up the heat defensively in the second half and tried to make them uncomfortable as much as we could. The kids responded and I thought our intensity level obviously went way up in the second half defensively.

Got a lot of contributions. Obviously Jaime and Johnny put the ball in the basket for us. But Jaylen Clark, I thought, gave us some big minutes as well. But obviously a great win. And a great game, two storied programs. I've got as much respect for Tom Izzo as anybody in the business. So big win for us.

Q. The way the last four games have gone for your team what does it tell you about your guys the way they came down by 14 and down again in the last couple of minutes to tie it and win it in overtime?

COACH CRONIN: Well, you know that's Bruin basketball now. For me, it used to be Bearcat basketball. I just told the team we won the game on offensive rebound. We tied the game on an offensive rebound, got the loose ball, tipped it, got it, got an and-one to tie the game. That's the type of stuff that are hallmarks of winning programs. Tom Izzo's team's been doing those things for a long time.

So in our quest to build our culture and our toughness, for me it was really fitting that we won that way and we had to come back. But it just shows you, these games are never over. Anybody can win these games. They're neutral sites. Everybody is in quarantine.

The kids playing in this tournament, I mean all these teams are playing out of their minds. And I can promise you it's not the same for the kids.

Q. I saw you share a moment with your dad after the game. What did it mean to you to have that moment? What did he have to say to you?

COACH CRONIN: It's good to see him. He's getting old. I'm teasing -- I talk to him every day. I wake up and as I'm heading down Sepulveda I call him, ask him how the weather is in Cincinnati. I explain to him the sun is coming over the Santa Monica Mountains. I put my sunglasses on. I mess with him every day. I have not seen my dad since our Arizona State win last year at the end of February. COVID hit, he canceled his flight to Vegas.

Trying to stay safe, not traveling on airplanes. So talking to somebody every day. It's weird to see him. You've got to remember, this guy, last year -- I know he lives in Cincinnati, but he's flying out every month spending a week with me. So it was great. Now I get to see him again.

Q. You mentioned that confidence has been an issue for your team and then you go down 14. You're still down big at halftime. How did you guys restore that confidence to a point where you're able to come back and win?

COACH CRONIN: You know, obviously I coach at a place where the best coach ever used to sit in the chair. Coach Wooden said greatness is giving your best effort. He never talked about winning or losing. I was concerned with our effort in the first half. I didn't talk about -- I really don't talk about winning or losing a lot with these guys. I try to talk to them about their effort.

And trying to build our program and trying to get them to understand there's a difference between effort and winning effort, championship effort.

So we talked about our effort. That was really our concern at halftime. You're on this stage against Michigan State, down the street from not far from Lansing. They haven't had to travel. We're coming across the country, all the above. It's not an excuse. There's 40 minutes and you've got to give your best effort. That really was our concern.

Q. How compelling was it that you did this in basically Wooden's home gym, under his banner, with his sort of style of play?

COACH CRONIN: I couldn't find the statue the other night when we got up here to practice. It was so late. Didn't start practice until 9:30. Only allowed down ceratin hallways. There's people with signs, can't go here, can't go there. I understand it all. But I think we're done playing here, so I've got to try to see that statue before I leave. But maybe Coach's luck was with us.

I have to text his son, text Jim down in Orange County. Hopefully he was watching tonight. Hopefully Coach gave us some luck, give us some made 3s, made free throws, but I think we were due for some luck as well. It's been a rough couple of weeks for us. The ball's not bounced our way at all.

But for me it's cool to be the UCLA coach. It's extremely cool for me. But to have this win here, with his jersey up there, now that you talk about it, maybe he was looking down on us.

Q. I asked (indiscernible) this question. You've played in a lot of overtime games this season. Michigan State didn't play in any. Do you think that created a significant advantage for you this evening?

COACH CRONIN: Respectfully, no. I think Tom Izzo's coached a lot of overtime games. So, no, I really don't think that was a factor. I think -- I don't believe anybody fouled out on either team. So foul trouble was in play, but we were able to get Cody through without fouling out, which was helpful to us.

Q. UCLA is 3-0 here, but they've been decades apart between games. Obviously Michigan State plays here pretty much every year. Was there a concern this is a gym they're very familiar with? They've shot here basically every season in the Big Ten?

COACH CRONIN: Very much a concern. Also the proximity to Lansing, to travel, everything. But, like I said earlier, there's a game, there's a clock and a score. 40 minutes and it's all at 0. So try to build my program to where those things don't matter. Excuses are -- they may be valid, but it didn't give them any extra points.

Q. You've obviously coached in a lot of NCAA Tournament games. Where does Jaime's performance rank among those, and what made tonight so special for him?

COACH CRONIN: Well, obviously, first of all, the game plan, I thought we had a big advantage with him. I thought that Hall and Hauser would struggle to guard him. So going in he knew I was coming his way with a lot of stuff. But one thing about Jaime that I knew was important, when I took the job, I knew Jaime had already signed. And I had seen him and made a veiled attempt at recruiting him. He's way too smart. He was going to -- he wasn't going to turn down UCLA.

But I know what the competitor that he is. So none of it -- Jaime is almost better when we're down. He's got tremendous heart. But I thought he had some favorable matchups and late they put Henry -- what we did -- Coach Izzo went smaller and put Aaron Henry on him to try to stop him.

So Johnny got it going as well. But we were going to have to score some points, guys, because the way they played offensively, to catch them, we were going to have to get the ball in the basket.

Q. You've alluded to it in a variety of ways. But to be down five with 90 seconds left in regulation, to be facing, as you said, someone who you have a lot of respect for in Coach Izzo, to be on the opening nights of this stage that we've been waiting for for two years, just when you came to this program, how much did you think of a moment like this? And now what's the reward of taking this step in the NCAA Tournament and moving on?

COACH CRONIN: Whenever you're trying to build a program, right, it builds belief in your locker room. When we play with -- we play with championship effort that we can win games. And this is what it's going to take. This is what it's going to take.

Our reward is we get to play BYU, which is going to be no small task. They play well. They're up 12 on Gonzaga. I was home watching that game. I thought they might have had them. So that's our reward.

But from, obviously from a program standpoint, when you take over a program, there's no tournament last year -- we were going to make it and it was taken away from the kids. So I speak for all coaches: It's so nice to be able to have the kids get a chance to do this.

But when you're building a program it's obviously a big win for us, a step forward in the right direction. But we've got more work to do, guys.

Q. How was it to see your father tonight? And secondly, talk a little bit about Jaylen Clark's contribution?

COACH CRONIN: It was great it to see my dad. Some things never change. Even though I wasn't there they had my credit card at dinner when my family met here. No, I'm just teasing.

He's looking good. I gotta get him some new shirts hopefully with the Jordan stuff. I haven't given him any Johnnie-O, who hooked us up this year, to get through the season.

It's a great question, though. I thought there's no way we win without Jaylen Clark. We have to play some small ball. Mac should be in high school. So he's doing his best. But the toughness and intensity that Jaylen Clark, that's why I signed him.

I should have listened to his AAU coach when I got the job. He told me that Jaylen Clark needs to play for you; you guys were made for each other. You've just got to have competitors on your team.

With that said, he made a couple really good plays to be able to jump in a game he doesn't ever practice at the 5 spot. He had a couple of nice offensive reads of their defense where he made some really good plays. He scored a bucket. He assisted on another bucket. And then his defense and rebounding is always on point. So he was huge for us.