University of California, Los Angeles, Athletics
Postgame Quotes - UCLA vs. San Diego
POSTGAME QUOTES
UCLA 83, San Diego 56
December 9, 2020
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Mick Cronin, The Michael Price Family UCLA Menโs Head Basketball Coach
on sophomore Johnny Juzang
โWe wanted to get his feet wet. He wanted to get them wet on Sunday against Cal, medical staff told us itโs better to wait. We wanted to keep him under 20 minutes, keep him at no turnovers, and have good shot selection. I thought he was 90 percent on that โ he took one ill-advised one. All in all, it was a great first time out for him off just two practices and being out for three weeks.โ
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on the teamโs first half runs in recent games
โWell for us, I think our bench is a big part of it. We have multiple guys who can start, youโre gonna see different lineups whether itโs the beginning of the game or second half. Right now, weโre just trying to balance Cody [Riley] and Jalen [Hill], making sure weโre keeping them equal. They got 20 rebounds and 18 points from that position, problem is they had four turnovers, two each. I think that trying to wear teams down with fresh bodies is going to be a big factor for us going forward. The key to that though is whoever we put in there, weโve got to be able to count on them to be solid on the defensive end and make good decisions on the offensive end.โ
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on Johnny Juzangโs role on the squad going forward
โScoring, no doubt about it. He can score off the pull-up, heโs not just a three-point shooter. So heโs such a weapon with his ability to put it in the basket that it opens up the floor for a Chris Smith, or a Jaime Jaquez, or a Tyger [Campbell[ to drive the ball. You have to guard him at all times, heโs a tremendous offensive weapon.โ
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on the teamโs offensive performance
โWe were really disappointed in the first half. We thought we had a lot of wasted trips, we didnโt have enough touches on the ball. Weโre still learning โ weโre trying to play a different style offensively. Where last year we werenโt deep, we had to keep the ball on Tygerโs hands quite a bit, we were young at a lot of positions. This year weโre a lot deeper, I think weโve got more weapons, guys are a little older. So weโre trying to embrace playing at a faster pace, but I think todayโs player thinks that means just push it up, one guy drive it, and shoot it. Where we show our guys a lot of film of us or other college teams that pass the ball and hard-cut, and move the ball, and make teams chase them. We show the San Antonio Spurs, Golden State Warriors in their heydays with the greatest players in the world who are willing to cut and pass and play with speed. I think weโre a work in progress still on the offensive end.โ
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on areas for improvement
โI always love when youโre plus-19 on the glass. Itโs hard to lose that way. When you look down and see that youโve got 51 points in the paint and the foul line combined, itโs impossible to lose. Youโre imposing your will on the other team on the glass, around the rim. Youโre not just relying on jump-shooting. Thereโs definitely areas โ weโve got to improve defensively with our team defense, building a wall better. We give up too much penetration to the middle that causes us to help. Give up some lay-ups or some threes. We had too many empty trips โ we had four turnovers on lob passes. When we play one-on-one, weโre supposed to pass the ball when we draw a second defender, and we didnโt quite a few times tonight, so those are areas we can improve. Thatโs why you get these games played, you get to film and show the guys. Weโre gonna have to improve obviously, the schedule only gets tougher for us.โ
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San Diego head coach Sam Scholl
overall remarks on the game at UCLA
โI thought that we accomplished some good things, you know, for our first game โ 12 turnovers, we had some good movement offensively. We shot the ball from the three pretty well. The most frustrating thing about the game was, the first time that we uttered the four letters โUCLA,โ the second thing that we talked about was rebounding. You just canโt give up 16 offensive rebounds and expect to win. So we will learn and our heads are up. Weโll learn from it, own it, and come back better tomorrow.
ย
UCLA 83, San Diego 56
December 9, 2020
ย
Mick Cronin, The Michael Price Family UCLA Menโs Head Basketball Coach
on sophomore Johnny Juzang
โWe wanted to get his feet wet. He wanted to get them wet on Sunday against Cal, medical staff told us itโs better to wait. We wanted to keep him under 20 minutes, keep him at no turnovers, and have good shot selection. I thought he was 90 percent on that โ he took one ill-advised one. All in all, it was a great first time out for him off just two practices and being out for three weeks.โ
ย
on the teamโs first half runs in recent games
โWell for us, I think our bench is a big part of it. We have multiple guys who can start, youโre gonna see different lineups whether itโs the beginning of the game or second half. Right now, weโre just trying to balance Cody [Riley] and Jalen [Hill], making sure weโre keeping them equal. They got 20 rebounds and 18 points from that position, problem is they had four turnovers, two each. I think that trying to wear teams down with fresh bodies is going to be a big factor for us going forward. The key to that though is whoever we put in there, weโve got to be able to count on them to be solid on the defensive end and make good decisions on the offensive end.โ
ย
on Johnny Juzangโs role on the squad going forward
โScoring, no doubt about it. He can score off the pull-up, heโs not just a three-point shooter. So heโs such a weapon with his ability to put it in the basket that it opens up the floor for a Chris Smith, or a Jaime Jaquez, or a Tyger [Campbell[ to drive the ball. You have to guard him at all times, heโs a tremendous offensive weapon.โ
ย
on the teamโs offensive performance
โWe were really disappointed in the first half. We thought we had a lot of wasted trips, we didnโt have enough touches on the ball. Weโre still learning โ weโre trying to play a different style offensively. Where last year we werenโt deep, we had to keep the ball on Tygerโs hands quite a bit, we were young at a lot of positions. This year weโre a lot deeper, I think weโve got more weapons, guys are a little older. So weโre trying to embrace playing at a faster pace, but I think todayโs player thinks that means just push it up, one guy drive it, and shoot it. Where we show our guys a lot of film of us or other college teams that pass the ball and hard-cut, and move the ball, and make teams chase them. We show the San Antonio Spurs, Golden State Warriors in their heydays with the greatest players in the world who are willing to cut and pass and play with speed. I think weโre a work in progress still on the offensive end.โ
ย
on areas for improvement
โI always love when youโre plus-19 on the glass. Itโs hard to lose that way. When you look down and see that youโve got 51 points in the paint and the foul line combined, itโs impossible to lose. Youโre imposing your will on the other team on the glass, around the rim. Youโre not just relying on jump-shooting. Thereโs definitely areas โ weโve got to improve defensively with our team defense, building a wall better. We give up too much penetration to the middle that causes us to help. Give up some lay-ups or some threes. We had too many empty trips โ we had four turnovers on lob passes. When we play one-on-one, weโre supposed to pass the ball when we draw a second defender, and we didnโt quite a few times tonight, so those are areas we can improve. Thatโs why you get these games played, you get to film and show the guys. Weโre gonna have to improve obviously, the schedule only gets tougher for us.โ
ย
San Diego head coach Sam Scholl
overall remarks on the game at UCLA
โI thought that we accomplished some good things, you know, for our first game โ 12 turnovers, we had some good movement offensively. We shot the ball from the three pretty well. The most frustrating thing about the game was, the first time that we uttered the four letters โUCLA,โ the second thing that we talked about was rebounding. You just canโt give up 16 offensive rebounds and expect to win. So we will learn and our heads are up. Weโll learn from it, own it, and come back better tomorrow.
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