Postgame Quotes - UCLA vs. Arizona State
POSTGAME QUOTES
UCLA 75, Arizona State 72
Feb. 27, 2020
Mick Cronin, The Michael Price Family UCLA Men’s Head Basketball Coach
opening remarks
“I think it was a great night for college basketball and the Pac-12. People watching that game, hopefully they realize what’s going on with our conference. A lot of young teams last year, a lot of really good teams this year. Arizona State, it was a huge win. They’re playing so well. They’re so well coached, they’re so well prepared. Some of the things we had been running, they took away early in the game and caused us to get off to a slow start. Bobby (Hurley) does just a tremendous job. His guys play hard, they defend. Thought there was a stretch where we got up nine in that second half, they really played—I thought they played harder than us for a while. Forced us to turn it over. Obviously, we’re a one point guard team. He (Tyger Campbell) had 14 assists and whenever I tried to rest him, Bobby exploited it because he’s a really good coach. He knows what he’s doing. It’s a chess match the whole game against them. He’s trying to get certain mismatches and isos, I’m trying to do the same thing on the other end. But at the end of the day, players win games and we just happened to make one more play, guys. Let’s just be honest. We just happened to make one more play. I didn’t call timeout because, right there, I didn’t want to give him a chance to come out in a zone or change defenses and get organized. I think sometimes, you’ve got to have faith in your players. Try to get the switch I wanted, then have Tyger try to create something. Obviously, Jaime’s a tough kid, man. He’s got amazing fortitude for a young player.”
on how close final play was to what he wanted
“I wanted Tyger to get fouled or assist. What I was telling him was no more wild shots. He’s three-for-16. I wanted him to get fouled even more or assist even more, but I’m asking him to do so much. And then he’s got to go down to the other end and guard a guy that took 24 shots, so he’s completely exhausted. And in fairness to him, Remy’s such an offensive weapon. It’s hard. I was trying to sneak him out, but every time I tried to sneak him out for a rest, they’re pressuring us. I wanted him to try to get fouled or create an assist, eat up some space. Jaime did a great job. Something we work on every day is moving behind the line so you catch the ball in a one-two-step rhythm. You’ve still got to make it. But the way he moved in with the shot, he attacked… with his feet, something we work on all the time.”
on what it means to be tied for first place in Pac-12
“Well, obviously, you’re trying to build a program. We’re trying to build faith in a fan base. We’re trying to build faith in your locker room. So, it’s huge for us. But the truth of it is, we lose the next two, we’re going to be tied for fifth place in this conference. We’re still above the team, so, we’ve got to rest up. Got another one-game tournament Saturday night. It’s just the reality of our situation.”
on his team’s toughness
“Like I said, it was a great game. We just made one more play than them. I really think they’re (ASU) playing as well as anybody in the country. There’s a lot of parity this year. You’d be hard pressed to see anybody play college basketball that has three guys that make shots and make the plays of (Rob) Edwards, (Remy) Martin and (Alonzo) Verge. All three of those guys are extremely tough to defend. Romello (White) didn’t put up big numbers tonight because of foul trouble, but that was our game plan, try to get him in foul trouble. We wanted to try to drive it at him as much as we could and attack him because [when] he’s in there with those three, they’re almost impossible to stop, to be honest with you. They’re playing that well and Bobby’s done such a good job with them. Tremendous win for our team. It was a tremendous win for our team.”
UCLA redshirt freshman guard Tyger Campbell
on plan for final play of the game
“So pretty much what happened was I was bringing it down and we ran a play to try and get the ‘4’ on me and I was going to try go downhill, get fouled, make something happen. I saw Jaime (Jaquez) circle back and his man help in. Jaime was just so open and I knew he was going to hit it, so I passed it back and he stepped into it and it was cash. It was when it left his hands.”
on taking 16 shots and whether he planned to be more aggressive
“I think it was more of just I was taking what the defense was giving me. They were letting me get downhill a lot and I was beating my man. When I get in there, I’m not shy to shoot it and I was going to let it go.”
on how tired he was at the end of the game after his defensive effort
“I was a little winded at the end, but you have to have that mentality at the end of the game. You just have to get up and you have to play. I’m on the court, my coach believes in me, and I’m just there.”
on back-to-back 10-plus assist performances and his comfort level as a facilitator
“I always feel comfortable as a point guard. That’s my true position. I’m a true point guard. It has been good these past couple games, but like you said, I’m the only one passing it. The other guys have to hit the shots and my teammates have just been hitting [shots off my passes]. I give all my credit and all the credit to my teammates.”
on Coach Cronin’s message throughout the season
“His message has always been the same. Just believe in each other and keep practicing hard. A lot of people don’t see what we do at practice, in the locker room, and how we act toward each other. We just have to stay together and stay as a team. Just let everybody be on the outside. Just keep coming together after every game.”
UCLA freshman guard/forward Jaime Jaquez Jr.
on plan for final play of the game
“Coach Cronin—he was yelling at me, ‘screen, make sure he doesn’t get to go under so they don’t have to switch’. We want him to switch. I went and made sure I set it really low. My man switched; I get back. Something we work on every single day in practice [is] getting behind the guy driving—spacing. So, just practice. He drove, coming back around he passed me the ball. I shot it. It went in.”
on if he knew the final shot was going in when it left his hands
“It felt good. You know, a lot of shots I take, they all feel good. That one just went in. So yeah, it felt good coming off my hands. It looked good. That was it.”
on if he counted down and hit pretend buzzer beaters growing up
“Yeah, that’s something you dream about a lot. You dream about shots like that in a big college game like that, battling for first place—something I used to do when I was a kid. I used to go to the park just by myself and just run up and down the court, counting down from 3-2-1, hitting big shots like that. It’s something that every kid dreams about. To do it tonight, it was amazing. It was an unreal feeling.”
on how it feels to be tied for first in the Pac-12
“It feels great right now. We, as a team, we believed from the start that this could happen. We believed it from the very beginning, even when we were losing games. This is what we’ve been working for. This is what we’ve worked for—playing for first-place games, trying to get a shot into the (NCAA) Tournament, and just doing big things like this. We believed from the start, so this is what we expected."
on what Chris Smith said to him after the game winner
“To be honest, I couldn’t hear anything. It was like really, really loud. But I know one thing—shooters shoot. That’s kind of a motto we have. So, if you throw it up, shooters shoot, it’s going to go in eventually.”
on how it feels to secure this big win against Arizona State
“It feels amazing to get them back. We lost at their place and we beat them here, but we have a mission to accomplish, and that’s to win. Win our games. Win out and try to get this first place in the Pac-12.”
on expecting an even bigger crowd on Saturday against Arizona
“We hope for more. It was great. An atmosphere like that is fun. Hopefully, the crowd had fun. I know we had a lot of fun jumping around after the game, hitting shots, everybody going crazy. Come out Saturday, please.”
UCLA freshman guard/forward Jake Kyman
on his hot streak from long range in the first half
“My confidence was building after I took that floater on the baseline. Once you see a shot go in, your mentality just gets a little bigger. You take more shots. Your confidence just goes up. And Tyger (Campbell), the rest of the guys were finding me and I was open, so I was shooting them and they were just falling.”
on preparing for Saturday’s game against Arizona
“We’re just going to do the same thing we did last time. Defense is our mindset every game. We have to focus on the best players and trying to get the ball out of their hands, so other players can do what they’re not used to doing. Just go from there. Keep playing defense and then, obviously, on the offensive end getting open shots, taking good looks. That’s how we can win. That’s how we do the same formula every time.”
Arizona State head coach Bobby Hurley
opening remarks
“It was a hell of a game to be a part of. You see why both teams are at an elite level. We had so many guys out there just competing. We have really been on the right side of many of these games. It was a tough contested shot. I just wish one of our guys had that opportunity.”
on their foul situation
“We’ve never had those type of foul troubles in those key situations.”
on Jake Kyman’s play
“Jake looked like Larry Bird out there. I know I’m going way back. We’ve been down big and we’ve had responses. It was just impressive to watch these teams clash. Both will have runs in the NCAA Tournament.”
on Remy Martin’s play
“He has a few lay-ups that trickled off the rim in the first half. He really did his part today. They did a great job at individual match-ups. They have great size.”
on where they go from here
“We pick up the pieces. I’m not angry at all at our team. I’m just really impressed with how they competed. I’m proud of how we shot and stayed in the game. I’m going to make sure we also recover physically.”
Arizona State junior guard Remy Martin
opening statement
“These are both great teams. Both teams made some big shots. I really had to make that one shot. That was a key for me. At the end of the day, I think I’m capable of making any shot. They’re just really a big, tough team. I just think we took too long to match their energy. They just got back in the game.”
on where they go from here
“We go back to the drawing board and watch film.”