Postgame Quotes - UCLA vs Oregon State
POSTGAME QUOTES
UCLA 57, Oregon State 52
January 30, 2021
Mick Cronin, The Michael Price Family UCLA Men’s Head Basketball Coach
on David Singleton
“It doesn’t surprise me that Dave did some good things. I told him he’s got to trust his pull-up shot when they run him off the line. He passed one up, then he took the next one at the foul line and it just rolled off the rim for him. Thought was a really good play by him. Story of the night for us, we couldn’t get the ball to go in. Dave was solid, he had five defensive rebounds too.”
on Cody Riley and Jaime Jaquez Jr.
“Jaime’s five offensive rebounds were huge. [Oregon State ] is going to play their matchup zone, we can’t just win if we make shots, we have to win if the ball won’t go in. We talked a lot about that. That’s what happened to USC when they went to Oregon State, the ball didn’t go in for them. We had 11 [offensive rebounds], Jaime was big on the glass. I would say right now Cody is a product of his practice habits. He’s by far our best player in practice. His effort, he’s really learned how to play hard and work himself into condition. He puts a lot of extra time in with Wes Long on his conditioning and expanding his 15-foot shot to where he’s money on that. A lot of guys, they think they’re going to score at game time, but they don’t give it all at practice so they’re going to try and flip the switch. I thought there was a problem with our shooting today, we didn’t have great practices other than Cody. He’s really a product of his practice habits, that’s why he’s grown so much as a player.”
on the close game
“I don’t sleep until the season is over, anyway. Our best shooters are wide open and it’s not going in, when that guy banked it in, that’s when you start wondering. All I do is watch games, and I’ve seen some crazy, crazy endings this week. It’s starting to get to the silly season in college basketball. Season’s getting long for the kids, COVID is making it longer, but it’s just that time of year. It’s like I told the guys after the game, the next three weeks are a grind, they’re a real grind until you get to late February. Then the guys start seeing the tournament coming, it’s just a different feel, but right now it’s a grind and you just have to grind out wins which we did today.”
on preparing for the game at USC next weekend
“It will be our last week without a game, because of at the end of the year I’d say we’ll be playing at least one makeup game. Although the rest throws off our timing and our rhythm which you saw today with our shooting, I think ultimately it helps you in the long run. I’m hoping. Our game is about March. You’ve got to win games to put yourself in a good position for March. But we’ve got guys, especially Tyger, I think the rest could help him. We’ll probably take a couple of days off, obviously tomorrow will be a day off.”
on Jules Bernard
“I thought he blew his elbow out the way he went down, but they said he banged his knee on the ground. He kept telling me ‘[I’m] fine,’ the guy’s unbelievable. He kept convincing me he was fine, so we tried to use him. He wasn’t in a good offensive rhythm anyway, so I just figured try to save him late, use him for defense. He was awesome, had a couple great defensive plays down the stretch. I’m sure he’ll be pretty sore tomorrow because he landed without bracing himself at all. The guy’s made of rubber, he’s unreal.”
UCLA 57, Oregon State 52
January 30, 2021
Mick Cronin, The Michael Price Family UCLA Men’s Head Basketball Coach
on David Singleton
“It doesn’t surprise me that Dave did some good things. I told him he’s got to trust his pull-up shot when they run him off the line. He passed one up, then he took the next one at the foul line and it just rolled off the rim for him. Thought was a really good play by him. Story of the night for us, we couldn’t get the ball to go in. Dave was solid, he had five defensive rebounds too.”
on Cody Riley and Jaime Jaquez Jr.
“Jaime’s five offensive rebounds were huge. [Oregon State ] is going to play their matchup zone, we can’t just win if we make shots, we have to win if the ball won’t go in. We talked a lot about that. That’s what happened to USC when they went to Oregon State, the ball didn’t go in for them. We had 11 [offensive rebounds], Jaime was big on the glass. I would say right now Cody is a product of his practice habits. He’s by far our best player in practice. His effort, he’s really learned how to play hard and work himself into condition. He puts a lot of extra time in with Wes Long on his conditioning and expanding his 15-foot shot to where he’s money on that. A lot of guys, they think they’re going to score at game time, but they don’t give it all at practice so they’re going to try and flip the switch. I thought there was a problem with our shooting today, we didn’t have great practices other than Cody. He’s really a product of his practice habits, that’s why he’s grown so much as a player.”
on the close game
“I don’t sleep until the season is over, anyway. Our best shooters are wide open and it’s not going in, when that guy banked it in, that’s when you start wondering. All I do is watch games, and I’ve seen some crazy, crazy endings this week. It’s starting to get to the silly season in college basketball. Season’s getting long for the kids, COVID is making it longer, but it’s just that time of year. It’s like I told the guys after the game, the next three weeks are a grind, they’re a real grind until you get to late February. Then the guys start seeing the tournament coming, it’s just a different feel, but right now it’s a grind and you just have to grind out wins which we did today.”
on preparing for the game at USC next weekend
“It will be our last week without a game, because of at the end of the year I’d say we’ll be playing at least one makeup game. Although the rest throws off our timing and our rhythm which you saw today with our shooting, I think ultimately it helps you in the long run. I’m hoping. Our game is about March. You’ve got to win games to put yourself in a good position for March. But we’ve got guys, especially Tyger, I think the rest could help him. We’ll probably take a couple of days off, obviously tomorrow will be a day off.”
on Jules Bernard
“I thought he blew his elbow out the way he went down, but they said he banged his knee on the ground. He kept telling me ‘[I’m] fine,’ the guy’s unbelievable. He kept convincing me he was fine, so we tried to use him. He wasn’t in a good offensive rhythm anyway, so I just figured try to save him late, use him for defense. He was awesome, had a couple great defensive plays down the stretch. I’m sure he’ll be pretty sore tomorrow because he landed without bracing himself at all. The guy’s made of rubber, he’s unreal.”