Postgame Quotes – UCLA vs. Villanova
POSTGAME QUOTES
UCLA 86, Villanova 77 (overtime)
November 12, 2021
Mick Cronin, The Michael Price Family UCLA Men’s Head Basketball Coach
on the resiliency of the team
“Well, they do know how to win. They learned that last year. That’s what I told them at the under four (minute) timeout. We’ve been in these games. They have too, though. They have four starters back. And there’s only really one answer: someone’s got to stop them and that’s easier said than done because they obviously put four shooters around the line and back you down. It’s tough to deal with. It’s not something you see every day. … Their physicality is just really hard to simulate the way they go after you. It’s impressive. I’ve always been a fan of it. My goal at Cincinnati was to get my team to play as hard as Villanova plays. Once we got there, we went to nine straight tournaments. It was great for us, for our goals this year to have to play them. How many times did you think we had the rebound and somehow, they got it? They knock it away and take it away. So, we were relentless, but their effort is relentless too. Nobody should have lost this game.”
on Jules Bernard as an offensive asset and game-tying shot
“You guys have been here, and I don’t know if you’ve notice, but I keep on talking about Jules because nationally, they don’t. Jules can arguably be our MVP last year. The guy is playing back-up point guard, starting wing and has to lead us in rebounding when Chris Smith goes down. He’s got nine rebounds tonight. He’s going to play basketball for a long, long time. And he’s an unbelievable kid. He never misses practice. He’s like the Iron Man. Anytime you give me a question about Jules, it’s hard for me to stop talking because he deserves it because no one talks about him because of Johnny and now Jaime, and Tyger gets a lot of (publicity), but Jules is a really good player.”
on forcing six consecutive missed shots at the end of regulation
“I told the guys, and we held them to 67, that there was no way we were going to catch them. We were on pace to give up 80. That was our recipe for winning the NCAA Tournament. … We can’t give up those kinds of points at home as good as they are. We’ve got to get better defensively. And we’re learning how to play without Cody on the fly.”
on the team’s swagger
“They have more talent. In all seriousness, they do believe in themselves. Even when you watch them in the huddle, they do believe in themselves. And they know I believe in them. … Defensively, to win championships, you’ve got to be able to stop a really good team. It comes down to who can get a stop.”
on pointing to the crowd after the game
“I was just thanking the students that came. College basketball is all about the pageantry. It’s great that it’s back and I appreciate all the donors, but the students are the ones that bring the excitement. They stand. They go nuts the whole game. I just try to continue and thank them and engage with our student body. There were about 2,000 students – and I don’t know if you know this – outside all day. Iwas passing donuts. Martin, Josh were passing pizzas.”
on if he’s ever imagined the Pauley Pavilion crowd like this
“I did because to me, this is UCLA. And I’m a basketball guy, so I’ve watched games from Pauley my whole life after I got home from my games. I’m a movie guy, so Field of Dreams. You build it, and they will come.
junior guard/forward Jaime Jaquez Jr.
On the overtime period
“I just think going into overtime we knew what our plan was – it was to get up into them, to get stops. Their plan was to get into the post, so all we needed to do was ball up, make them miss and then go down to the other end, and Tyger driving. I know he likes to drive baseline, so I know right away he likes to pass it soon, and I saw the right way to be when he passed it.”
on where the team’s swagger comes from
“It just comes from the personalities on this team. I know that myself, Johnny and Tyger, we live for that the crowd. We live for these big moments, and it just feeds us. It feeds our fuel. When you need someone to make a great shot, we’ve got guys who are there to make those. So I think it’s just something that we all have inside of us.”
on the team’s familiarity with overtime games
“I would say we’re very familiar. Four of our last eight have been in overtime, and I know we’ve had a lot more during the regular season. So I would say we’re very comfortable in that situation.”
junior guard Johnny Juzang
on the game having a tournament feel
“I know for us, we love these games. Villanova is a great team and great program, so I think this is where we have the most fun. We’re the most present. It’s a blast. That’s what I would say. We were definitely looking forward to it this morning, the energy was great, the fans showed so much support. It was such a great turnout. The energy was amazing coming from the team and all of us, and also Pauley was amazing.”
on the team’s familiarity with overtime games
“I think it helps so much. We return the whole team, so I think there was just a sense of excitement to come here and play this game, but just like an inner confidence that we’ve been in these situations, I think that helped us a lot down the stretch too. Going into overtime, those big possessions at the end of regulation, it’s lucky that we’ve got guys with so much experience.”
on the message in the huddle when down 10 points
“We just kind of said we’re still in this. The game’s not over, and we don’t come to lose. So we were ready to just lock in and battle and put together stops and made some great plays. But we all came together. We’re never going to stop.”
redshirt junior guard Tyger Campbell
on the importance of the win
“With ‘Nova being such a great team, it means everything to us. Coming into this game, we knew that Coach Wright was a great coach, they have the Big East Player of the Year, so we knew that it was going to be a tough one, so we just tried to prepare the best we could and come into this one and play as a team. We started off slow, but towards the end of the game we picked it up, got our defense going. We’re UCLA, so we always have a target on our back, it’s just a bigger target this year because we’re pretty highly-ranked right now.”
on his big three-pointers
“Coming into this season, I worked a lot on my three-point shooting and my base. It’s always good to see the ball go in, but I trust and believe in my team. I’m confident in 1 through 13, so my biggest thing is finding where I can get my shots in because any swing we have guys. It’s just finding it when I can get it and hitting my shots when I get it.”
Villanova head coach Jay Wright
opening statement
“We basically just threw the game away on the offensive glass. There were a lot of plays that hurt us. We had some really good possessions, but in games like this we have to do all the little things. They really gutted it out. They are a really experienced team; they’ve played together for a long time, and they’re well coached.”
on the atmosphere
“It was a great atmosphere, just even in practice. So playing here was really awesome, and you could just feel the history of this place.”
on what happened in the second half
“We had too many possessions where we didn’t finish. I think both of us really got used to each other physically, but the lack of depth really hurt us. We have some young guys who really haven’t played and have been injured, so I didn’t think it was fair to put them in a game like this.”
UCLA 86, Villanova 77 (overtime)
November 12, 2021
Mick Cronin, The Michael Price Family UCLA Men’s Head Basketball Coach
on the resiliency of the team
“Well, they do know how to win. They learned that last year. That’s what I told them at the under four (minute) timeout. We’ve been in these games. They have too, though. They have four starters back. And there’s only really one answer: someone’s got to stop them and that’s easier said than done because they obviously put four shooters around the line and back you down. It’s tough to deal with. It’s not something you see every day. … Their physicality is just really hard to simulate the way they go after you. It’s impressive. I’ve always been a fan of it. My goal at Cincinnati was to get my team to play as hard as Villanova plays. Once we got there, we went to nine straight tournaments. It was great for us, for our goals this year to have to play them. How many times did you think we had the rebound and somehow, they got it? They knock it away and take it away. So, we were relentless, but their effort is relentless too. Nobody should have lost this game.”
on Jules Bernard as an offensive asset and game-tying shot
“You guys have been here, and I don’t know if you’ve notice, but I keep on talking about Jules because nationally, they don’t. Jules can arguably be our MVP last year. The guy is playing back-up point guard, starting wing and has to lead us in rebounding when Chris Smith goes down. He’s got nine rebounds tonight. He’s going to play basketball for a long, long time. And he’s an unbelievable kid. He never misses practice. He’s like the Iron Man. Anytime you give me a question about Jules, it’s hard for me to stop talking because he deserves it because no one talks about him because of Johnny and now Jaime, and Tyger gets a lot of (publicity), but Jules is a really good player.”
on forcing six consecutive missed shots at the end of regulation
“I told the guys, and we held them to 67, that there was no way we were going to catch them. We were on pace to give up 80. That was our recipe for winning the NCAA Tournament. … We can’t give up those kinds of points at home as good as they are. We’ve got to get better defensively. And we’re learning how to play without Cody on the fly.”
on the team’s swagger
“They have more talent. In all seriousness, they do believe in themselves. Even when you watch them in the huddle, they do believe in themselves. And they know I believe in them. … Defensively, to win championships, you’ve got to be able to stop a really good team. It comes down to who can get a stop.”
on pointing to the crowd after the game
“I was just thanking the students that came. College basketball is all about the pageantry. It’s great that it’s back and I appreciate all the donors, but the students are the ones that bring the excitement. They stand. They go nuts the whole game. I just try to continue and thank them and engage with our student body. There were about 2,000 students – and I don’t know if you know this – outside all day. Iwas passing donuts. Martin, Josh were passing pizzas.”
on if he’s ever imagined the Pauley Pavilion crowd like this
“I did because to me, this is UCLA. And I’m a basketball guy, so I’ve watched games from Pauley my whole life after I got home from my games. I’m a movie guy, so Field of Dreams. You build it, and they will come.
junior guard/forward Jaime Jaquez Jr.
On the overtime period
“I just think going into overtime we knew what our plan was – it was to get up into them, to get stops. Their plan was to get into the post, so all we needed to do was ball up, make them miss and then go down to the other end, and Tyger driving. I know he likes to drive baseline, so I know right away he likes to pass it soon, and I saw the right way to be when he passed it.”
on where the team’s swagger comes from
“It just comes from the personalities on this team. I know that myself, Johnny and Tyger, we live for that the crowd. We live for these big moments, and it just feeds us. It feeds our fuel. When you need someone to make a great shot, we’ve got guys who are there to make those. So I think it’s just something that we all have inside of us.”
on the team’s familiarity with overtime games
“I would say we’re very familiar. Four of our last eight have been in overtime, and I know we’ve had a lot more during the regular season. So I would say we’re very comfortable in that situation.”
junior guard Johnny Juzang
on the game having a tournament feel
“I know for us, we love these games. Villanova is a great team and great program, so I think this is where we have the most fun. We’re the most present. It’s a blast. That’s what I would say. We were definitely looking forward to it this morning, the energy was great, the fans showed so much support. It was such a great turnout. The energy was amazing coming from the team and all of us, and also Pauley was amazing.”
on the team’s familiarity with overtime games
“I think it helps so much. We return the whole team, so I think there was just a sense of excitement to come here and play this game, but just like an inner confidence that we’ve been in these situations, I think that helped us a lot down the stretch too. Going into overtime, those big possessions at the end of regulation, it’s lucky that we’ve got guys with so much experience.”
on the message in the huddle when down 10 points
“We just kind of said we’re still in this. The game’s not over, and we don’t come to lose. So we were ready to just lock in and battle and put together stops and made some great plays. But we all came together. We’re never going to stop.”
redshirt junior guard Tyger Campbell
on the importance of the win
“With ‘Nova being such a great team, it means everything to us. Coming into this game, we knew that Coach Wright was a great coach, they have the Big East Player of the Year, so we knew that it was going to be a tough one, so we just tried to prepare the best we could and come into this one and play as a team. We started off slow, but towards the end of the game we picked it up, got our defense going. We’re UCLA, so we always have a target on our back, it’s just a bigger target this year because we’re pretty highly-ranked right now.”
on his big three-pointers
“Coming into this season, I worked a lot on my three-point shooting and my base. It’s always good to see the ball go in, but I trust and believe in my team. I’m confident in 1 through 13, so my biggest thing is finding where I can get my shots in because any swing we have guys. It’s just finding it when I can get it and hitting my shots when I get it.”
Villanova head coach Jay Wright
opening statement
“We basically just threw the game away on the offensive glass. There were a lot of plays that hurt us. We had some really good possessions, but in games like this we have to do all the little things. They really gutted it out. They are a really experienced team; they’ve played together for a long time, and they’re well coached.”
on the atmosphere
“It was a great atmosphere, just even in practice. So playing here was really awesome, and you could just feel the history of this place.”
on what happened in the second half
“We had too many possessions where we didn’t finish. I think both of us really got used to each other physically, but the lack of depth really hurt us. We have some young guys who really haven’t played and have been injured, so I didn’t think it was fair to put them in a game like this.”