Postgame Quotes – UCLA vs. Arizona
POSTGAME QUOTES
UCLA 74, Arizona 60
February 18, 2021
Mick Cronin, The Michael Price Family UCLA Men’s Head Basketball Coach
on Jaime Jaquez Jr.’s 25-point performance on his birthday
“Yeah, somebody’s got to get it in the basket. I thought he played great. I told you guys he played great at Washington. It was just they were just in a matchup zone and tonight Arizona plays big. They always have a big guy guard him, and he was able to use that to his advantage. That was obviously in our game plan, to try to get him aggressive against their big. They had a couple switches where he posted up their guards, so he was huge for us, obviously and you play a team and you’re small and they play big, we don’t get out-rebounded and we used our spreading of the floor against their size. That was huge, but our guys showed a lot of heart on the backboard. We’re really in demand with it right now.”
on if there had been an emphasis on attacking the inside, early in the second half
“Not really. For us, if you get a second defender, you are supposed to pass the ball. We’re trying to get the best shot we can. We did spread them out more though in the second half where we were able to drive it in the paint. Johnny [Juzang] had a nice move where he got it in there, obviously Jaime had plenty, Tyger [Campbell] was pretty confident against [Arizona guard] Kerr Kriisa in his one-on-one matchup there, so he’s tried to dribble-drive a little bit more. I wouldn’t go through it over. Those shots we got in the first half man, when you’ve got Jake and Johnny wide open, those are good looks for us. Those are really good looks for us. I liked our chances, though, at halftime. I told our guys if we were able to tighten up, we’ve got to get more aggressive defensively, we’ve got to start the half trying to get them out of their stuff and get up in them, make them feel us a little bit, more effort, but our rebounding was the key. Our rebounding was going to be the key against them. They’re an awfully young team. It’s had for young teams to play 40 minutes and I think that’s what [Arizona coach] Sean [Miller] has been fighting through the whole year. He’s done a really good job because we’re out there playing guys and they’re not playing one guy that played against us last year other than Ira Lee. We had wars with them last year and it’s an entirely different team. I’ve never coached that, ever. I’ve never seen a guy have a whole new team.”
on turning Arizona’s 16 turnovers into 18 points
“Huge. I think the key was the start of the second half, our defensive intensity. The guys, we talked about taking them out of their comfort zone because they’re really well-coached and when they execute, they can pick you apart like they did in probably the first seven, eight possessions of the game we let them run their stuff. They know what to do, they know how you’re going to defend, they’re extremely well-prepared. The second half we tried to throw them off with more defensive intensity and hence the turnovers. When you’re 18-4 in points off turnovers, it’s hard to get beat.”
on changing the tempo this game, and getting some confidence heading into March
“Well, we’re just trying to make sure we get into March Madness. Don’t get me started when the Pac-12 is being extremely disrespected in national polls and national rankings and what’s going on with COVID this year. We’re trying to make sure we get to March Madness. We have a goal of going undefeated at home. I tell my team ‘real programs, great programs, they go undefeated at home.’ I think at Cincinnati, I won 43 in a row one time at home. That’s why you’re making tournaments every year. But in a game like this, anytime you win, it helps your confidence. It also builds belief in your locker room about the way you do things as a program, especially in our case because we’ve lost two great players during Pac-12 play, and we’ve been able to continue to be highly competitive. That’s a credit to our kids and their resiliency and their toughness.”
Arizona head coach Sean Miller
on the second half
“We could not stop the, obviously, they shot 73 percent from the field – 19 of 26 and 4 of 5 [from three], and you know we have a tough time matching up with them. We really do. The game doesn’t feel like it because, you know, the first half, obviously, was back and forth. We didn’t play well at the start of the second half. For about 24 minutes, it was kind of UCLA-Arizona even, and their offense just overwhelmed our defense. I wish I had more of an answer. But their personnel and Jaime Jaquez is really a tough matchup for our team. And I thought Jaime’s second half was terrific.”
on what his team tries to do when a team like UCLA goes on a run in the second half
“I mean, you play the ball screens, the pick and rolls differently, which we did. You mix in traps, maybe show them a look different looks defensively, which is zone. You have to understand how small our team is with zone. Some of the same problems that you have with man-to-man, you’ll have with zone. Our turnovers really hurt us. I know I harp on that quite a bit, but we just had some really poor turnovers. Sixteen turnovers, coupled with how they performed on offensive, made the final score what it was. When you are playing against a team like them, especially their offensive and their efficiency, you’ve got to be really smart, take care of the basketball. We didn’t really have a good night on offense either and I credit UCLA.”
on UCLA’s shot selection
“You know, it’s big on small. They’ve got 6-5 on 6-2, 6-6 on 6-1, 5-10 on 6-3. I thought Kerr Kriisa did a really good job on a couple of defensive possessions against Tyger Campbell. But he still made what you would consider maybe a tough two or a pull-up. But a lot of their pull-ups were uncontested. That’s the weakness of our team, and we can’t change that right now.”
on three Arizona freshmen having 11 turnovers and if they showed some inexperience
“I mean, sure, it always does. But you’re right. Azuolas had four [turnovers]. But Azuolas was 8-for-12 from the floor. He had eight rebounds. He had 18 points and eight rebounds, and he had a tough time defensively, but so did a lot of other guys. If you look at his stat line, he had two blocks, 18 points, eight rebounds, four of those were offensive. But, you know, Ben [Mathurin] obviously had a very tough night – four turnovers and didn’t make a field goal. Kerr had a couple turnovers that are not characteristic of him. When a team shoots 73 percent from the floor in the second half, 4 for 5 from three, 2 for 3 from the foul line, and I don’t know if they had maybe one turnover. But yes, our turnovers did hurt us.”
UCLA 74, Arizona 60
February 18, 2021
Mick Cronin, The Michael Price Family UCLA Men’s Head Basketball Coach
on Jaime Jaquez Jr.’s 25-point performance on his birthday
“Yeah, somebody’s got to get it in the basket. I thought he played great. I told you guys he played great at Washington. It was just they were just in a matchup zone and tonight Arizona plays big. They always have a big guy guard him, and he was able to use that to his advantage. That was obviously in our game plan, to try to get him aggressive against their big. They had a couple switches where he posted up their guards, so he was huge for us, obviously and you play a team and you’re small and they play big, we don’t get out-rebounded and we used our spreading of the floor against their size. That was huge, but our guys showed a lot of heart on the backboard. We’re really in demand with it right now.”
on if there had been an emphasis on attacking the inside, early in the second half
“Not really. For us, if you get a second defender, you are supposed to pass the ball. We’re trying to get the best shot we can. We did spread them out more though in the second half where we were able to drive it in the paint. Johnny [Juzang] had a nice move where he got it in there, obviously Jaime had plenty, Tyger [Campbell] was pretty confident against [Arizona guard] Kerr Kriisa in his one-on-one matchup there, so he’s tried to dribble-drive a little bit more. I wouldn’t go through it over. Those shots we got in the first half man, when you’ve got Jake and Johnny wide open, those are good looks for us. Those are really good looks for us. I liked our chances, though, at halftime. I told our guys if we were able to tighten up, we’ve got to get more aggressive defensively, we’ve got to start the half trying to get them out of their stuff and get up in them, make them feel us a little bit, more effort, but our rebounding was the key. Our rebounding was going to be the key against them. They’re an awfully young team. It’s had for young teams to play 40 minutes and I think that’s what [Arizona coach] Sean [Miller] has been fighting through the whole year. He’s done a really good job because we’re out there playing guys and they’re not playing one guy that played against us last year other than Ira Lee. We had wars with them last year and it’s an entirely different team. I’ve never coached that, ever. I’ve never seen a guy have a whole new team.”
on turning Arizona’s 16 turnovers into 18 points
“Huge. I think the key was the start of the second half, our defensive intensity. The guys, we talked about taking them out of their comfort zone because they’re really well-coached and when they execute, they can pick you apart like they did in probably the first seven, eight possessions of the game we let them run their stuff. They know what to do, they know how you’re going to defend, they’re extremely well-prepared. The second half we tried to throw them off with more defensive intensity and hence the turnovers. When you’re 18-4 in points off turnovers, it’s hard to get beat.”
on changing the tempo this game, and getting some confidence heading into March
“Well, we’re just trying to make sure we get into March Madness. Don’t get me started when the Pac-12 is being extremely disrespected in national polls and national rankings and what’s going on with COVID this year. We’re trying to make sure we get to March Madness. We have a goal of going undefeated at home. I tell my team ‘real programs, great programs, they go undefeated at home.’ I think at Cincinnati, I won 43 in a row one time at home. That’s why you’re making tournaments every year. But in a game like this, anytime you win, it helps your confidence. It also builds belief in your locker room about the way you do things as a program, especially in our case because we’ve lost two great players during Pac-12 play, and we’ve been able to continue to be highly competitive. That’s a credit to our kids and their resiliency and their toughness.”
Arizona head coach Sean Miller
on the second half
“We could not stop the, obviously, they shot 73 percent from the field – 19 of 26 and 4 of 5 [from three], and you know we have a tough time matching up with them. We really do. The game doesn’t feel like it because, you know, the first half, obviously, was back and forth. We didn’t play well at the start of the second half. For about 24 minutes, it was kind of UCLA-Arizona even, and their offense just overwhelmed our defense. I wish I had more of an answer. But their personnel and Jaime Jaquez is really a tough matchup for our team. And I thought Jaime’s second half was terrific.”
on what his team tries to do when a team like UCLA goes on a run in the second half
“I mean, you play the ball screens, the pick and rolls differently, which we did. You mix in traps, maybe show them a look different looks defensively, which is zone. You have to understand how small our team is with zone. Some of the same problems that you have with man-to-man, you’ll have with zone. Our turnovers really hurt us. I know I harp on that quite a bit, but we just had some really poor turnovers. Sixteen turnovers, coupled with how they performed on offensive, made the final score what it was. When you are playing against a team like them, especially their offensive and their efficiency, you’ve got to be really smart, take care of the basketball. We didn’t really have a good night on offense either and I credit UCLA.”
on UCLA’s shot selection
“You know, it’s big on small. They’ve got 6-5 on 6-2, 6-6 on 6-1, 5-10 on 6-3. I thought Kerr Kriisa did a really good job on a couple of defensive possessions against Tyger Campbell. But he still made what you would consider maybe a tough two or a pull-up. But a lot of their pull-ups were uncontested. That’s the weakness of our team, and we can’t change that right now.”
on three Arizona freshmen having 11 turnovers and if they showed some inexperience
“I mean, sure, it always does. But you’re right. Azuolas had four [turnovers]. But Azuolas was 8-for-12 from the floor. He had eight rebounds. He had 18 points and eight rebounds, and he had a tough time defensively, but so did a lot of other guys. If you look at his stat line, he had two blocks, 18 points, eight rebounds, four of those were offensive. But, you know, Ben [Mathurin] obviously had a very tough night – four turnovers and didn’t make a field goal. Kerr had a couple turnovers that are not characteristic of him. When a team shoots 73 percent from the floor in the second half, 4 for 5 from three, 2 for 3 from the foul line, and I don’t know if they had maybe one turnover. But yes, our turnovers did hurt us.”