Postgame Quotes – UCLA vs. Oregon
POSTGAME QUOTES
UCLA 81, Oregon 84
January 13, 2022
Mick Cronin, The Michael Price Family UCLA Men’s Head Basketball Coach
opening statement
“Well, we did not play well. Shot selections, ball security, defense, none of the above. Somehow, we made enough shots to just stay in the game. The only bright spot is Peyton Watson’s effort – his eight rebounds. But, defensively, to come out in the second half and have four deflections, give up 52 percent and 62 (percent) in overtime is just an abomination. It’s an abomination. It’s embarrassing. I’ll fix it though or I’ll get different players.”
on if the team was out of sync
“That’s an excuse. We weren’t prepared. It’s my fault. It’s my job. (We) didn’t play defense, didn’t take care of the ball, didn’t share the ball. When we shared the ball we actually scored (or) when we didn’t take crazy shots. Even when we start sharing the ball, all of a sudden we start taking terrible shots again. What happens in this game is you’re either humble and hungry like they were, trying to pull of the so-called upset or you’re arrogant without cause because we’ve won nothing. We had to win an overtime home game to have a quality win. We’re arrogant without cause. In this game, you don’t play hard the game treats you the way it should. Even if we had won, I would have felt the same way.”
on the team shooting 66 percent from the free throw line
“Practice. Hopefully we get better at it. Cody (Riley), Myles (Johnson) and Jaime (Jaquez Jr.) are the issue. The rest of the guys aren’t.”
on allowing Oregon to score at the end of the first half
“Ridiculous. Actually, it was a multitude of plays when we were up eight or nine (points). Johnny (Juzang) got beat for an and-one. Then there’s the loose ball in front of the bench. … Myles Johnson is 6-11, 250 (pounds). He got a rebound in the first half and (Oregon guard Will Richardson) just took it from him and layed it in in front of our bench. Toughness wins, guys. You get into conference play – (the team) thinks I just say things. There’s a reason that certain teams always win. They find a way. They can compete a ton. You start thinking you’re going to win because people tell you, ‘You’ve got this guy. Or you guys are really good.’ It’s got nothing to do with it, man. You’ve got to physically compete.”
on there being no fans at Pauley Pavilion tonight
“It didn’t help. But I don’t believe in excuses. Play on the playground man. It is what it is. I tell our guys, ‘People that make it in life, whether it’s sports or basketball – you’ve got (to have) two things: urgency and pride.’ At some point if you’re only doing it because the coach is making you, you’re never going to make it. In the pros, they don’t have time to motivate you. You’ve got to have enough pride to get the job done. Have pride in people not taking the ball from you, people just don’t school on you (or) go by you. You’ve got to have some pride. And you have to have urgency to be great. Most people can’t show up every day with the same intensity and urgency.”
senior guard Jules Bernard
on what the team takes away from the loss
“Obviously, we have to learn from our mistakes this game and we’re not done. We played poorly today and it’s past us. But we’re definitely going to study and realize what we did wrong this game and implement it into practice tomorrow and come into Saturday with our heads high looking to get a win for our team.
on what went wrong this game
“I think we had timely mistakes too. At times where they were pushing head or we were surging back or had the lead and they were chipping away, we had certain timely mistakes and defensive lapses and ill-advised shots. There were a lot of mistakes. It’s hard to pick one. Definitely tough shots, turnovers, getting stops and rebounds on the defensive end.”
junior guard Johnny Juzang
on what went wrong this game
“We could have probably got some better offensive possessions down the stretch. In a close game like that you’ve got to capitalize. … I think just the main thing we didn’t get stops. They’ve got talented guys, but we got to come up with stops down the stretch and we just didn’t do that. We’ve got to tighten up.
UCLA 81, Oregon 84
January 13, 2022
Mick Cronin, The Michael Price Family UCLA Men’s Head Basketball Coach
opening statement
“Well, we did not play well. Shot selections, ball security, defense, none of the above. Somehow, we made enough shots to just stay in the game. The only bright spot is Peyton Watson’s effort – his eight rebounds. But, defensively, to come out in the second half and have four deflections, give up 52 percent and 62 (percent) in overtime is just an abomination. It’s an abomination. It’s embarrassing. I’ll fix it though or I’ll get different players.”
on if the team was out of sync
“That’s an excuse. We weren’t prepared. It’s my fault. It’s my job. (We) didn’t play defense, didn’t take care of the ball, didn’t share the ball. When we shared the ball we actually scored (or) when we didn’t take crazy shots. Even when we start sharing the ball, all of a sudden we start taking terrible shots again. What happens in this game is you’re either humble and hungry like they were, trying to pull of the so-called upset or you’re arrogant without cause because we’ve won nothing. We had to win an overtime home game to have a quality win. We’re arrogant without cause. In this game, you don’t play hard the game treats you the way it should. Even if we had won, I would have felt the same way.”
on the team shooting 66 percent from the free throw line
“Practice. Hopefully we get better at it. Cody (Riley), Myles (Johnson) and Jaime (Jaquez Jr.) are the issue. The rest of the guys aren’t.”
on allowing Oregon to score at the end of the first half
“Ridiculous. Actually, it was a multitude of plays when we were up eight or nine (points). Johnny (Juzang) got beat for an and-one. Then there’s the loose ball in front of the bench. … Myles Johnson is 6-11, 250 (pounds). He got a rebound in the first half and (Oregon guard Will Richardson) just took it from him and layed it in in front of our bench. Toughness wins, guys. You get into conference play – (the team) thinks I just say things. There’s a reason that certain teams always win. They find a way. They can compete a ton. You start thinking you’re going to win because people tell you, ‘You’ve got this guy. Or you guys are really good.’ It’s got nothing to do with it, man. You’ve got to physically compete.”
on there being no fans at Pauley Pavilion tonight
“It didn’t help. But I don’t believe in excuses. Play on the playground man. It is what it is. I tell our guys, ‘People that make it in life, whether it’s sports or basketball – you’ve got (to have) two things: urgency and pride.’ At some point if you’re only doing it because the coach is making you, you’re never going to make it. In the pros, they don’t have time to motivate you. You’ve got to have enough pride to get the job done. Have pride in people not taking the ball from you, people just don’t school on you (or) go by you. You’ve got to have some pride. And you have to have urgency to be great. Most people can’t show up every day with the same intensity and urgency.”
senior guard Jules Bernard
on what the team takes away from the loss
“Obviously, we have to learn from our mistakes this game and we’re not done. We played poorly today and it’s past us. But we’re definitely going to study and realize what we did wrong this game and implement it into practice tomorrow and come into Saturday with our heads high looking to get a win for our team.
on what went wrong this game
“I think we had timely mistakes too. At times where they were pushing head or we were surging back or had the lead and they were chipping away, we had certain timely mistakes and defensive lapses and ill-advised shots. There were a lot of mistakes. It’s hard to pick one. Definitely tough shots, turnovers, getting stops and rebounds on the defensive end.”
junior guard Johnny Juzang
on what went wrong this game
“We could have probably got some better offensive possessions down the stretch. In a close game like that you’ve got to capitalize. … I think just the main thing we didn’t get stops. They’ve got talented guys, but we got to come up with stops down the stretch and we just didn’t do that. We’ve got to tighten up.