Postgame Quotes – UCLA at Colorado
POSTGAME QUOTES
UCLA 71, Colorado 65
Boulder, Colo. (CU Events Center)
January 22, 2022
Mick Cronin, The Michael Price Family UCLA Men’s Head Basketball Coach
on winning the road game against Colorado
“Coach Boyle does a great job. [Evan] Battey’s got a lot of heart. I told the guys at halftime the only chance we got for this being easy is to get up 20 [points]. If not, the students are packed, you're on the road in conference play. I've seen that too many times. I'm getting too old. I’ve just seen it too many times. I told the guys we're not going to win in the teens. You're either going to get up 20 or it's going to be a bloodbath. It became a bloodbath. I was proud of our guys. We had the best half of my three years at UCLA in the first half – forced 15 turnovers against Colorado, a well-coached team in their own gym. Our defense in the first half was unbelievable. It was equally as bad in the second. Give [Colorado] credit. They’ve got a never-say-die attitude. With that being said, Tyger [Campbell] had a rough road trip offensively, but he and Jaime [Jaquez Jr.] made some monster shots for us. I told the guys we started looking for Johnny [Juzang] too much. We’ve got too many guys. So we got to stay on the attack. I thought some guys got tentative for a little bit there.”
on having to work hard for Saturday night’s win
“There’s no such thing [as an easy road win] – not at Colorado. At no point did I think we were going to [win by 20]. I told the guys, ‘We better get up 20.’ But I didn’t believe it was going to happen.”
on his player making big shots in critical moments
“Players have got to make plays. You can't let the clock run out. We were sitting on 54 [points] which was maybe 11 points in the second half with five minutes to play. We had to get the ball in the basket. We stopped attacking. We missed the easy [baskets]. Things didn't go our way on a few plays or calls. It was a big shot by Tyger, and Jaime made a big one as well.”
on sweeping road wins at Utah and Colorado this week
“I'm worried about trying to win one [game] at a time. I’ve done this for a long time. People underestimate winning. Sometimes they look at a schedule and they think, ‘Oh well, they're ranked high. They'll beat them.’ There's a reason we were only a 3.5-point favorite in the game. It was going to be a bloodbath. I'm worried about winning the game, that’s it. The least of my worries is Tuesday [against Arizona]. Arizona has had a great year, but we play Thursday, and we play Saturday. The biggest game’s always the next game. What happens for you guys is the more a team wins, the bigger the games are in your mind. I've been on the other side of it in a rebuilding situation. I knew what was coming. I guarantee that [after Colorado] gave up 18 offensive rebounds they had a ‘World War Three’ practice on Friday. That's the reason Coach Boyle is such a good coach."
on Bruins’ center Myles Johnson, who shot 4-for-4
“We finally started looking for him on his rolls. We've really worked on that in practice. We've worked with him on being quicker in his role. We had some good passes, and he did a good job.”
UCLA guard/forward Jaime Jaquez Jr.
on the Bruins not being able to pull away in the second half
“We have to take that next step as a team, trying to expand on those leads. That's something that we weren't able to accomplish. Colorado wasn’t going to be a team that was going to roll over and let us do whatever we wanted. They came out aggressive following [halftime].”
on the difference in the game
“We turned them over a lot in the first half and we had that lead. We are a veteran team. [Leads] are not something that we're going to give up that easily, especially going on the road knowing when these games mean to our team going forward.”
UCLA guard Tyger Campbell
on his 3-pointer with under two minutes to play in the second half
“I came off the screen and my man went under. I'm a confident shooter, so I just shot it and it went in. I'm thankful for that.”
on the Bruins winning close games
“I think it shows we have fight down the stretch. We didn't play the defense we wanted to play in the second half, but we fought it out and grinded it out and got a win on the road.”
UCLA 71, Colorado 65
Boulder, Colo. (CU Events Center)
January 22, 2022
Mick Cronin, The Michael Price Family UCLA Men’s Head Basketball Coach
on winning the road game against Colorado
“Coach Boyle does a great job. [Evan] Battey’s got a lot of heart. I told the guys at halftime the only chance we got for this being easy is to get up 20 [points]. If not, the students are packed, you're on the road in conference play. I've seen that too many times. I'm getting too old. I’ve just seen it too many times. I told the guys we're not going to win in the teens. You're either going to get up 20 or it's going to be a bloodbath. It became a bloodbath. I was proud of our guys. We had the best half of my three years at UCLA in the first half – forced 15 turnovers against Colorado, a well-coached team in their own gym. Our defense in the first half was unbelievable. It was equally as bad in the second. Give [Colorado] credit. They’ve got a never-say-die attitude. With that being said, Tyger [Campbell] had a rough road trip offensively, but he and Jaime [Jaquez Jr.] made some monster shots for us. I told the guys we started looking for Johnny [Juzang] too much. We’ve got too many guys. So we got to stay on the attack. I thought some guys got tentative for a little bit there.”
on having to work hard for Saturday night’s win
“There’s no such thing [as an easy road win] – not at Colorado. At no point did I think we were going to [win by 20]. I told the guys, ‘We better get up 20.’ But I didn’t believe it was going to happen.”
on his player making big shots in critical moments
“Players have got to make plays. You can't let the clock run out. We were sitting on 54 [points] which was maybe 11 points in the second half with five minutes to play. We had to get the ball in the basket. We stopped attacking. We missed the easy [baskets]. Things didn't go our way on a few plays or calls. It was a big shot by Tyger, and Jaime made a big one as well.”
on sweeping road wins at Utah and Colorado this week
“I'm worried about trying to win one [game] at a time. I’ve done this for a long time. People underestimate winning. Sometimes they look at a schedule and they think, ‘Oh well, they're ranked high. They'll beat them.’ There's a reason we were only a 3.5-point favorite in the game. It was going to be a bloodbath. I'm worried about winning the game, that’s it. The least of my worries is Tuesday [against Arizona]. Arizona has had a great year, but we play Thursday, and we play Saturday. The biggest game’s always the next game. What happens for you guys is the more a team wins, the bigger the games are in your mind. I've been on the other side of it in a rebuilding situation. I knew what was coming. I guarantee that [after Colorado] gave up 18 offensive rebounds they had a ‘World War Three’ practice on Friday. That's the reason Coach Boyle is such a good coach."
on Bruins’ center Myles Johnson, who shot 4-for-4
“We finally started looking for him on his rolls. We've really worked on that in practice. We've worked with him on being quicker in his role. We had some good passes, and he did a good job.”
UCLA guard/forward Jaime Jaquez Jr.
on the Bruins not being able to pull away in the second half
“We have to take that next step as a team, trying to expand on those leads. That's something that we weren't able to accomplish. Colorado wasn’t going to be a team that was going to roll over and let us do whatever we wanted. They came out aggressive following [halftime].”
on the difference in the game
“We turned them over a lot in the first half and we had that lead. We are a veteran team. [Leads] are not something that we're going to give up that easily, especially going on the road knowing when these games mean to our team going forward.”
UCLA guard Tyger Campbell
on his 3-pointer with under two minutes to play in the second half
“I came off the screen and my man went under. I'm a confident shooter, so I just shot it and it went in. I'm thankful for that.”
on the Bruins winning close games
“I think it shows we have fight down the stretch. We didn't play the defense we wanted to play in the second half, but we fought it out and grinded it out and got a win on the road.”