Postgame Quotes - UCLA vs. Norfolk State (Nov. 14, 2022)
POSTGAME QUOTES
UCLA 86, Norfolk State 56
November 14, 2022
Mick Cronin, The Michael Price Family UCLA Men’s Head Basketball Coach
opening remarks
“I thought Norfolk State did a great job of controlling the tempo, staying in the game. The coaching staff did a great job. We were able to turn up the heat, more and more, defensively. We were really efficient on offense tonight. I wasn’t happy about our passing, or the lack thereof, or shot selection in the Long Beach game. We should be a team that shoots a high percentage all the time. Our passing was much, much better tonight. We got the ball inside more than I thought we have in a month. There are still areas we have to improve.”
on the freshmen getting more comfortable
“Our whole game is going to be a whole new environment. First game out of Pauley Pavilion, first game against another high major team. So for all our young guys, it’s just going through that process. We have five freshmen who played tonight, and those guys are the key to our future.”
on how the freshmen perform in practice
“The tools are great. Nobody would start for me if they weren’t playing hard in practice. All of them have been. That’s what dictates if you’ve made an improvement. Real improvement as a player is dictated by your aptitude, your willingness to listen, and your attitude. You have to get in the gym. I’ve done this a long time, 27th year in college as a coach, I’ve had guys who’ve improved in different ways. Amari couldn’t guard me a month ago, with the suit on. Our goal is for him to be a defensive stopper, and he’s taking that to heart. When you’re as athletic and tough as he is, you should be able to – he’s an NBA player someday – guard college players. It’s just a mindset. He wasn’t trained, it’s my job to train him. He’s come a long way in a short period of time defensively, because of his effort and attitude. He’s also highly talented, he picks things up.”
on Jaylen Clark’s shooting
“I wish I was as open as him when I played. He’s worked really hard, he really has. Again, we believe in player development. Tyger was not a shooter, now he is. Jaylen Clark was not a shooter, now he is. You’re talking about two guys who had to make fundamental adjustments to the way they shoot the ball, and listen to the coaches and believe in their coaches. We had to reconstruct Jaylen’s shot from the time he got here. He’s on plane. In baseball, they call it swing plane. Shooting plane. He also takes open shots. But he’s worked really hard. Early on, all this success, he deserves, because he’s put the time in. That’s not an easy thing to do. There’s guys that have been in the NBA a long time and still can’t shoot. I’ve coached guys, just hard-headed. He’s so intelligent, that he understands when I went to break his shot down, it made sense to him. He embraced it.”
on the offensive efficiency
“It should be for us. We have the players, the talent, if we share the ball. And we threw it inside, and then back outside. That’s why Jaylen Clark was the recipient, they were leaving him. If you coach a team where only a few guys can score, you have to force feed them. But we don’t have that situation. I thought it was all predicated by better passing, 20 assists. We really broke down our shot selection and lack of passing [against LBSU]. Now [Norfolk State] played some zone, forced us to pass the ball.”
on defense
“You can’t win if you can’t play defense. I’m talking about cutting the nets down. You can’t win. We lost to North Carolina last year because we couldn’t get a stop and a rebound. That’s why we lost. We lost to Gonzaga because we turned the ball over five times when they got lay-ups. Those are the things that separate. When you get the highest level and it’s top-10s playing each other, if you’re lucky enough to be one of them, they all have the same talent level. You have to be able to win by execution and toughness, defense, rebounding. You can’t just go out-score the other team. They’re in the top ten for a reason. Nobody is going to win big if you don’t defend, it’s just not going to happen. Just look at the NBA, look at Golden State this year. 0-7 on the road, look at their defensive numbers, I’m sure Coach Kerr would say.”
Junior guard Jaylen Clark
on his improved shooting
“I feel like half of it is confidence, but the real answer is just work. I’m here shooting every day after practice, after film, after walkthroughs, off days, on days. I’m shooting every day, getting up 700 shots on the gun. I don’t need no trainer or nothing like that. Just seeing the ball go through the hoop over time gives me confidence. It also helps when I’m playing with people like Jaime (Jaquez Jr.) and Tyger who get double teamed consistently because I’m getting free looks off.”
on only having eight deflections
“(Associate Head Coach Darren Savino) talked to me and he started telling me don’t get frustrated if the ball stops coming your way and the person I was matched up with was in the corner. He wasn’t in handoffs. So, I got the two deflections early but other than that the dude was just sitting in the corner away from most of the action. I’m not going to gamble or do anything crazy or ridiculous. If I’m in the action, I’m going to get my steals but if I’m not, I’m not going to force it. I had two tonight so I’m still on pace (to break the season deflections record).”
Freshman guard Amari Bailey
on if he felt the most comfortable tonight out of the first three games
“For sure. I feel like it just slowed down. (I was) not doing too much, letting the game come to me (and) reading the defense, honestly.”
on the sequence with Adem Bona’s block and his dunk
“It’s always fun when the team is starting to go on a run and you’re starting to break open a lead, so that was a great turning point in the game.”
on Adem Bona’s defensive shot blocking
“I mean Bona is big for us. He’s a big contributor to our team.”
Redshirt senior forward Jaime Jaquez Jr.
on how this team compares to his past teams at UCLA
“I think every team that I’ve been on has been so different. I know last year we had a group of guys that was so well connected because we played together in the Final Four. This year, we just have so many new pieces (and) a lot of new freshmen coming in. I feel like they gel so well. We’re getting better every day as you guys can see. Norfolk State is not a team that we took lightly, and our freshmen showed that. They paid attention to the scouting report, understood our defensive game plan and our offensive gameplan and executed it to a tee.”
on the comfort level of the freshmen
“They all bring great attributes to the team. I’ll start with Amari first. I remember our first game I told him, ‘After today, you’re not a freshman anymore.’ He’s in the starting lineup for a reason. It’s because he’s so comfortable out there. He doesn’t take any bad shots. He plays within his game, and he knows what we’re looking for and he brings that to the table. He’s just been tremendous for us as well. We’ve got Dylan (Andrews) and Abramo (Canka) coming off the bench as well. Those two guys bring a defensive intensity off the bench that is much needed.”
Norfolk State head coach Robert Jones
opening remarks
“We stunk tonight. We were never in it. We rested on our laurels on how we played against Baylor. We just didn’t have it.”
on improving their visibility by playing UCLA
“We play these games all the time. It’s not that UCLA isn’t great, but we’ve played teams like Houston as well. We play Monmouth on Thursday. It’s just one of these days; we just didn’t have it tonight.”
on Joe Bryant
“He just didn’t have it tonight. He played so well against Baylor – he had 24 [points] and six [rebounds]. Now you’re at the top of the scout. They roughed him up a bit, and he had a tough game. I can’t remember when he had just four points; it’s been so long.”
on where they go from here
“It’s only a loss, and you can only learn from a loss. We just didn’t show up tonight. We all know about the UCLA tradition, but we’re one of the most highly-rated mid-major programs, and we just didn’t show up tonight.”
UCLA 86, Norfolk State 56
November 14, 2022
Mick Cronin, The Michael Price Family UCLA Men’s Head Basketball Coach
opening remarks
“I thought Norfolk State did a great job of controlling the tempo, staying in the game. The coaching staff did a great job. We were able to turn up the heat, more and more, defensively. We were really efficient on offense tonight. I wasn’t happy about our passing, or the lack thereof, or shot selection in the Long Beach game. We should be a team that shoots a high percentage all the time. Our passing was much, much better tonight. We got the ball inside more than I thought we have in a month. There are still areas we have to improve.”
on the freshmen getting more comfortable
“Our whole game is going to be a whole new environment. First game out of Pauley Pavilion, first game against another high major team. So for all our young guys, it’s just going through that process. We have five freshmen who played tonight, and those guys are the key to our future.”
on how the freshmen perform in practice
“The tools are great. Nobody would start for me if they weren’t playing hard in practice. All of them have been. That’s what dictates if you’ve made an improvement. Real improvement as a player is dictated by your aptitude, your willingness to listen, and your attitude. You have to get in the gym. I’ve done this a long time, 27th year in college as a coach, I’ve had guys who’ve improved in different ways. Amari couldn’t guard me a month ago, with the suit on. Our goal is for him to be a defensive stopper, and he’s taking that to heart. When you’re as athletic and tough as he is, you should be able to – he’s an NBA player someday – guard college players. It’s just a mindset. He wasn’t trained, it’s my job to train him. He’s come a long way in a short period of time defensively, because of his effort and attitude. He’s also highly talented, he picks things up.”
on Jaylen Clark’s shooting
“I wish I was as open as him when I played. He’s worked really hard, he really has. Again, we believe in player development. Tyger was not a shooter, now he is. Jaylen Clark was not a shooter, now he is. You’re talking about two guys who had to make fundamental adjustments to the way they shoot the ball, and listen to the coaches and believe in their coaches. We had to reconstruct Jaylen’s shot from the time he got here. He’s on plane. In baseball, they call it swing plane. Shooting plane. He also takes open shots. But he’s worked really hard. Early on, all this success, he deserves, because he’s put the time in. That’s not an easy thing to do. There’s guys that have been in the NBA a long time and still can’t shoot. I’ve coached guys, just hard-headed. He’s so intelligent, that he understands when I went to break his shot down, it made sense to him. He embraced it.”
on the offensive efficiency
“It should be for us. We have the players, the talent, if we share the ball. And we threw it inside, and then back outside. That’s why Jaylen Clark was the recipient, they were leaving him. If you coach a team where only a few guys can score, you have to force feed them. But we don’t have that situation. I thought it was all predicated by better passing, 20 assists. We really broke down our shot selection and lack of passing [against LBSU]. Now [Norfolk State] played some zone, forced us to pass the ball.”
on defense
“You can’t win if you can’t play defense. I’m talking about cutting the nets down. You can’t win. We lost to North Carolina last year because we couldn’t get a stop and a rebound. That’s why we lost. We lost to Gonzaga because we turned the ball over five times when they got lay-ups. Those are the things that separate. When you get the highest level and it’s top-10s playing each other, if you’re lucky enough to be one of them, they all have the same talent level. You have to be able to win by execution and toughness, defense, rebounding. You can’t just go out-score the other team. They’re in the top ten for a reason. Nobody is going to win big if you don’t defend, it’s just not going to happen. Just look at the NBA, look at Golden State this year. 0-7 on the road, look at their defensive numbers, I’m sure Coach Kerr would say.”
Junior guard Jaylen Clark
on his improved shooting
“I feel like half of it is confidence, but the real answer is just work. I’m here shooting every day after practice, after film, after walkthroughs, off days, on days. I’m shooting every day, getting up 700 shots on the gun. I don’t need no trainer or nothing like that. Just seeing the ball go through the hoop over time gives me confidence. It also helps when I’m playing with people like Jaime (Jaquez Jr.) and Tyger who get double teamed consistently because I’m getting free looks off.”
on only having eight deflections
“(Associate Head Coach Darren Savino) talked to me and he started telling me don’t get frustrated if the ball stops coming your way and the person I was matched up with was in the corner. He wasn’t in handoffs. So, I got the two deflections early but other than that the dude was just sitting in the corner away from most of the action. I’m not going to gamble or do anything crazy or ridiculous. If I’m in the action, I’m going to get my steals but if I’m not, I’m not going to force it. I had two tonight so I’m still on pace (to break the season deflections record).”
Freshman guard Amari Bailey
on if he felt the most comfortable tonight out of the first three games
“For sure. I feel like it just slowed down. (I was) not doing too much, letting the game come to me (and) reading the defense, honestly.”
on the sequence with Adem Bona’s block and his dunk
“It’s always fun when the team is starting to go on a run and you’re starting to break open a lead, so that was a great turning point in the game.”
on Adem Bona’s defensive shot blocking
“I mean Bona is big for us. He’s a big contributor to our team.”
Redshirt senior forward Jaime Jaquez Jr.
on how this team compares to his past teams at UCLA
“I think every team that I’ve been on has been so different. I know last year we had a group of guys that was so well connected because we played together in the Final Four. This year, we just have so many new pieces (and) a lot of new freshmen coming in. I feel like they gel so well. We’re getting better every day as you guys can see. Norfolk State is not a team that we took lightly, and our freshmen showed that. They paid attention to the scouting report, understood our defensive game plan and our offensive gameplan and executed it to a tee.”
on the comfort level of the freshmen
“They all bring great attributes to the team. I’ll start with Amari first. I remember our first game I told him, ‘After today, you’re not a freshman anymore.’ He’s in the starting lineup for a reason. It’s because he’s so comfortable out there. He doesn’t take any bad shots. He plays within his game, and he knows what we’re looking for and he brings that to the table. He’s just been tremendous for us as well. We’ve got Dylan (Andrews) and Abramo (Canka) coming off the bench as well. Those two guys bring a defensive intensity off the bench that is much needed.”
Norfolk State head coach Robert Jones
opening remarks
“We stunk tonight. We were never in it. We rested on our laurels on how we played against Baylor. We just didn’t have it.”
on improving their visibility by playing UCLA
“We play these games all the time. It’s not that UCLA isn’t great, but we’ve played teams like Houston as well. We play Monmouth on Thursday. It’s just one of these days; we just didn’t have it tonight.”
on Joe Bryant
“He just didn’t have it tonight. He played so well against Baylor – he had 24 [points] and six [rebounds]. Now you’re at the top of the scout. They roughed him up a bit, and he had a tough game. I can’t remember when he had just four points; it’s been so long.”
on where they go from here
“It’s only a loss, and you can only learn from a loss. We just didn’t show up tonight. We all know about the UCLA tradition, but we’re one of the most highly-rated mid-major programs, and we just didn’t show up tonight.”