Postgame Quotes – UCLA vs. Concordia
POSTGAME QUOTES
UCLA 93, Concordia 63
November 2, 2022
Mick Cronin, The Michael Price Family UCLA Men’s Head Basketball Coach
opening statement
“Appreciate Concordia coming to play. Couple former great players I know from there. Angela and Jaime Jaquez Sr. played at Concordia so appreciate those guys coming out. That said, we’re rusty. We haven’t been able to play much 5-on-5 due to injuries. I think that has a lot to do with what you saw tonight. We’re not in great shape. We haven’t scrimmage intersquad at all. Conditioning hurt us at San Diego State. I thought it hurt us again tonight. We’re a bad defensive team right now and I’m not happy with our veteran players defensively. Freshmen, they’ve been in six weeks of training. Our veteran guys were not good defensively at all, so we’ve got a lot of work to do. We’ve got to figure how to be able to stop a Division I team.”
on Jaylen Clark and Adem Bona’s defensive performances
“Well, it’s unique that we would get beat every time and Adem’s got to block the shot or you give up the 3. That’s unique to a team I coach, and it would be unique to a great team because there are no great teams that play that poorly defensively. That said, we had one really good defender and I don’t think there’s really any secret who that is. He also had 15 deflections.”
on the team’s defensive activity
“I know this. Our scouting report was spot on and we didn’t follow it very well. Our pick and roll defense and our stance on the ball left a lot to be desired. We’ve got a long way to go. Look, everybody knows, and it’s early or whatever, but I’m just telling you they were outmanned, but truth is our breakdowns were unexpected. We weren’t that bad defensively at half court at San Diego State.”
on why the team was unable to stop the 3
“The true answer to that, the philosophical answer to that: if you’re bad defensively and you’re well-coached and you practice it every day and your assistant coach does a great job preparing you and you’re still bad defensively, it’s because your mind is on other things. You think you’re going to win, so it doesn’t matter because you’re mind is on other things. Usually, it’s scoring.”
on how to get the players’ mind off scoring
“We play the guys who play defense. That’s how we do things here at UCLA. You’ve got to address it now. Everybody is on the same journey. I expect our freshmen to struggle, but I expect Tyger and Jaime in particular to do a better job defensively. They have to for us to be where we want to be.”
Ken Ammann, Concordia Head Coach
on the overall experience
“We were very happy to compete. We had some tough stretches where we didn’t play defense. It was good to play against an athletic team and also a well-coached team. I just felt that we competed at times. We just needed to extend the minutes on our possessions.”
on playing in historical Pauley Pavilion
“It’s really a good opportunity for the program. They’re a Top 10 team, and they’ve had some great runs in the last couple of years. There are some great players over there, so there were some great lessons learned. I just wish we could have competed more at stretches.”
on where they go from here
“This is why we play these games, and they [UCLA] would say the same thing. We play these games to work on things on the floor. Also, at halftime, we told the guys what to work on, but when the lead stretched out, we went back to those mistakes.”
redshirt senior Jaime Jaquez Jr.
on the team’s defense
“I think a lot of it was on my part, being a leader. I wasn’t as focused as I needed to be in this game. I was becoming a little lazy off the ball and let No. 3 get hot. That was just an emphasis that we had to put on, and I put that one on myself.”
on winning by 30 but Coach Cronin still finding the little things they need to do to get better
“That attests to what we’re trying to do as a team. We don’t take any game for granted. Every game is a learning experience, and if he wasn’t on us, then I would say our chances of winning a national championship would be low. But we have a great coach, and that’s what makes him so great; he doesn’t take any plays off or any nights off. We’re going against a Division II team, a lot of great players, and he’s still on us like it’s a Pac-12 game. We really appreciate him for trying to bring the best out of all of us.”
on the younger players
“It’s a learning experience for them as well as us. Coming into this program Tyger and I have been with a lot of guys our age. We kind of built this thing together, and now we’ve got eight new freshmen that we’ve got to teach. That’s something we’re not used to because everyone coming in was already adjusted and knew how to play and you didn’t really need that teaching that much. But now as seniors, with a lot of young guys, we’re getting adjusted to having to be more vocal on the court and off the court and try to get the young guys in the right positions they need to be.”
on playing against Concordia, his parents’ alma mater
“Yes, this was very special. Both my mom and dad played there; my mom is in the Hall of Fame at Concordia. So to be able to go out there and beat their alma mater was pretty cool. Just to have that experience, being able to see their son go to UCLA and be able to play against their former college was a special moment that I’m sure they enjoyed.”
on if he’ll be able to see his sister Gabriela play before his game Monday
“I don’t know what the schedule is looking like, but I hope to be there early for her game and see her put on that uniform.”
redshirt senior Tyger Campbell
on the three-pointers
“When you’re playing against a team like us – we were bigger than them – they’re going to try to play inside-out, get in the paint and kick it out, so coming into the game, we knew that was going to be their game plan, but they just got hot, and we just tried to run it towards the end.”
on taking the exhibition game seriously
“I’d like to say we take it very seriously. Like you said, Coach was not too happy, so that goes all the way down the line. If coach isn’t happy, we’re not happy. We’ve just got to get there.”
on Adem Bona’s play
“I think it just goes to show Adem’s motor. Him getting those blocks a lot of times, that’s us getting beat, so we have to clean those things up. But that guy’s a monster, and when he’s down there, he protects the rim.”
UCLA 93, Concordia 63
November 2, 2022
Mick Cronin, The Michael Price Family UCLA Men’s Head Basketball Coach
opening statement
“Appreciate Concordia coming to play. Couple former great players I know from there. Angela and Jaime Jaquez Sr. played at Concordia so appreciate those guys coming out. That said, we’re rusty. We haven’t been able to play much 5-on-5 due to injuries. I think that has a lot to do with what you saw tonight. We’re not in great shape. We haven’t scrimmage intersquad at all. Conditioning hurt us at San Diego State. I thought it hurt us again tonight. We’re a bad defensive team right now and I’m not happy with our veteran players defensively. Freshmen, they’ve been in six weeks of training. Our veteran guys were not good defensively at all, so we’ve got a lot of work to do. We’ve got to figure how to be able to stop a Division I team.”
on Jaylen Clark and Adem Bona’s defensive performances
“Well, it’s unique that we would get beat every time and Adem’s got to block the shot or you give up the 3. That’s unique to a team I coach, and it would be unique to a great team because there are no great teams that play that poorly defensively. That said, we had one really good defender and I don’t think there’s really any secret who that is. He also had 15 deflections.”
on the team’s defensive activity
“I know this. Our scouting report was spot on and we didn’t follow it very well. Our pick and roll defense and our stance on the ball left a lot to be desired. We’ve got a long way to go. Look, everybody knows, and it’s early or whatever, but I’m just telling you they were outmanned, but truth is our breakdowns were unexpected. We weren’t that bad defensively at half court at San Diego State.”
on why the team was unable to stop the 3
“The true answer to that, the philosophical answer to that: if you’re bad defensively and you’re well-coached and you practice it every day and your assistant coach does a great job preparing you and you’re still bad defensively, it’s because your mind is on other things. You think you’re going to win, so it doesn’t matter because you’re mind is on other things. Usually, it’s scoring.”
on how to get the players’ mind off scoring
“We play the guys who play defense. That’s how we do things here at UCLA. You’ve got to address it now. Everybody is on the same journey. I expect our freshmen to struggle, but I expect Tyger and Jaime in particular to do a better job defensively. They have to for us to be where we want to be.”
Ken Ammann, Concordia Head Coach
on the overall experience
“We were very happy to compete. We had some tough stretches where we didn’t play defense. It was good to play against an athletic team and also a well-coached team. I just felt that we competed at times. We just needed to extend the minutes on our possessions.”
on playing in historical Pauley Pavilion
“It’s really a good opportunity for the program. They’re a Top 10 team, and they’ve had some great runs in the last couple of years. There are some great players over there, so there were some great lessons learned. I just wish we could have competed more at stretches.”
on where they go from here
“This is why we play these games, and they [UCLA] would say the same thing. We play these games to work on things on the floor. Also, at halftime, we told the guys what to work on, but when the lead stretched out, we went back to those mistakes.”
redshirt senior Jaime Jaquez Jr.
on the team’s defense
“I think a lot of it was on my part, being a leader. I wasn’t as focused as I needed to be in this game. I was becoming a little lazy off the ball and let No. 3 get hot. That was just an emphasis that we had to put on, and I put that one on myself.”
on winning by 30 but Coach Cronin still finding the little things they need to do to get better
“That attests to what we’re trying to do as a team. We don’t take any game for granted. Every game is a learning experience, and if he wasn’t on us, then I would say our chances of winning a national championship would be low. But we have a great coach, and that’s what makes him so great; he doesn’t take any plays off or any nights off. We’re going against a Division II team, a lot of great players, and he’s still on us like it’s a Pac-12 game. We really appreciate him for trying to bring the best out of all of us.”
on the younger players
“It’s a learning experience for them as well as us. Coming into this program Tyger and I have been with a lot of guys our age. We kind of built this thing together, and now we’ve got eight new freshmen that we’ve got to teach. That’s something we’re not used to because everyone coming in was already adjusted and knew how to play and you didn’t really need that teaching that much. But now as seniors, with a lot of young guys, we’re getting adjusted to having to be more vocal on the court and off the court and try to get the young guys in the right positions they need to be.”
on playing against Concordia, his parents’ alma mater
“Yes, this was very special. Both my mom and dad played there; my mom is in the Hall of Fame at Concordia. So to be able to go out there and beat their alma mater was pretty cool. Just to have that experience, being able to see their son go to UCLA and be able to play against their former college was a special moment that I’m sure they enjoyed.”
on if he’ll be able to see his sister Gabriela play before his game Monday
“I don’t know what the schedule is looking like, but I hope to be there early for her game and see her put on that uniform.”
redshirt senior Tyger Campbell
on the three-pointers
“When you’re playing against a team like us – we were bigger than them – they’re going to try to play inside-out, get in the paint and kick it out, so coming into the game, we knew that was going to be their game plan, but they just got hot, and we just tried to run it towards the end.”
on taking the exhibition game seriously
“I’d like to say we take it very seriously. Like you said, Coach was not too happy, so that goes all the way down the line. If coach isn’t happy, we’re not happy. We’ve just got to get there.”
on Adem Bona’s play
“I think it just goes to show Adem’s motor. Him getting those blocks a lot of times, that’s us getting beat, so we have to clean those things up. But that guy’s a monster, and when he’s down there, he protects the rim.”