Postgame Quotes – UCLA at USC
USC 67, UCLA 64
Galen Center (Los Angeles, Calif.)
February 12, 2022
Mick Cronin, The Michael Price Family UCLA Men’s Head Basketball Coach
on team’s defensive performance
“My concern right now is, defensively, we can’t get the job done. And until we become a better defensive team, we’re not going to win any games.”
on Isaiah Mobley not playing for USC
“No, it’s five on five. They played great. It’s five on five. It’s not five on four, it’s five on five. Drew Peterson had a great night, give him credit. But that didn’t beat us; we gave up too many layups. That’s what beat us. Points in the paint, we’re minus 10 – that’s why we lost. Period, end of story. They were the tougher team.”
on Tyger Campbell’s decision making when trailing 65-62
“Yeah, disappointing. But he’s the only reason we were in the game … We had just talked about, when we were down six, you don’t take bad 3s. At the end of games, you’ve got to extend the game. You have to score. Two or three. And we went and got fouled and extended the game. And that’s why we had that chance, because we didn’t take bad 3s. For some reason there he, I don’t know, he’s a great kid, tough situation, I bet on him. He made obviously not the right decision. I thought he was going to drive the ball or I would’ve called a timeout. I don’t know why he stepped back. I’m not sure. But like I said, Sam, we wouldn’t have been in the game if it wasn’t for him.”
on matching up defensively with Drew Peterson
“We tried everybody but me on him.”
on Jaime Jaquez Jr.
“He didn’t look like himself tonight. Anybody who knows us watched him, he really struggled to move tonight.”
on offensive rebounding
“Well, Myles (Johnson) was tremendous. We started Myles in the second half. He got six of them for us.”
UCLA redshirt junior guard Tyger Campbell
on his mindset in the game
“Just trying to make a play so we could win. The whole time I was just worried about winning and keeping us in the game and just doing what Coach (Cronin) needed me to do.”
on what he told his teammates
“I told the whole team keep their head up. We’re at home on Thursday, so we’re just trying to get ready for the next one. It was a tough one here. All credit to USC, but we’ve got to be on to the next one.”
on if there is extra sting losing to USC again
“I mean, of course, you know we want to beat USC, but it’s a long season. They’re a great team. We’re going to see them again and we’re just going to try to be prepared next time.”
on if there was any particular thing that contributed to loss
“I’d say our help-side defense. We worked on it a lot in practice. Coach was really on us. Our coaches prepared us with the scouting report. We just went out and we didn’t execute.”
on guarding Drew Peterson
“Peterson’s a great player. He was hitting a lot of shots tonight, so all credit to him. Whoever we were throwing at him, he was just making plays, whether he’s shooting or passing. I’d say it was just his night tonight. He’s a great player and hopefully we’ll be ready to guard him next month when we play him.”
UCLA junior guard Johnny Juzang
on Bruins' performance
“We’ve got to tighten up the mistakes and [we’ve] given up too many easy buckets that we prepare for. That’s the biggest thing. Offensively, shots didn’t bounce our way. But we’ve got to figure it out on the defensive end.”
on Drew Peterson
“Yeah, he had a good night. But you’ve got to cut off the water as a team. First, you can’t let him get going, but once they do, he made some hard shots, but we’ve got to figure it out. Whatever it is. You’ve got to figure it out.”