Postgame Quotes – UCLA vs. Washington State
POSTGAME QUOTES
UCLA 76, Washington State 56
Pauley Pavilion presented by Wescom
February 17, 2022
Mick Cronin, The Michael Price Family UCLA Men’s Head Basketball Coach
on Jaylen Clark’s performance
“I would take you guys back to the beginning of the year, when I told you I didn’t know how I wasn’t going to start him. He’s had a tough year with the injuries, and it’s really hurt us. This was first week in two months that he’s been able to string together three-straight practices. You start to see him get in shape.”
on better defensive effort tonight
“Also, we shot 52 percent because we’re eliminating bad shots, but yes. We had 35 deflections, which held them to 28 percent. They’re a three-point shooting team. They took 30 [three-point field goal attempts] out of 53 [total field goal attempts]. We had to do everything we had to do. I still wasn’t happy with – a couple times late in the clock, we let Tyrell Roberts, we weren’t in his air space. It’s inexcusable. We’re kind of starting over, to be honest with you. We’re going to play hard enough to win. We’re going to do what we’re told, or you’re coming out.”
on Tyger Campbell’s status for Saturday’s game
“Yeah. One game [suspension]. Obviously, for three years, he’s been awesome. I love him dearly. But, if you have rules and you don’t enforce them, then you don’t have rules. It’s pretty simple.”
on Myles Johnson earning the start
“Just trying to start the guys that our playing the best – our best defensive lineup, our rebounding lineup. I thought Cody [Riley] responded great, by the way. I loved his response. Actually, I told him in there. Two years ago, if you remember, he dominated overtime. We beat Washington State at home; he had like eight-straight. He had a couple big time offensive rebounds today. We need physicality and toughness; we don’t need jump shots.”
on success with assists despite Campbell not playing
“We worked for three days at passing the ball. We talked extensively about passing the ball. You need to drive to pass. You need to create shots for your teammates. Again, there were three days of practice; Tyger was our leading assist guy, Jaylen Clark was second, nobody else was close. [Jaylen] has five tonight.”
on if team had season-high deflection total
“No. At half, we had 21, but second half we only had 14. But, if you get 35 or more, you’re going to win 95 percent of your games.”
on hitting 10 threes tonight and first time in double-digits in Pac-12 play
“Law of Averages. If we weren’t going to make one soon, I was going to shave my head. It’s hard to win when the ball never goes in, so it’s nice to finally knock down some open looks. I had a great player – Sean Kilpatrick – at Cincinnati. His number should be retired. I won’t go back until it is. I used to tell him all the time, ‘If you just worry about hustling, and deflections, and rebounding, and get lost in the game, the ball will go in. And just play. If you sit around and just start stressing over whether you’re making shots, it’s only going to get worse. It’s like getting the yips in putting or something. I thought, tonight, our guys all got lost in the game trying to focus on their hustle and their toughness and their defense. To me, that’s why the ball went in. That, and we didn’t take bad ones. We eliminated some bad ones.”
Kyle Smith, Washington State Head Coach
opening remarks
“That was a really well-played game by UCLA. I thought, tonight, they came out with a purpose. I think, after a loss to USC, they were going to come out and challenge their guys to be physical, get on the glass, and they took us off the boards. We had a hard time defending them. They beat us on the glass. When you’re playing on the road, if you get outplayed in those two areas, it’s really hard to win.”
on UCLA’s success in switching screens without Tyger Campbell
“They made it on hard on us to get good looks. More importantly, they can play our posts one-on-one. We couldn’t get anything. It was tough to finish at the rim. It was tough for our posts to score. They are big. They make it hard. We turned it over a couple times against the press, but in the half court, I was kind of proud. We gave them one [turnover] for a bucket, but we had nine for the game. They were bigger, longer. They played with a real purpose.”
on cutting the deficit to four but then losing momentum
“It can be tough. We haven’t shot the ball well for a while here. Some doubt creeping in. We got some good looks, I thought in transition – you just have to make them to win on the road. We have to put the ball in the basket. We’re not beating anyone with the way we’re shooting right now.”
sophomore guard Jaylen Clark
on his performance tonight
“I feel like I had a great week of practice. This season, in general, I’ve had a lot of head injuries, concussions that kept me going in, going out, going in, going out. So, I’m finally starting to find my stride that I had in the offseason going into the normal season. Like I said, I’ve been practicing great all week. These are the types of numbers I put up in practice. The hard work in the dark is showing up in the light now.”
on if he had any more intensity with being in the starting lineup
“No. On the offensive side, I don’t really pay attention to that as much as the defensive said. I knew I was guarding [Michael] Flowers, who’s a high-level scorer in the Pac-12. He’s made some of the most threes in the Pac-12, so I was just really focused on shutting him down and letting the offensive side take care of itself. I’m an unselfish player; I know I’m going to find my teammates and get to the gaps, and they really allowed me to play my game tonight, so it was cool.”
on Tyger Campbell’s words before the game
“He was just telling us we have to get the win tonight. We know our situation in the Pac-12; we’re trying to still win the Pac-12, so we can’t come out and play around with them. They’re a good team. We forced them to have an off night, so we just had to come in there focused.”
junior guard Johnny Juzang
on if the team knew it had to play with more intensity
“Yeah, 100 percent. If you go 1-3, you need to change something up. You need to get energy up, intensity up, whatever it takes to turn that around. That’s definitely been the emphasis and focus in practice. Overall, I think we did a pretty good job, but we’ve got two more in the next three-four days. On to the next one and we need to keep it going. It’s all about consistency.”
on Jaylen Clark’s performance
“Oh man, it’s great. This guy’s a dog. We see it every day in practice. We all know he can go. Seeing that – he plays with so much energy, such a high-energy player. It’s great to see. We’re all so happy for him. Nobody’s surprised. Nobody’s surprised at all.”
on what position he feels he is
“I feel like I can be played anywhere. Whatever the coach needs me to do, I’m going to go do it. Whether that’s rebound, guard a seven-footer, or guard the point guard on the team. If you need me to pass, score, I feel like I can do it all in a variety of ways, which makes me so special. Like I said, I feel like I can play any position he needs me, whether that’s small ball with me at center, or bringing the ball up the floor.”
UCLA 76, Washington State 56
Pauley Pavilion presented by Wescom
February 17, 2022
Mick Cronin, The Michael Price Family UCLA Men’s Head Basketball Coach
on Jaylen Clark’s performance
“I would take you guys back to the beginning of the year, when I told you I didn’t know how I wasn’t going to start him. He’s had a tough year with the injuries, and it’s really hurt us. This was first week in two months that he’s been able to string together three-straight practices. You start to see him get in shape.”
on better defensive effort tonight
“Also, we shot 52 percent because we’re eliminating bad shots, but yes. We had 35 deflections, which held them to 28 percent. They’re a three-point shooting team. They took 30 [three-point field goal attempts] out of 53 [total field goal attempts]. We had to do everything we had to do. I still wasn’t happy with – a couple times late in the clock, we let Tyrell Roberts, we weren’t in his air space. It’s inexcusable. We’re kind of starting over, to be honest with you. We’re going to play hard enough to win. We’re going to do what we’re told, or you’re coming out.”
on Tyger Campbell’s status for Saturday’s game
“Yeah. One game [suspension]. Obviously, for three years, he’s been awesome. I love him dearly. But, if you have rules and you don’t enforce them, then you don’t have rules. It’s pretty simple.”
on Myles Johnson earning the start
“Just trying to start the guys that our playing the best – our best defensive lineup, our rebounding lineup. I thought Cody [Riley] responded great, by the way. I loved his response. Actually, I told him in there. Two years ago, if you remember, he dominated overtime. We beat Washington State at home; he had like eight-straight. He had a couple big time offensive rebounds today. We need physicality and toughness; we don’t need jump shots.”
on success with assists despite Campbell not playing
“We worked for three days at passing the ball. We talked extensively about passing the ball. You need to drive to pass. You need to create shots for your teammates. Again, there were three days of practice; Tyger was our leading assist guy, Jaylen Clark was second, nobody else was close. [Jaylen] has five tonight.”
on if team had season-high deflection total
“No. At half, we had 21, but second half we only had 14. But, if you get 35 or more, you’re going to win 95 percent of your games.”
on hitting 10 threes tonight and first time in double-digits in Pac-12 play
“Law of Averages. If we weren’t going to make one soon, I was going to shave my head. It’s hard to win when the ball never goes in, so it’s nice to finally knock down some open looks. I had a great player – Sean Kilpatrick – at Cincinnati. His number should be retired. I won’t go back until it is. I used to tell him all the time, ‘If you just worry about hustling, and deflections, and rebounding, and get lost in the game, the ball will go in. And just play. If you sit around and just start stressing over whether you’re making shots, it’s only going to get worse. It’s like getting the yips in putting or something. I thought, tonight, our guys all got lost in the game trying to focus on their hustle and their toughness and their defense. To me, that’s why the ball went in. That, and we didn’t take bad ones. We eliminated some bad ones.”
Kyle Smith, Washington State Head Coach
opening remarks
“That was a really well-played game by UCLA. I thought, tonight, they came out with a purpose. I think, after a loss to USC, they were going to come out and challenge their guys to be physical, get on the glass, and they took us off the boards. We had a hard time defending them. They beat us on the glass. When you’re playing on the road, if you get outplayed in those two areas, it’s really hard to win.”
on UCLA’s success in switching screens without Tyger Campbell
“They made it on hard on us to get good looks. More importantly, they can play our posts one-on-one. We couldn’t get anything. It was tough to finish at the rim. It was tough for our posts to score. They are big. They make it hard. We turned it over a couple times against the press, but in the half court, I was kind of proud. We gave them one [turnover] for a bucket, but we had nine for the game. They were bigger, longer. They played with a real purpose.”
on cutting the deficit to four but then losing momentum
“It can be tough. We haven’t shot the ball well for a while here. Some doubt creeping in. We got some good looks, I thought in transition – you just have to make them to win on the road. We have to put the ball in the basket. We’re not beating anyone with the way we’re shooting right now.”
sophomore guard Jaylen Clark
on his performance tonight
“I feel like I had a great week of practice. This season, in general, I’ve had a lot of head injuries, concussions that kept me going in, going out, going in, going out. So, I’m finally starting to find my stride that I had in the offseason going into the normal season. Like I said, I’ve been practicing great all week. These are the types of numbers I put up in practice. The hard work in the dark is showing up in the light now.”
on if he had any more intensity with being in the starting lineup
“No. On the offensive side, I don’t really pay attention to that as much as the defensive said. I knew I was guarding [Michael] Flowers, who’s a high-level scorer in the Pac-12. He’s made some of the most threes in the Pac-12, so I was just really focused on shutting him down and letting the offensive side take care of itself. I’m an unselfish player; I know I’m going to find my teammates and get to the gaps, and they really allowed me to play my game tonight, so it was cool.”
on Tyger Campbell’s words before the game
“He was just telling us we have to get the win tonight. We know our situation in the Pac-12; we’re trying to still win the Pac-12, so we can’t come out and play around with them. They’re a good team. We forced them to have an off night, so we just had to come in there focused.”
junior guard Johnny Juzang
on if the team knew it had to play with more intensity
“Yeah, 100 percent. If you go 1-3, you need to change something up. You need to get energy up, intensity up, whatever it takes to turn that around. That’s definitely been the emphasis and focus in practice. Overall, I think we did a pretty good job, but we’ve got two more in the next three-four days. On to the next one and we need to keep it going. It’s all about consistency.”
on Jaylen Clark’s performance
“Oh man, it’s great. This guy’s a dog. We see it every day in practice. We all know he can go. Seeing that – he plays with so much energy, such a high-energy player. It’s great to see. We’re all so happy for him. Nobody’s surprised. Nobody’s surprised at all.”
on what position he feels he is
“I feel like I can be played anywhere. Whatever the coach needs me to do, I’m going to go do it. Whether that’s rebound, guard a seven-footer, or guard the point guard on the team. If you need me to pass, score, I feel like I can do it all in a variety of ways, which makes me so special. Like I said, I feel like I can play any position he needs me, whether that’s small ball with me at center, or bringing the ball up the floor.”