Postgame Quotes – UCLA at Oregon
POSTGAME QUOTES
Oregon 68, UCLA 63
Eugene, Ore. (Matthew Knight Arena)
February 24, 2022
Mick Cronin, The Michael Price Family UCLA Men’s Head Basketball Coach
on the team’s difficulty to make shots against Oregon
“Yeah, I mean that would be close to a good assessment. It’s hard to win when you go 4-for-24 from three on the road against a team that is fighting for its [NCAA] tournament life. It’s just hard. That being said though, I’ll say they shot 24 free throws to our 14. Let’s just say I’m not happy with that. I thought there was a lot of contact at the rim, both ways.”
on if he thought UCLA matched the effort and intensity of Oregon
“Not until we got down 13, crawled back to get a one-point lead and immediately put them back on the foul line. We were up one with a late clock, we let Will Richardson beat us left. That was a huge play. Huge play. Put them back on the foul line. They were reeling at the point. We needed to make them shoot a jump shot at that point. We are a veteran team and we’ve got to be smarter than that. But, we’re plus 10 points off turnovers and we’re plus 10 with second-chance points. But I’d say that our defensive rebounding left a lot to be desired for a long portion of the game. When we finally started doing it, that’s when we were able to get back in the game. We started to limit them to one shot.”
on if he believes the Bruins could have stretched their lead had they gotten a stop
“Yeah. I think that when you have a team on the run like that, the last thing you want to do is to put their best player at the foul line. We should smarter than that. We are a veteran team. There is just no excuse for what we did there, defensively. And a couple more of them down the stretch.”
on the Bruins having played better in Pauley Pavilion this season, than on the road
“We didn’t play better against them [Oregon] in Pauley.”
on the decision to start Cody Riley in the second half, over Myles Johnson
“I thought we needed scoring. He’s a better scorer. Challenged his toughness. I thought that with the intensity of the game early, Myles wasn’t as physical and intense as he needed to be. Cody is a veteran guy, you know, he has been in fights like this before. And I thought that he could get us the interior scoring. We were struggling to make shots. So I was trying to get somebody who could go inside. We needed to go into Cody and Jaime in the block, because of the way that we were shooting the ball. We got away from it, and that’s why we stopped scoring. That was the key to getting us back in the game.”
on finding someone to shoulder the scoring load, having lost Johnny Juzang (right ankle injury)
“Well, we’ve got Jake and we have Dave, but nobody could make any shot.”
on whether the 3-pointers were good looks for UCLA, but just didn’t go in
“I’d have to watch the film. I know that there were a couple possession where we had two wide open ones in the same possession. It was like the USC game, all over again. Meanwhile, they were hitting some guarded ones. [De’Vion] Harmon hit one late clock on Jaylen Clark that was three or four feet behind the line, five seconds left on the clock. About two or three minutes left in the game, just a dagger. We can’t get wide open ones to go down. It’s hard.”
UCLA junior Jaime Jaquez Jr.
on a play late in the second half where he was called for an offensive foul
“I don’t really know. It was late clock. Another pivotal point in the game. You could go charge, no call, you know, foul on the defensive. I don’t know. You’re going to have to ask the ref on that one. I just kind of, late clock tried to get something up. It is what it is.”
on the Bruins’ struggles from beyond the 3-point arc against Oregon
“I mean, we took some tough ones. But I also felt like we had a lot of good looks, at the same time. Nothing was falling for us tonight, and sometimes you have nights like that. But our defense, we had some let-ups on defense which was really crucial in this game.”
on what took the Bruins so long to buy into a stronger defensive mindset
“It’s just something that we have been struggling a little bit with this year. Just not coming ready to play as we should have. I guess, it was too late by the time they got up and then we tried to make a run back and we made some errors. It’s just something that we’ve got to work on.”
on any concern with having played better in Pauley Pavilion than on the road
“I don’t think that is something we are worried about right now, to be honest. We’re just taking it one game at a time and just trying to go from there.”
UCLA junior Tyger Campbell
on the team struggling to make shots from 3-point range
“We just couldn’t get one to fall. It was just a rough shooting night, we’ve got to put it past us and move onto the next game.”
on if he’s concerned with how much better the Bruins have played in their home games
“No. We just have to figure out what we need to do on the road more, and just figure it out by next game.”
on if he felt any more of a burden (on offense) without Johnny Juzang in the second half
“You know, it’s a little bit different out there without Johnny. He is such a great player. It was a little bit different.”
on what it took for the team to finally start clicking, midway through the second half
“I’d say, we were just searching for our rhythm. We went on that big run in the second half, and we couldn’t weather their storm. We’ve just got to see them next time.”
Oregon 68, UCLA 63
Eugene, Ore. (Matthew Knight Arena)
February 24, 2022
Mick Cronin, The Michael Price Family UCLA Men’s Head Basketball Coach
on the team’s difficulty to make shots against Oregon
“Yeah, I mean that would be close to a good assessment. It’s hard to win when you go 4-for-24 from three on the road against a team that is fighting for its [NCAA] tournament life. It’s just hard. That being said though, I’ll say they shot 24 free throws to our 14. Let’s just say I’m not happy with that. I thought there was a lot of contact at the rim, both ways.”
on if he thought UCLA matched the effort and intensity of Oregon
“Not until we got down 13, crawled back to get a one-point lead and immediately put them back on the foul line. We were up one with a late clock, we let Will Richardson beat us left. That was a huge play. Huge play. Put them back on the foul line. They were reeling at the point. We needed to make them shoot a jump shot at that point. We are a veteran team and we’ve got to be smarter than that. But, we’re plus 10 points off turnovers and we’re plus 10 with second-chance points. But I’d say that our defensive rebounding left a lot to be desired for a long portion of the game. When we finally started doing it, that’s when we were able to get back in the game. We started to limit them to one shot.”
on if he believes the Bruins could have stretched their lead had they gotten a stop
“Yeah. I think that when you have a team on the run like that, the last thing you want to do is to put their best player at the foul line. We should smarter than that. We are a veteran team. There is just no excuse for what we did there, defensively. And a couple more of them down the stretch.”
on the Bruins having played better in Pauley Pavilion this season, than on the road
“We didn’t play better against them [Oregon] in Pauley.”
on the decision to start Cody Riley in the second half, over Myles Johnson
“I thought we needed scoring. He’s a better scorer. Challenged his toughness. I thought that with the intensity of the game early, Myles wasn’t as physical and intense as he needed to be. Cody is a veteran guy, you know, he has been in fights like this before. And I thought that he could get us the interior scoring. We were struggling to make shots. So I was trying to get somebody who could go inside. We needed to go into Cody and Jaime in the block, because of the way that we were shooting the ball. We got away from it, and that’s why we stopped scoring. That was the key to getting us back in the game.”
on finding someone to shoulder the scoring load, having lost Johnny Juzang (right ankle injury)
“Well, we’ve got Jake and we have Dave, but nobody could make any shot.”
on whether the 3-pointers were good looks for UCLA, but just didn’t go in
“I’d have to watch the film. I know that there were a couple possession where we had two wide open ones in the same possession. It was like the USC game, all over again. Meanwhile, they were hitting some guarded ones. [De’Vion] Harmon hit one late clock on Jaylen Clark that was three or four feet behind the line, five seconds left on the clock. About two or three minutes left in the game, just a dagger. We can’t get wide open ones to go down. It’s hard.”
UCLA junior Jaime Jaquez Jr.
on a play late in the second half where he was called for an offensive foul
“I don’t really know. It was late clock. Another pivotal point in the game. You could go charge, no call, you know, foul on the defensive. I don’t know. You’re going to have to ask the ref on that one. I just kind of, late clock tried to get something up. It is what it is.”
on the Bruins’ struggles from beyond the 3-point arc against Oregon
“I mean, we took some tough ones. But I also felt like we had a lot of good looks, at the same time. Nothing was falling for us tonight, and sometimes you have nights like that. But our defense, we had some let-ups on defense which was really crucial in this game.”
on what took the Bruins so long to buy into a stronger defensive mindset
“It’s just something that we have been struggling a little bit with this year. Just not coming ready to play as we should have. I guess, it was too late by the time they got up and then we tried to make a run back and we made some errors. It’s just something that we’ve got to work on.”
on any concern with having played better in Pauley Pavilion than on the road
“I don’t think that is something we are worried about right now, to be honest. We’re just taking it one game at a time and just trying to go from there.”
UCLA junior Tyger Campbell
on the team struggling to make shots from 3-point range
“We just couldn’t get one to fall. It was just a rough shooting night, we’ve got to put it past us and move onto the next game.”
on if he’s concerned with how much better the Bruins have played in their home games
“No. We just have to figure out what we need to do on the road more, and just figure it out by next game.”
on if he felt any more of a burden (on offense) without Johnny Juzang in the second half
“You know, it’s a little bit different out there without Johnny. He is such a great player. It was a little bit different.”
on what it took for the team to finally start clicking, midway through the second half
“I’d say, we were just searching for our rhythm. We went on that big run in the second half, and we couldn’t weather their storm. We’ve just got to see them next time.”