Postgame Quotes – UCLA at Oregon State
POSTGAME QUOTES
UCLA 94, Oregon State 55
Corvallis, Ore. (Gill Coliseum)
February 26, 2022
Mick Cronin, The Michael Price Family UCLA Men’s Head Basketball Coach
opening remarks
“I liked our team energy level today. We talked a lot about, I had to explain to these guys that we had won three of our last four, and you are not going to win on the road if you miss 15 straight threes against a team like Oregon. We got to keep our attitude positive. We got to have an attitude about ourselves, you’ve got to play with pride in your performance. You have to finish around the rim, your passing, your shooting. You’ve got to take some ownership. We’ve got to come out to play. I don’t know, again, if it’s the grind of everything we have been through with injuries or waiting for the [NCAA] tournament. But the season is long for everybody. I just thought our talk was about playing with more excitement. You saw our bench cheering. You know, it’s infectious. It’s like playing to win, being aggressive, instead of worrying about losing, outside things that we can’t control. I don’t care if everybody goes pro, while you’re here, play your ass off and play with excitement. That being said, I thought we established or really tried to go inside early. You could see that.”
on the performance of Jaime Jaquez Jr.
“I had talked to the staff and I said that part of our run last year was that we had made Jaime a big part of our offense – an adjustment late in the season. Because of our injuries, he hasn’t practiced, we got away from that and as long as he’s out there, I’m going back to him. So I was trying to force feed him as much as possible to get his confidence going. We are just a better team when that’s the case.”
on Tyger Campbell shooting the ball well (8-for-10 from the field)
“Again, I think that sometimes when the ball gets rolling, it’s like a downhill snowball. Unfortunately, Wayne’s on the other side of it this year. Sometimes the snowball gets going, it gets hard to stop it. So hopefully we’ll shoot it like that – we’ve got to shoot the ball well for us to be an elite team. Just the way that we are configured. We aren’t one of the biggest, strongest, most powerful teams in the country. We are a four-out team, for the most part. We’ve got to shoot the ball well. We don’t overwhelm people. Dave, Jules, Tyger, Jaime, like we don’t have great athleticism other than Peyton and Jaylen Clark. So we’ve got to shoot the ball well.”
on if UCLA had better shot selection against Oregon State than versus Oregon last Thursday
“I think that establishing the interior helped us. I think that helped us get some easier baskets. We made them guard the rim. I think that allowed us to get more open shots.”
on a play in the second half where two UCLA players were diving for a loose ball
“Yeah, you have to play the game with passion and excitement. You have to play for your teammates. That is something I believe in. That’s the way you should live your life. That’s the way you should go about your job. You know, I try and teach that to our guys and that’s infectious, too.”
on what prompts the team to accrue a bunch of steals in a game
“Positioning. Darren Savino did a great job in a short prep time with our guys, on anticipation. I was happy when Jaylen Clark laid it in on the break. He’s had enough hard falls, so protect yourself. I am yelling at him to protect yourself. I know he wanted to dunk it, but the smart move for him is to stay healthy.”
on the Bruins winning the rebounding battle, 35-18
“The game was close early because they had three offensive rebounds where they scored off all three. Once we shut their water off with the second shot opportunities, it changed. But obviously, I’m sure they were fatigued from their double overtime game. They are not a deep team. You know, Wayne [Tinkle] is a great coach. I have been through what he’s going through, my first year at Cincinnati, sometimes you just don’t have bodies and everything goes wrong. And I’m sure that it will be totally different next year.”
on getting guys rest and how no starting player logged more than 25 minutes on Saturday
“That’s great, this time of year. Especially with this being our fifth game in 10 days. I can manage their legs and the way we practice, the way we don’t practice, and the way we prepare. My concern has been the mental grind on our team all year with the expectations of the Final Four. And we have been through a lot with Covid, with multiple injuries, random injuries. And it has been hard for us to get on a run. You know, Johnny Juzang didn’t play today. I just want to see these guys keep this attitude, try and keep this as fun as possible for the rest of the year – and try to take the pressure off these guys.”
on if Johnny Juzang will play at Washington on Monday night
“I would doubt it. He looked better today. But I don’t know. I don’t know. I’d say doubtful. But you never know. He puts a lot of work in on his body with flexibility and stuff like that, so he will surprise you at times.”
junior guard/forward Jaime Jaquez Jr.
on the team looking to play for each and have some fun again
“Yeah, I think we had a lot of fun playing. I think Coach Savino, before our pregame huddle, really put things into perspective. You know, people are dying every day, going on with the war in Ukraine and things like that – he brought that up – made a great point, like, we are here to play basketball and let’s enjoy it, let’s appreciate what we have right now and let’s go have some fun. I think that is what we did today.”
on if the pressure of a season makes you sometimes lose sight that basketball should be a fun game
“For sure, I mean, it’s a long season. We’ve just got to remind ourselves of why we play basketball. Honestly, it is for the love of the game and the want to compete and to win with a group of guys that you are so bought in with. It’s easy to forget that with a long season, and we obviously need constant reminders. We are here to have some fun, and when you play hard, you have fun. They kind of go hand in hand.”
on being fully aware that the Beavers were more than capable of springing an upset
“Yeah, 100 percent, 100 percent. I mean, their record may not show it but they have a lot of great guys on their team, and we had to be prepared. We studied the film. We knew what to expect since we had played them already. We knew what they were capable of and we made sure that we had to end their momentum from the jump.”
on his ability to excel in the frontcourt, around the basket, and how that felt
“It felt really good. We had talked before – we had to make sure – we told everyone that we had to get inside, we wanted to get inside. That is something we weren’t doing as much in the Oregon game, and we went back, watched film, and saw that every time we got it inside, we would get a score or a good open shot. That’s something we want to progress with down the line, playing inside-out as much as we can. As far as the ankle, it felt really good today. I was happy to get out there. I wanted to make a couple more layups that I missed a lot, but it is what it is. But we are onto the next one and we’ve got to go get Washington.”
on UCLA making 13 three-pointers just two days after the team shot 4-for-24 from long-range
“I think just taking better shots, not having to settle for late shot clock pick-and-rolls, things like that. When you play inside and you’ve got someone like myself or Cody who can score inside, the defenses have to collapse and it’s easy for us to kick it out and get wide open shots.”
senior forward Cody Riley
on the team showing some passion and being very effective
“I felt like from jump ball, we were intense on defense and active, sharing the ball on offense. That just carried throughout the whole game. We came out, took care of business and had a great win.”
on Coach Savino having told the guys (pregame) to just go out and have fun with the game
“Oh yeah, for sure, we know what we are preparing for, but at the same time we still got to have fun, to enjoy playing with each other and play hard. And that’s what we did, and Coach Savino made sure that our focus was to get the ball inside and dominate inside, work our way out so that we could get open shots and open threes and jump shots. That is what got us going.”
on him making a 3-pointer on a day when the Bruins made 13 triples
“Yeah, making shots is fun. So to space out, Dave hit me. My man started to help and I just made an open shot. It felt good.”
on the importance to establish a presence in the paint against Oregon State
“Yeah, extremely important. Once we got the ball inside, there was a lot of help and a lot of focus on the interior with Jaime dominating, and then with me getting the ball inside, I feel like I’m a good passer. So I’m going to kick it out and hit guys for open threes and open shots. That was definitely the key to our offense.”
on how important it was for UCLA to get a road win
“It was huge for us. We really needed it. We really needed to get some momentum, going into our next few games to close out the conference [season], then looking down the road to the Pac-12 Tournament.”
on a 12-day stretch for the Bruins, featuring six games, and how he’s holding up
“It’s a long stretch. But we have some tough guys on our team and we are ready for whatever. We are prepared for times like this, and we’re excited for the next game.”
UCLA 94, Oregon State 55
Corvallis, Ore. (Gill Coliseum)
February 26, 2022
Mick Cronin, The Michael Price Family UCLA Men’s Head Basketball Coach
opening remarks
“I liked our team energy level today. We talked a lot about, I had to explain to these guys that we had won three of our last four, and you are not going to win on the road if you miss 15 straight threes against a team like Oregon. We got to keep our attitude positive. We got to have an attitude about ourselves, you’ve got to play with pride in your performance. You have to finish around the rim, your passing, your shooting. You’ve got to take some ownership. We’ve got to come out to play. I don’t know, again, if it’s the grind of everything we have been through with injuries or waiting for the [NCAA] tournament. But the season is long for everybody. I just thought our talk was about playing with more excitement. You saw our bench cheering. You know, it’s infectious. It’s like playing to win, being aggressive, instead of worrying about losing, outside things that we can’t control. I don’t care if everybody goes pro, while you’re here, play your ass off and play with excitement. That being said, I thought we established or really tried to go inside early. You could see that.”
on the performance of Jaime Jaquez Jr.
“I had talked to the staff and I said that part of our run last year was that we had made Jaime a big part of our offense – an adjustment late in the season. Because of our injuries, he hasn’t practiced, we got away from that and as long as he’s out there, I’m going back to him. So I was trying to force feed him as much as possible to get his confidence going. We are just a better team when that’s the case.”
on Tyger Campbell shooting the ball well (8-for-10 from the field)
“Again, I think that sometimes when the ball gets rolling, it’s like a downhill snowball. Unfortunately, Wayne’s on the other side of it this year. Sometimes the snowball gets going, it gets hard to stop it. So hopefully we’ll shoot it like that – we’ve got to shoot the ball well for us to be an elite team. Just the way that we are configured. We aren’t one of the biggest, strongest, most powerful teams in the country. We are a four-out team, for the most part. We’ve got to shoot the ball well. We don’t overwhelm people. Dave, Jules, Tyger, Jaime, like we don’t have great athleticism other than Peyton and Jaylen Clark. So we’ve got to shoot the ball well.”
on if UCLA had better shot selection against Oregon State than versus Oregon last Thursday
“I think that establishing the interior helped us. I think that helped us get some easier baskets. We made them guard the rim. I think that allowed us to get more open shots.”
on a play in the second half where two UCLA players were diving for a loose ball
“Yeah, you have to play the game with passion and excitement. You have to play for your teammates. That is something I believe in. That’s the way you should live your life. That’s the way you should go about your job. You know, I try and teach that to our guys and that’s infectious, too.”
on what prompts the team to accrue a bunch of steals in a game
“Positioning. Darren Savino did a great job in a short prep time with our guys, on anticipation. I was happy when Jaylen Clark laid it in on the break. He’s had enough hard falls, so protect yourself. I am yelling at him to protect yourself. I know he wanted to dunk it, but the smart move for him is to stay healthy.”
on the Bruins winning the rebounding battle, 35-18
“The game was close early because they had three offensive rebounds where they scored off all three. Once we shut their water off with the second shot opportunities, it changed. But obviously, I’m sure they were fatigued from their double overtime game. They are not a deep team. You know, Wayne [Tinkle] is a great coach. I have been through what he’s going through, my first year at Cincinnati, sometimes you just don’t have bodies and everything goes wrong. And I’m sure that it will be totally different next year.”
on getting guys rest and how no starting player logged more than 25 minutes on Saturday
“That’s great, this time of year. Especially with this being our fifth game in 10 days. I can manage their legs and the way we practice, the way we don’t practice, and the way we prepare. My concern has been the mental grind on our team all year with the expectations of the Final Four. And we have been through a lot with Covid, with multiple injuries, random injuries. And it has been hard for us to get on a run. You know, Johnny Juzang didn’t play today. I just want to see these guys keep this attitude, try and keep this as fun as possible for the rest of the year – and try to take the pressure off these guys.”
on if Johnny Juzang will play at Washington on Monday night
“I would doubt it. He looked better today. But I don’t know. I don’t know. I’d say doubtful. But you never know. He puts a lot of work in on his body with flexibility and stuff like that, so he will surprise you at times.”
junior guard/forward Jaime Jaquez Jr.
on the team looking to play for each and have some fun again
“Yeah, I think we had a lot of fun playing. I think Coach Savino, before our pregame huddle, really put things into perspective. You know, people are dying every day, going on with the war in Ukraine and things like that – he brought that up – made a great point, like, we are here to play basketball and let’s enjoy it, let’s appreciate what we have right now and let’s go have some fun. I think that is what we did today.”
on if the pressure of a season makes you sometimes lose sight that basketball should be a fun game
“For sure, I mean, it’s a long season. We’ve just got to remind ourselves of why we play basketball. Honestly, it is for the love of the game and the want to compete and to win with a group of guys that you are so bought in with. It’s easy to forget that with a long season, and we obviously need constant reminders. We are here to have some fun, and when you play hard, you have fun. They kind of go hand in hand.”
on being fully aware that the Beavers were more than capable of springing an upset
“Yeah, 100 percent, 100 percent. I mean, their record may not show it but they have a lot of great guys on their team, and we had to be prepared. We studied the film. We knew what to expect since we had played them already. We knew what they were capable of and we made sure that we had to end their momentum from the jump.”
on his ability to excel in the frontcourt, around the basket, and how that felt
“It felt really good. We had talked before – we had to make sure – we told everyone that we had to get inside, we wanted to get inside. That is something we weren’t doing as much in the Oregon game, and we went back, watched film, and saw that every time we got it inside, we would get a score or a good open shot. That’s something we want to progress with down the line, playing inside-out as much as we can. As far as the ankle, it felt really good today. I was happy to get out there. I wanted to make a couple more layups that I missed a lot, but it is what it is. But we are onto the next one and we’ve got to go get Washington.”
on UCLA making 13 three-pointers just two days after the team shot 4-for-24 from long-range
“I think just taking better shots, not having to settle for late shot clock pick-and-rolls, things like that. When you play inside and you’ve got someone like myself or Cody who can score inside, the defenses have to collapse and it’s easy for us to kick it out and get wide open shots.”
senior forward Cody Riley
on the team showing some passion and being very effective
“I felt like from jump ball, we were intense on defense and active, sharing the ball on offense. That just carried throughout the whole game. We came out, took care of business and had a great win.”
on Coach Savino having told the guys (pregame) to just go out and have fun with the game
“Oh yeah, for sure, we know what we are preparing for, but at the same time we still got to have fun, to enjoy playing with each other and play hard. And that’s what we did, and Coach Savino made sure that our focus was to get the ball inside and dominate inside, work our way out so that we could get open shots and open threes and jump shots. That is what got us going.”
on him making a 3-pointer on a day when the Bruins made 13 triples
“Yeah, making shots is fun. So to space out, Dave hit me. My man started to help and I just made an open shot. It felt good.”
on the importance to establish a presence in the paint against Oregon State
“Yeah, extremely important. Once we got the ball inside, there was a lot of help and a lot of focus on the interior with Jaime dominating, and then with me getting the ball inside, I feel like I’m a good passer. So I’m going to kick it out and hit guys for open threes and open shots. That was definitely the key to our offense.”
on how important it was for UCLA to get a road win
“It was huge for us. We really needed it. We really needed to get some momentum, going into our next few games to close out the conference [season], then looking down the road to the Pac-12 Tournament.”
on a 12-day stretch for the Bruins, featuring six games, and how he’s holding up
“It’s a long stretch. But we have some tough guys on our team and we are ready for whatever. We are prepared for times like this, and we’re excited for the next game.”