University of California, Los Angeles, Athletics
Postgame Quotes – UCLA at Arizona
POSTGAME QUOTES
Arizona 76, UCLA 66
McKale Center (Tucson, Ariz.)
February 3, 2022
Mick Cronin, The Michael Price Family UCLA Men’s Head Basketball Coach
opening free throw discrepancy between the teams
“I don’t know if you’re trying to get me to talk about – officiating is not why we lost the game, far from it. We lost the game. I thought they had better energy, definitely at the start of the game. Defensively, we didn’t get the job done. They got comfortable. You can’t let them get comfortable, offensively. That’s when their shots started going in. The call on Jaime was an and-one. It wasn’t a charge, but we still weren’t going to win the game. That is not why we lost the game.”
on the offense looking better in the second half
“We got into a good rhythm in the first half, the ball just didn’t go in. We got a lot of shots that we wanted in the first half. The ball just didn’t go in for us. We just couldn’t stop them. That happens. But if you hold them to 32, it’s 32-30.”
on if Arizona had a different scheme inside on offense in tonight’s game
“Definitely. Good point. Which, we knew was coming, so I was grossly disappointed because that was our entire preparation.”
on team generally playing better in the second half
“We just did a better job on everything in the second half. We held them to 36 percent [from the field] in the second half.”
on missed shots from Cody Riley late in the game
“Yeah, but give them credit. They made a couple really good plays on him from behind. He’s got to get it up and in more quickly before their second shot-blocker gets there.”
on if Arizona’s dynamic changes if Kerr Kriisa is making shots
“I think it changes everybody’s dynamic when your better shooters make shots. Ours didn’t tonight; it makes it hard to win.”
on how Jaime Jaquez Jr. and Johnny Juzang looked tonight
“Johnny is fine. He never had any symptoms. They both played a lot of minutes. Again, we have no excuses. Whether Jaylen Clark played or Jaime – give them all the credit. That’s what I believe. Their offense was better than our defense for a long time. We weren’t able to make to shots when we were running good offense where we could have maybe stayed with them. Give us all the credit in the world; we cut [the deficit] from 17 to three against a team like that in their building. You almost have to pitch a perfect game to close that out. It’s just really hard to do.”
junior guard/forward Jaime Jaquez Jr.
on what he saw on offensive foul called on him in the second half
“I didn’t see an offensive foul. I thought he flopped. I guess he got the referee on that flop. It is what it is.”
on free throw discrepancy between the teams
“We don’t want to point fingers at anybody but ourselves. Just overall effort on defense wasn’t where it was the first game [against Arizona], and it wasn’t where it needed to be tonight. As a team, we take responsibility in our loss today. We’re not looking to point fingers at anybody.”
on any adjustments that were made at halftime
“It was the high-low action that was kind of beating us a little bit in the first half, which caused our wings to sag off a little bit more to try and help. We tried to get more up on the wings and have our big drop back on the high-low for the help. That was our adjustment.”
on how his ankle felt
“It felt good, felt really good. I’ve been working with Tyler [Lesher], doing everything I can to try and get in the best position possible.”
on how he would like to meet Arizona again in the Pac-12 Tournament
“I’d like to meet them a lot. We’re looking forward to meeting them again, hopefully seeing them in the Pac-12 Tournament, and we’re ready to get this one back.”
senior guard Jules Bernard
on team’s performance in the second half
“We were a little more aggressive on defense, but when we cut [the deficit] down, we had a few lapses. Just couldn’t get over the hump. We were getting back in transition better in the second half. They had a lot of points in transition – just throwing the ball over the top in the first half. We fixed that in the second half and tried to battle our best. Some mistakes happened, but we’re looking forward to the next game and making up for our mistakes.
on Arizona’s intensity tonight
“They’re a great team and playing hard is in their DNA. They came prepared today and unlike the game in Pauley, the were hitting some shots. Especially the transition points hurt us and then there were a few plays where we would get close – I had a play where they kicked it to [Bennedict] Mathurin. The shot clock was low and I should have known he was shooting. He just pulled up and cashed a three. Just little things like that, when we were sort of clawing back, hurt us, but we’re learning from this and we’re looking forward to our games in the future.”
Arizona 76, UCLA 66
McKale Center (Tucson, Ariz.)
February 3, 2022
Mick Cronin, The Michael Price Family UCLA Men’s Head Basketball Coach
opening free throw discrepancy between the teams
“I don’t know if you’re trying to get me to talk about – officiating is not why we lost the game, far from it. We lost the game. I thought they had better energy, definitely at the start of the game. Defensively, we didn’t get the job done. They got comfortable. You can’t let them get comfortable, offensively. That’s when their shots started going in. The call on Jaime was an and-one. It wasn’t a charge, but we still weren’t going to win the game. That is not why we lost the game.”
on the offense looking better in the second half
“We got into a good rhythm in the first half, the ball just didn’t go in. We got a lot of shots that we wanted in the first half. The ball just didn’t go in for us. We just couldn’t stop them. That happens. But if you hold them to 32, it’s 32-30.”
on if Arizona had a different scheme inside on offense in tonight’s game
“Definitely. Good point. Which, we knew was coming, so I was grossly disappointed because that was our entire preparation.”
on team generally playing better in the second half
“We just did a better job on everything in the second half. We held them to 36 percent [from the field] in the second half.”
on missed shots from Cody Riley late in the game
“Yeah, but give them credit. They made a couple really good plays on him from behind. He’s got to get it up and in more quickly before their second shot-blocker gets there.”
on if Arizona’s dynamic changes if Kerr Kriisa is making shots
“I think it changes everybody’s dynamic when your better shooters make shots. Ours didn’t tonight; it makes it hard to win.”
on how Jaime Jaquez Jr. and Johnny Juzang looked tonight
“Johnny is fine. He never had any symptoms. They both played a lot of minutes. Again, we have no excuses. Whether Jaylen Clark played or Jaime – give them all the credit. That’s what I believe. Their offense was better than our defense for a long time. We weren’t able to make to shots when we were running good offense where we could have maybe stayed with them. Give us all the credit in the world; we cut [the deficit] from 17 to three against a team like that in their building. You almost have to pitch a perfect game to close that out. It’s just really hard to do.”
junior guard/forward Jaime Jaquez Jr.
on what he saw on offensive foul called on him in the second half
“I didn’t see an offensive foul. I thought he flopped. I guess he got the referee on that flop. It is what it is.”
on free throw discrepancy between the teams
“We don’t want to point fingers at anybody but ourselves. Just overall effort on defense wasn’t where it was the first game [against Arizona], and it wasn’t where it needed to be tonight. As a team, we take responsibility in our loss today. We’re not looking to point fingers at anybody.”
on any adjustments that were made at halftime
“It was the high-low action that was kind of beating us a little bit in the first half, which caused our wings to sag off a little bit more to try and help. We tried to get more up on the wings and have our big drop back on the high-low for the help. That was our adjustment.”
on how his ankle felt
“It felt good, felt really good. I’ve been working with Tyler [Lesher], doing everything I can to try and get in the best position possible.”
on how he would like to meet Arizona again in the Pac-12 Tournament
“I’d like to meet them a lot. We’re looking forward to meeting them again, hopefully seeing them in the Pac-12 Tournament, and we’re ready to get this one back.”
senior guard Jules Bernard
on team’s performance in the second half
“We were a little more aggressive on defense, but when we cut [the deficit] down, we had a few lapses. Just couldn’t get over the hump. We were getting back in transition better in the second half. They had a lot of points in transition – just throwing the ball over the top in the first half. We fixed that in the second half and tried to battle our best. Some mistakes happened, but we’re looking forward to the next game and making up for our mistakes.
on Arizona’s intensity tonight
“They’re a great team and playing hard is in their DNA. They came prepared today and unlike the game in Pauley, the were hitting some shots. Especially the transition points hurt us and then there were a few plays where we would get close – I had a play where they kicked it to [Bennedict] Mathurin. The shot clock was low and I should have known he was shooting. He just pulled up and cashed a three. Just little things like that, when we were sort of clawing back, hurt us, but we’re learning from this and we’re looking forward to our games in the future.”