University of California, Los Angeles, Athletics
Postgame Quotes -- UCLA at Washington
POSTGAME QUOTES
UCLA 77, Washington 66
Alaska Airlines Arena
February 28, 2022
ย
Mick Cronin, The Michael Price Family UCLA Menโs Head Basketball Coach
opening remarks
โWell, sometimes, the ball just doesnโt go in. You donโt want that to happen, but with the tournament coming, itโs great to coach โ to try to practice coaching them through it. We need to just worry about what we can control. Thatโs just keep getting good shots, keep defending, rebounding. Canโt let the ball not going in affect our energy. We canโt start doing dumb things โ bad fouls, breakdowns defensively because the ballโs not going in. Tyger has been unbelievable. He never misses those six shots he missed. Cody โ layup. Jaime โ layup. We were able to get Jaime the ball down low in the second half, and that changed the game for us. But like I told you about him getting back healthy and me trying to get him back in an offensive rhythm, it takes us to another level. And we have to have that with Johnny out, to be fair about it.โ
ย
on the defense picking things up in the second half
โThey made some hard shots to go on that run. Eventually, if we let them hang around, they can play. Bey can play. [Terrell] Brown is the leading scorer in the league. Beyโs been able to score. Emmitt Matthews scored in the Big 12. Those three guys can put the ball in the basket against anybody. They were 6-1 at home in the Pac-12 coming into tonight, so great win for us. I fully expected us to have to win a very close game, so the fact that we were able to get up 20 and get the subs in, itโs a testament to our defense. It was 64-44, I think. They had 15 points [in the second half] before we started subbing.โ
ย
on what has worked defensively against Terrell Brown Jr.
โTrying to put size on him. Trying to put a bigger body on him. Because he makes guarded shots. A guy that makes guarded shots, you put a small guy on him, itโs like heโs not even there. And he made some guarded shots on Jaylen Clark tonight that Ben [Bolch] will tell you, nobody does that. Itโs a testament to how he was able to step up and put the ball in the basket for them.โ
ย
junior guard/forward Jaime Jaquez Jr.
on career-high 30 points
โIt felt good. Honestly, just to get the win after a long road trip, for me, feels good. Ready to get back home. Trying to just focus on the next game right now, honestly.โ
ย
on getting the ball early in the second half and if the team had the same gameplan in the first half
โI have to look at the stat sheet, but just going into it, we wanted to get the โPower 25โ look going when they went into their man [defense]. It was something that was a little unorthodox from the previous time we played them. I think we got great looks at that, but it just wasnโt working โฆ We noticed they had smaller guards on me and just decided to take advantage of it.โ
ย
on what the career-high means to him
โI mean, nothing really. I got to 30 points; itโs pretty cool. But like I said, we have a long road ahead of us. Iโm just trying to help the team win. Itโs cool to get to 30, but itโs not really anything crazy.โ
ย
senior guard David Singleton
on what sparked the teamโs performance in the second half
โI just told these guys, โWe need to get ready for March.โ Washington is a great team, but there are obviously better teams going down March and we have to get ready for March. Our motto is to get ready for the best team on our schedule. Therefore, I just told them we have to pick it up. We have to pick up the intensity and we have to go out there and enjoy basketball.โ
ย
on hitting three-pointer that made it a 14-point game in the second half
โI feel like that was a dagger for the game. I just let the game come to me. I knew they were going to be all over me from the first game, from the first time we played them. I just didnโt want to force it, but that three, I think it was huge. It pulled us away.โ
ย
on what wasnโt working in the first half
โWe werenโt defending. We were worried about offense. The shots werenโt going our way. Coach [Cronin] always tells us, โWorry about defense. Shots will go in later. I felt like the offense was affecting our defense, so, in the second half, we managed to pull through. We managed to flip that around.โ
UCLA 77, Washington 66
Alaska Airlines Arena
February 28, 2022
ย
Mick Cronin, The Michael Price Family UCLA Menโs Head Basketball Coach
opening remarks
โWell, sometimes, the ball just doesnโt go in. You donโt want that to happen, but with the tournament coming, itโs great to coach โ to try to practice coaching them through it. We need to just worry about what we can control. Thatโs just keep getting good shots, keep defending, rebounding. Canโt let the ball not going in affect our energy. We canโt start doing dumb things โ bad fouls, breakdowns defensively because the ballโs not going in. Tyger has been unbelievable. He never misses those six shots he missed. Cody โ layup. Jaime โ layup. We were able to get Jaime the ball down low in the second half, and that changed the game for us. But like I told you about him getting back healthy and me trying to get him back in an offensive rhythm, it takes us to another level. And we have to have that with Johnny out, to be fair about it.โ
ย
on the defense picking things up in the second half
โThey made some hard shots to go on that run. Eventually, if we let them hang around, they can play. Bey can play. [Terrell] Brown is the leading scorer in the league. Beyโs been able to score. Emmitt Matthews scored in the Big 12. Those three guys can put the ball in the basket against anybody. They were 6-1 at home in the Pac-12 coming into tonight, so great win for us. I fully expected us to have to win a very close game, so the fact that we were able to get up 20 and get the subs in, itโs a testament to our defense. It was 64-44, I think. They had 15 points [in the second half] before we started subbing.โ
ย
on what has worked defensively against Terrell Brown Jr.
โTrying to put size on him. Trying to put a bigger body on him. Because he makes guarded shots. A guy that makes guarded shots, you put a small guy on him, itโs like heโs not even there. And he made some guarded shots on Jaylen Clark tonight that Ben [Bolch] will tell you, nobody does that. Itโs a testament to how he was able to step up and put the ball in the basket for them.โ
ย
junior guard/forward Jaime Jaquez Jr.
on career-high 30 points
โIt felt good. Honestly, just to get the win after a long road trip, for me, feels good. Ready to get back home. Trying to just focus on the next game right now, honestly.โ
ย
on getting the ball early in the second half and if the team had the same gameplan in the first half
โI have to look at the stat sheet, but just going into it, we wanted to get the โPower 25โ look going when they went into their man [defense]. It was something that was a little unorthodox from the previous time we played them. I think we got great looks at that, but it just wasnโt working โฆ We noticed they had smaller guards on me and just decided to take advantage of it.โ
ย
on what the career-high means to him
โI mean, nothing really. I got to 30 points; itโs pretty cool. But like I said, we have a long road ahead of us. Iโm just trying to help the team win. Itโs cool to get to 30, but itโs not really anything crazy.โ
ย
senior guard David Singleton
on what sparked the teamโs performance in the second half
โI just told these guys, โWe need to get ready for March.โ Washington is a great team, but there are obviously better teams going down March and we have to get ready for March. Our motto is to get ready for the best team on our schedule. Therefore, I just told them we have to pick it up. We have to pick up the intensity and we have to go out there and enjoy basketball.โ
ย
on hitting three-pointer that made it a 14-point game in the second half
โI feel like that was a dagger for the game. I just let the game come to me. I knew they were going to be all over me from the first game, from the first time we played them. I just didnโt want to force it, but that three, I think it was huge. It pulled us away.โ
ย
on what wasnโt working in the first half
โWe werenโt defending. We were worried about offense. The shots werenโt going our way. Coach [Cronin] always tells us, โWorry about defense. Shots will go in later. I felt like the offense was affecting our defense, so, in the second half, we managed to pull through. We managed to flip that around.โ