Postgame Quotes – UCLA at Arizona State
POSTGAME QUOTES
UCLA 74, Arizona State 62
Desert Financial Arena (Tempe, Ariz.)
January 19, 2023
Mick Cronin, The Michael Price Family UCLA Men’s Head Basketball Coach
on whether his team’s effort looked like that of a championship team
“Look, if you’re going to win conferences, you’ve got to win tough games against good teams. It’s been fun flying under the radar, the last couple of months. Because of what happened in Vegas, I think people gave up on us. And, you know, Johnny and Jules and Cody. But we’ve been doing this without Amari. He looked good today. He’s close. He looked really good today, in our shootaround, our practice today. So we have been doing all of this without a guy who is going to play in the NBA. We’ve just got great character. Tyger Campbell is such a tough winner. I had to put the ball in his hands tonight because the pressure, and their style defensively, especially tonight, it’s hard to run anything. So you’ve just got to put it in his hands. We put it in other guys’ hands, and we had too many turnovers at halftime. But in my opinion, Dylan had seven points but all seven were when we were losing. And some in the second half, big shot in the second half – pull-up jump shot while I was trying to get Tyger some rest. There are guys that can score off the bench when you are winning, you’re up 15. But Dylan’s baskets tonight were huge. I’m talking about, against a real team in this environment. It gives you a lot of confidence for his future, and we’re going to need that. What if Tyger goes down? I mean, it was a big night for Dylan. And obviously Dave was great too.”
on what allowed UCLA to pull away with the late scoring run
“Defense. I mean, we are one of the best defensive teams in the country over this winning streak. And the key for us, while we were disappointed that [DJ] Horne got 14 in the first half. Their gameplan was working. Jaime only had two. And Horne had 14, so their gameplan was working. In the second half, Horne didn’t score. That had a lot to do with it. Since they’ve gone on their run, number four Cambridge and Horne have really stepped up.”
on the perseverance from senior Jaime Jaquez Jr., and a couple of big shots late in the game
“Yeah, and he also had five assists. He had some passes to Dave for threes. Certain teams decide to just swarm him. And when they do that, he’s got to hurt them with the pass – and he did that.”
on the 21-point effort from fifth-year senior David Singleton
“He was the recipient. They tend to swarm and attack the dribbler, and the gameplan was when they do that, to find Dave.”
on the status of freshman Amari Bailey
“We’ll see. We’ll see how he feels tomorrow.”
on handling a loud crowd this Saturday at Arizona
“I’m not worried about that. Unless, you know, they’re going to let them come out of the stands or something like that. Come on. That’s the last thing that I’m worried about. I’m worried about Tubelis. The guy is having an unbelievable year. Tubelis and Ballo scoring at a major clip, probably the most productive tandem of big guys in America.”
UCLA fifth-year senior guard David Singleton
on the Bruins concluding the game on a 16-2 run
“We just trusted our work. Coach had told us before that game that we need players who play. Our coaches can guide us, but we’ve got to move forward and stay connected. We know that road games, these are hard places to play.”
on being able to find ways to win and knowing the team has confidence to get the job done
“We are always going to have confidence. I’m not saying we are unbeatable, but we are always going to have confidence. We are always going to stay connected, and we’ll always believe in each other.”
on being able to hit those spot-up three-pointers
“It’s an amazing feeling. I love basketball, so I’m just trusting my work. I’m just shooting. Coach keeps telling me to keep shooting, so I’m going to do that.”
on how it looked like UCLA’s gameplan was to get him the ball
“The gameplan is just to find the open man. We have a bunch of guys who can really play, from our starters to our bench. So our gameplan was to hit the open guy. I just so happened to be the open guy, and I just did what needed to be done.”
on the performance of senior Jaime Jaquez Jr.
“Jaime is an extremely important player for us. Everyone knows, he’s our leading scorer and he’s an All-American. We trust him fully, whole-heartedly. We just need him on the court, and we trust him to do what he does.”
UCLA senior Jaime Jaquez Jr.
on hitting a key 3-pointer in the final two minutes of the game
“I think [the shot clock] it was winding down a little there.”
on staying confident when he hadn’t hit many shots during the game
“It’s just about trusting our defense. We knew that was what we needed to do, coming into the second half. I knew that my shot would fall when I needed it to fall. I’m not really worried about that. I just try to do what I can on the defensive end, to get a couple of steals and stops, trying to find my teammates when they are open. Like Dave, just trying to find him as much as I can.”
on if the game felt nervous for UCLA
“Honestly, I feel like I have been in these situations so much. For some of our older guys, like David and Tyger, Jaylen, we’ve all been in these situations before so we know how to keep our composure and really, just lock in on the gameplan.”
on UCLA locking down on defense in the final four minutes
“Yeah, when you do that, you create more possession on offense where they don’t score.”
on what he finds to be the most fun about UCLA’s 14-game winning streak
“That’s a good question, I’ve got to think about that. I think that, really, it’s just our camaraderie off the court. We’re all such good friends. And we try to enjoy just the little things like the bus rides, the plane rides, playing video games, things like that. Just trying to enjoy the little things right now.”
on UCLA’s upcoming matchup at Arizona and handling a loud crowd
“We are just going to look at it as a game. We’re here to play a game. And that’s really it.”
UCLA redshirt senior Tyger Campbell
on how the Bruins came back and secured the win
“When they were guarding the ball screens, they were dropping. I was figuring out a way, just taking what the defense gave me. There was nothing to it. I just tried to play hard and do what Coach tells me to do.”
on how clutch Jaime Jaquez Jr.’s late-game performance was
“Well he’s a great player, and we always believe in him, no matter if he has missed 50 in a row. The ball is going to keep coming to him. And he’s a great player, he’s an All-American, so he leads our team and we’re always going to get it to him.”
on if the team asks him to score more, such as in Thursday’s game
“I mean, I’d say that I try to win and just take what the defense gives me. So, if Jaime’s got a couple of quick fouls and I’ve got to look for my shot a little more in the first half. But Arizona State’s a great team. They’ve got really great players. They scouted us. But at the end of the day, we were just trying to win and do whatever we could.”
on if this is the type of a game that championship team wins
“Like I said, we are just trying to take this one game at a time. The championship is a long way away. I’ve only been to the Final Four, so I can’t really tell you what a championship team is, but I believe in this team with everything, but we are taking it one game at a time and trying to get ready for Saturday.”
UCLA 74, Arizona State 62
Desert Financial Arena (Tempe, Ariz.)
January 19, 2023
Mick Cronin, The Michael Price Family UCLA Men’s Head Basketball Coach
on whether his team’s effort looked like that of a championship team
“Look, if you’re going to win conferences, you’ve got to win tough games against good teams. It’s been fun flying under the radar, the last couple of months. Because of what happened in Vegas, I think people gave up on us. And, you know, Johnny and Jules and Cody. But we’ve been doing this without Amari. He looked good today. He’s close. He looked really good today, in our shootaround, our practice today. So we have been doing all of this without a guy who is going to play in the NBA. We’ve just got great character. Tyger Campbell is such a tough winner. I had to put the ball in his hands tonight because the pressure, and their style defensively, especially tonight, it’s hard to run anything. So you’ve just got to put it in his hands. We put it in other guys’ hands, and we had too many turnovers at halftime. But in my opinion, Dylan had seven points but all seven were when we were losing. And some in the second half, big shot in the second half – pull-up jump shot while I was trying to get Tyger some rest. There are guys that can score off the bench when you are winning, you’re up 15. But Dylan’s baskets tonight were huge. I’m talking about, against a real team in this environment. It gives you a lot of confidence for his future, and we’re going to need that. What if Tyger goes down? I mean, it was a big night for Dylan. And obviously Dave was great too.”
on what allowed UCLA to pull away with the late scoring run
“Defense. I mean, we are one of the best defensive teams in the country over this winning streak. And the key for us, while we were disappointed that [DJ] Horne got 14 in the first half. Their gameplan was working. Jaime only had two. And Horne had 14, so their gameplan was working. In the second half, Horne didn’t score. That had a lot to do with it. Since they’ve gone on their run, number four Cambridge and Horne have really stepped up.”
on the perseverance from senior Jaime Jaquez Jr., and a couple of big shots late in the game
“Yeah, and he also had five assists. He had some passes to Dave for threes. Certain teams decide to just swarm him. And when they do that, he’s got to hurt them with the pass – and he did that.”
on the 21-point effort from fifth-year senior David Singleton
“He was the recipient. They tend to swarm and attack the dribbler, and the gameplan was when they do that, to find Dave.”
on the status of freshman Amari Bailey
“We’ll see. We’ll see how he feels tomorrow.”
on handling a loud crowd this Saturday at Arizona
“I’m not worried about that. Unless, you know, they’re going to let them come out of the stands or something like that. Come on. That’s the last thing that I’m worried about. I’m worried about Tubelis. The guy is having an unbelievable year. Tubelis and Ballo scoring at a major clip, probably the most productive tandem of big guys in America.”
UCLA fifth-year senior guard David Singleton
on the Bruins concluding the game on a 16-2 run
“We just trusted our work. Coach had told us before that game that we need players who play. Our coaches can guide us, but we’ve got to move forward and stay connected. We know that road games, these are hard places to play.”
on being able to find ways to win and knowing the team has confidence to get the job done
“We are always going to have confidence. I’m not saying we are unbeatable, but we are always going to have confidence. We are always going to stay connected, and we’ll always believe in each other.”
on being able to hit those spot-up three-pointers
“It’s an amazing feeling. I love basketball, so I’m just trusting my work. I’m just shooting. Coach keeps telling me to keep shooting, so I’m going to do that.”
on how it looked like UCLA’s gameplan was to get him the ball
“The gameplan is just to find the open man. We have a bunch of guys who can really play, from our starters to our bench. So our gameplan was to hit the open guy. I just so happened to be the open guy, and I just did what needed to be done.”
on the performance of senior Jaime Jaquez Jr.
“Jaime is an extremely important player for us. Everyone knows, he’s our leading scorer and he’s an All-American. We trust him fully, whole-heartedly. We just need him on the court, and we trust him to do what he does.”
UCLA senior Jaime Jaquez Jr.
on hitting a key 3-pointer in the final two minutes of the game
“I think [the shot clock] it was winding down a little there.”
on staying confident when he hadn’t hit many shots during the game
“It’s just about trusting our defense. We knew that was what we needed to do, coming into the second half. I knew that my shot would fall when I needed it to fall. I’m not really worried about that. I just try to do what I can on the defensive end, to get a couple of steals and stops, trying to find my teammates when they are open. Like Dave, just trying to find him as much as I can.”
on if the game felt nervous for UCLA
“Honestly, I feel like I have been in these situations so much. For some of our older guys, like David and Tyger, Jaylen, we’ve all been in these situations before so we know how to keep our composure and really, just lock in on the gameplan.”
on UCLA locking down on defense in the final four minutes
“Yeah, when you do that, you create more possession on offense where they don’t score.”
on what he finds to be the most fun about UCLA’s 14-game winning streak
“That’s a good question, I’ve got to think about that. I think that, really, it’s just our camaraderie off the court. We’re all such good friends. And we try to enjoy just the little things like the bus rides, the plane rides, playing video games, things like that. Just trying to enjoy the little things right now.”
on UCLA’s upcoming matchup at Arizona and handling a loud crowd
“We are just going to look at it as a game. We’re here to play a game. And that’s really it.”
UCLA redshirt senior Tyger Campbell
on how the Bruins came back and secured the win
“When they were guarding the ball screens, they were dropping. I was figuring out a way, just taking what the defense gave me. There was nothing to it. I just tried to play hard and do what Coach tells me to do.”
on how clutch Jaime Jaquez Jr.’s late-game performance was
“Well he’s a great player, and we always believe in him, no matter if he has missed 50 in a row. The ball is going to keep coming to him. And he’s a great player, he’s an All-American, so he leads our team and we’re always going to get it to him.”
on if the team asks him to score more, such as in Thursday’s game
“I mean, I’d say that I try to win and just take what the defense gives me. So, if Jaime’s got a couple of quick fouls and I’ve got to look for my shot a little more in the first half. But Arizona State’s a great team. They’ve got really great players. They scouted us. But at the end of the day, we were just trying to win and do whatever we could.”
on if this is the type of a game that championship team wins
“Like I said, we are just trying to take this one game at a time. The championship is a long way away. I’ve only been to the Final Four, so I can’t really tell you what a championship team is, but I believe in this team with everything, but we are taking it one game at a time and trying to get ready for Saturday.”