Postgame Quotes – UCLA vs. USC (Jan. 5, 2023)
POSTGAME QUOTES
UCLA 60, USC 58
January 5, 2023
Mick Cronin, The Michael Price Family UCLA Men’s Head Basketball Coach
on what USC’s defensive adjustments in the second half
“They don’t give up layups. They’ve always been that way. You were at our press conference yesterday. If you listened to me when I was on Petros and Money, the best show in town – every time we play USC, I say the same thing. They don’t give up layups.”
on UCLA’s offensive rebounding
“In the second half, they outrebounded us. … Obviously, you lose if we don’t get that rebound. It was a byproduct of them playing small. They struggled to score so they went small. We do it too. It’s a problem.”
on reconciling winning the game but giving up a big lead
“Do I look happy? No reconciliation. It’s the only thing I really had to say. I let Rod Palmer take the rest of the postgame because he knows exactly what to say and what caused our issues. He’s a great coach, a great friend. We think the same. The only thing I had to say was I told Jaylen, ‘It took guts. Proud of him. It took guts to take the shot. Took a lot of guts. Make or miss, you’ve got to do it. It’s the right play.”
on if USC going small created defensive mismatches
“Our defense was really bad the entire second half. … We couldn’t guard Reese (Dixon-Waters). He looked like an NBA ISO consistent shooter. Whoever we put on him couldn’t guard him. But when Jaime (Jaquez Jr.) goes to the basket, they’ve got three guys blocking shots. Basketball is real simple. Bad teams say, ‘I got my man.’ That’s how they played. Second half, Andy obviously did what he did at halftime and they played team defense. We missed three layups, but they were all contested. I give USC all the credit. It’s really not that hard. Bad teams say, ‘I got our man.’ So, we all had our man in the second half. The problem is we weren’t guarding them as a team. … I knew it was coming too. What I talked about at halftime was we need to worry about defense. I saw it coming in the first half, guys. We took some shots that were just ridiculous. We had a chance to bury it. We had a lot of selfish shots. Then they made adjustments. Andy does a great job. They got back in the game. I give them all the credit. The truth is we couldn’t guard Reese (Reese Dixon-Waters).”
on what he would have like to seen continue from the first half into the second half
“We guarded the paint extremely well in the first half. Points in the paint – I don’t have the first half stats, but we were winning points in the paint. We ended up -12. I’m going to guess they had 20 or more in the second half. Teams don’t miss layups. We went to the paint, they had three guys guarding Jaime (Jaquez Jr.). They went to the paint, we had one guy playing soft and they scored. To answer your question, in the first half we guarded the paint extremely well. In the second half we did not. Teams don’t miss layups. To your point, in the second half they made one three. So you tell me where they’re scoring.”
on if the team got tight offensively
“Oh yeah, 100 percent. We were bricking free throws, short arming layups. When you start thinking, ‘The blowout is on. I’m going to get mine.’ And all of a sudden – they’re a good team, man. You’re talking about a team who had Tennessee in overtime. Tennessee is top 5 in the country. I don’t care. The AP is a joke. They’re top 2 or 3, probably. (They’re) as tough a team there is. They had them beat. They beat Auburn easily. Auburn is ranked. They have good players. Andy is a good coach, man. We started messing around (and) got exactly what we deserved. That’s what happens in sports.”
on if this is a type of game his team can grow from
“No. No. You can grow the wrong way. You’ve got guys playing selfish, not worried about defense, taking bad shots (and) letting a team back in the game. You can grow from it. Grow through the bench.”
Junior guard Jaylen Clark
on go-ahead 3-pointer
“They really just left me. Then I shot the first one and it was a little off. I normally don’t miss two in a row, so when I saw David (Singleton) had it, I knew it was going in my head, before I even caught it. We put ourselves in a sticky situation, we lucked out and got out of here with a win, but it was not a performance to be proud of.”
on what UCLA was unable to do defensively
“I think we were playing for Drew Peterson and Boogie Ellis to really go off. We were game planning for them so much, I think we let the other guys slip up and get some points that we really shouldn’t have given them, if you get what I mean. Boogie and Peterson, I feel like … we weren’t really giving them anything. They started moving the ball and the other players – especially like Reese (Dixon-Waters) – took full advantage of it.”
on second-chance opportunities
“That’s the only reason we won tonight … at least we grabbed rebounds. We had 36, they had 30. Offensively, we had 16, they had six. That’s the game right there.”
Senior guard/forward Jaime Jaquez Jr.
on winning game, but having second-half letdown
“First of all, we talk about it all the time … whatever we can to get a win at this point in the year, but obviously that was not a performance that we’re proud of, like Jaylen said. We just came out in the second half flat and there’s really no excuse for it. I put that on myself, letting the team come out like that. We just weren’t ready to play in the second half and we gave up that lead.”
on what USC did defensively
“I think it was just really in the second half, we just let them punk us. It’s really as simple as that. We weren’t getting to our spots, guys couldn’t get open, we couldn’t finish at the rim, couldn’t make free throws. There were just a lot of things that we just weren’t doing that we usually do. It’s a game we’ve got to learn from and just get better.”
on biggest irritant in second half
“I missed some point-blank layups trying to get a foul. They’re not calling it in a big game like this, so I’ve just got to be tougher and finish. We had opportunities to make free throws. I thought we got some good looks at 3 (-pointers), as well. They just don’t go in sometimes.”
USC head coach Andy Enfield
overall statement
“We just played poorly. It was embarrassing in the first half. I was embarrassed as a coach, and I was embarrassed for our players. I didn’t yell at them at halftime. I just had a sense that our players knew what to do in the second half. We came out much better in the second half.”
on USC’s final shot of the game
“Boogie (Ellis) got a good shot off. He got past his guy. I thought it was a good shot.”
on USC’s offensive woes
“We have to rely on our veteran guys. They have to be more consistent. We have a mix of veterans and young guys. We are a work in-progress and we are improving. We just have to make plays in close games like this. I was really impressed with our scheme, which was rotating on Jaquez. I give our guys a lot of credit for playing harder. There are no moral victories. We played better in the second half. I’m very proud of how we came back after being 18 points down. I was really proud of my guys. If you can’t get up to play in this rivalry game, I don’t know what to tell you.”
on where they go from here
“This is just one game. There are more Pac-12 games to play, like 15 games. We’ve just got to keep preparing and play like we did in the second half. We have to make sure to protect our home court.”
UCLA 60, USC 58
January 5, 2023
Mick Cronin, The Michael Price Family UCLA Men’s Head Basketball Coach
on what USC’s defensive adjustments in the second half
“They don’t give up layups. They’ve always been that way. You were at our press conference yesterday. If you listened to me when I was on Petros and Money, the best show in town – every time we play USC, I say the same thing. They don’t give up layups.”
on UCLA’s offensive rebounding
“In the second half, they outrebounded us. … Obviously, you lose if we don’t get that rebound. It was a byproduct of them playing small. They struggled to score so they went small. We do it too. It’s a problem.”
on reconciling winning the game but giving up a big lead
“Do I look happy? No reconciliation. It’s the only thing I really had to say. I let Rod Palmer take the rest of the postgame because he knows exactly what to say and what caused our issues. He’s a great coach, a great friend. We think the same. The only thing I had to say was I told Jaylen, ‘It took guts. Proud of him. It took guts to take the shot. Took a lot of guts. Make or miss, you’ve got to do it. It’s the right play.”
on if USC going small created defensive mismatches
“Our defense was really bad the entire second half. … We couldn’t guard Reese (Dixon-Waters). He looked like an NBA ISO consistent shooter. Whoever we put on him couldn’t guard him. But when Jaime (Jaquez Jr.) goes to the basket, they’ve got three guys blocking shots. Basketball is real simple. Bad teams say, ‘I got my man.’ That’s how they played. Second half, Andy obviously did what he did at halftime and they played team defense. We missed three layups, but they were all contested. I give USC all the credit. It’s really not that hard. Bad teams say, ‘I got our man.’ So, we all had our man in the second half. The problem is we weren’t guarding them as a team. … I knew it was coming too. What I talked about at halftime was we need to worry about defense. I saw it coming in the first half, guys. We took some shots that were just ridiculous. We had a chance to bury it. We had a lot of selfish shots. Then they made adjustments. Andy does a great job. They got back in the game. I give them all the credit. The truth is we couldn’t guard Reese (Reese Dixon-Waters).”
on what he would have like to seen continue from the first half into the second half
“We guarded the paint extremely well in the first half. Points in the paint – I don’t have the first half stats, but we were winning points in the paint. We ended up -12. I’m going to guess they had 20 or more in the second half. Teams don’t miss layups. We went to the paint, they had three guys guarding Jaime (Jaquez Jr.). They went to the paint, we had one guy playing soft and they scored. To answer your question, in the first half we guarded the paint extremely well. In the second half we did not. Teams don’t miss layups. To your point, in the second half they made one three. So you tell me where they’re scoring.”
on if the team got tight offensively
“Oh yeah, 100 percent. We were bricking free throws, short arming layups. When you start thinking, ‘The blowout is on. I’m going to get mine.’ And all of a sudden – they’re a good team, man. You’re talking about a team who had Tennessee in overtime. Tennessee is top 5 in the country. I don’t care. The AP is a joke. They’re top 2 or 3, probably. (They’re) as tough a team there is. They had them beat. They beat Auburn easily. Auburn is ranked. They have good players. Andy is a good coach, man. We started messing around (and) got exactly what we deserved. That’s what happens in sports.”
on if this is a type of game his team can grow from
“No. No. You can grow the wrong way. You’ve got guys playing selfish, not worried about defense, taking bad shots (and) letting a team back in the game. You can grow from it. Grow through the bench.”
Junior guard Jaylen Clark
on go-ahead 3-pointer
“They really just left me. Then I shot the first one and it was a little off. I normally don’t miss two in a row, so when I saw David (Singleton) had it, I knew it was going in my head, before I even caught it. We put ourselves in a sticky situation, we lucked out and got out of here with a win, but it was not a performance to be proud of.”
on what UCLA was unable to do defensively
“I think we were playing for Drew Peterson and Boogie Ellis to really go off. We were game planning for them so much, I think we let the other guys slip up and get some points that we really shouldn’t have given them, if you get what I mean. Boogie and Peterson, I feel like … we weren’t really giving them anything. They started moving the ball and the other players – especially like Reese (Dixon-Waters) – took full advantage of it.”
on second-chance opportunities
“That’s the only reason we won tonight … at least we grabbed rebounds. We had 36, they had 30. Offensively, we had 16, they had six. That’s the game right there.”
Senior guard/forward Jaime Jaquez Jr.
on winning game, but having second-half letdown
“First of all, we talk about it all the time … whatever we can to get a win at this point in the year, but obviously that was not a performance that we’re proud of, like Jaylen said. We just came out in the second half flat and there’s really no excuse for it. I put that on myself, letting the team come out like that. We just weren’t ready to play in the second half and we gave up that lead.”
on what USC did defensively
“I think it was just really in the second half, we just let them punk us. It’s really as simple as that. We weren’t getting to our spots, guys couldn’t get open, we couldn’t finish at the rim, couldn’t make free throws. There were just a lot of things that we just weren’t doing that we usually do. It’s a game we’ve got to learn from and just get better.”
on biggest irritant in second half
“I missed some point-blank layups trying to get a foul. They’re not calling it in a big game like this, so I’ve just got to be tougher and finish. We had opportunities to make free throws. I thought we got some good looks at 3 (-pointers), as well. They just don’t go in sometimes.”
USC head coach Andy Enfield
overall statement
“We just played poorly. It was embarrassing in the first half. I was embarrassed as a coach, and I was embarrassed for our players. I didn’t yell at them at halftime. I just had a sense that our players knew what to do in the second half. We came out much better in the second half.”
on USC’s final shot of the game
“Boogie (Ellis) got a good shot off. He got past his guy. I thought it was a good shot.”
on USC’s offensive woes
“We have to rely on our veteran guys. They have to be more consistent. We have a mix of veterans and young guys. We are a work in-progress and we are improving. We just have to make plays in close games like this. I was really impressed with our scheme, which was rotating on Jaquez. I give our guys a lot of credit for playing harder. There are no moral victories. We played better in the second half. I’m very proud of how we came back after being 18 points down. I was really proud of my guys. If you can’t get up to play in this rivalry game, I don’t know what to tell you.”
on where they go from here
“This is just one game. There are more Pac-12 games to play, like 15 games. We’ve just got to keep preparing and play like we did in the second half. We have to make sure to protect our home court.”