Postgame Quotes – UCLA at Colorado
UCLA 60, Colorado 56
Boulder, Colorado (CU Events Center)
February 26, 2023
Mick Cronin, The Michael Price Family UCLA Men’s Head Basketball Coach
on securing the Pac-12 regular-season championship
“Yeah, it was nice. On our way, what we’re trying to accomplish, if you want to try to stay in the West you have to try to win the Pac-12 right? It’s nice to do it on the road. I take a lot of pride on what we do on the road. It’s hard to win on the road. Eighteen games in to have a three-game lead with two to play in a high-major conference, I don’t know if anybody else (has done that). You got a win when you go 1-for-14 from the three-point line on the road. So, great resiliency. Tyger (Campbell) brought us home late. We were searching for offense. I put the ball in his hands. He was 0-for-5 at half so that makes him 5-for-7 in the second half. Look, coaching only goes so far. Coaching is overrated. Good coaching is you develop your players and then put the ball in the right guy’s hands. We had some good execution down the stretch in spite of some of our foul trouble. To be able to get Jaime (Jaquez Jr.) the ball, draw some double teams and get Tyger the ball.”
on Jaime Jaquez Jr’s long inbound pass to Amari Bailey late in the game
“That was a design. I just thought they were being so physical that I thought Amari could get open on No. 14 (Ethan Wright) for them. So I’m glad he made the free throws.”
on Adem Bona’s block late that led to a UCLA fast break
“Yeah, not a shock. I mean you can’t just drive it in there and shoot it in Adem Bona’s face. That doesn’t work.”
on his team’s play during this last stretch of the regular season
“Yeah not many people are ranked No. 2 or 3 in every metric in college basketball so if I’m not happy now I don’t know when the heck I’m going to be happy.”
on if he’s surprised that Colorado put out such a good showing
“They are 11-3 at home. That’s all I look at. You’re playing a team coming off a really tough night. I’m sure coach Tad Boyle – I know him and I have great respect for him – I’m sure he was not happy with the fact that he gave up 84 (to USC on Friday). We told our team what was coming today. They played as hard against us today physically as anybody has played against us all year.”
on if this win and claiming the Pac-12 title changes the team’s approach next week
“Zero. I told them guys I don’t want any water thrown on me. I’m tired. I’m worried about getting rest and it doesn’t change anything. So we are focused on Arizona State. They went on the road and they beat Colorado, they beat Arizona and they beat Oregon. So Arizona State is where our focus will be.”
Senior forward Jaime Jaquez Jr.
on the importance of UCLA securing the Pac-12 regular-season championship
“It’s very important. I think it goes to the four years of hard work. Just guys who really just stuck around and really bought into the idea of coming back and playing for something bigger than us. I think that was one of the goals we had at the beginning of the year and we accomplished it. Now we have two more goals that we want to accomplish as well and we are just going to keep working hard.”
on the team’s celebration in the locker room
“Honestly, we were just excited. We had some speakers playing. But we have to understand that we are playing for something a lot bigger than this. We have an ultimate goal in mind. This is one of the things we needed to do to get there. This was a step in the right direction.”
on UCLA’s difference in play from the first half to the second
“I think we didn’t turn the ball over as much in the second half. I had some bad turnovers in the first half. We had some bad turnovers just overall as a team. I think our offensive flow was better in the second half as well.”
on the team’s resilience to bounce back from being down in games
“I think we have a lot of guys who have been in this position. Also the freshmen aren’t freshmen anymore. They have been in positions like this as well. We are just comfortable. We have a lot of trust in each other as a team. We try to hold each other accountable as best we can. You know, when I make a mistake Dave (Singleton) gets on me and when Dave makes a mistake I get on him. You know, it’s just goes back and forth. We have that relationship with one another on the team. So I think that’s why we are so good in those situations.”
Redshirt senior guard Tyger Campbell
on what it feels like to be Pac-12 Champions
“It feels great but we got a lot more to do this season.”
on stepping up his play in the second half
“It felt good. Colorado is a great team and they play really good at home. We just tried to toughen up the defense in the second half and try and rely on moving the ball and just getting the shots that were available. It means a lot to me that we can go on a 2-0 road trip and going back to LA to play next week.”
UCLA 60, Colorado 56
Boulder, Colorado (CU Events Center)
February 26, 2023
Mick Cronin, The Michael Price Family UCLA Men’s Head Basketball Coach
on securing the Pac-12 regular-season championship
“Yeah, it was nice. On our way, what we’re trying to accomplish, if you want to try to stay in the West you have to try to win the Pac-12 right? It’s nice to do it on the road. I take a lot of pride on what we do on the road. It’s hard to win on the road. Eighteen games in to have a three-game lead with two to play in a high-major conference, I don’t know if anybody else (has done that). You got a win when you go 1-for-14 from the three-point line on the road. So, great resiliency. Tyger (Campbell) brought us home late. We were searching for offense. I put the ball in his hands. He was 0-for-5 at half so that makes him 5-for-7 in the second half. Look, coaching only goes so far. Coaching is overrated. Good coaching is you develop your players and then put the ball in the right guy’s hands. We had some good execution down the stretch in spite of some of our foul trouble. To be able to get Jaime (Jaquez Jr.) the ball, draw some double teams and get Tyger the ball.”
on Jaime Jaquez Jr’s long inbound pass to Amari Bailey late in the game
“That was a design. I just thought they were being so physical that I thought Amari could get open on No. 14 (Ethan Wright) for them. So I’m glad he made the free throws.”
on Adem Bona’s block late that led to a UCLA fast break
“Yeah, not a shock. I mean you can’t just drive it in there and shoot it in Adem Bona’s face. That doesn’t work.”
on his team’s play during this last stretch of the regular season
“Yeah not many people are ranked No. 2 or 3 in every metric in college basketball so if I’m not happy now I don’t know when the heck I’m going to be happy.”
on if he’s surprised that Colorado put out such a good showing
“They are 11-3 at home. That’s all I look at. You’re playing a team coming off a really tough night. I’m sure coach Tad Boyle – I know him and I have great respect for him – I’m sure he was not happy with the fact that he gave up 84 (to USC on Friday). We told our team what was coming today. They played as hard against us today physically as anybody has played against us all year.”
on if this win and claiming the Pac-12 title changes the team’s approach next week
“Zero. I told them guys I don’t want any water thrown on me. I’m tired. I’m worried about getting rest and it doesn’t change anything. So we are focused on Arizona State. They went on the road and they beat Colorado, they beat Arizona and they beat Oregon. So Arizona State is where our focus will be.”
Senior forward Jaime Jaquez Jr.
on the importance of UCLA securing the Pac-12 regular-season championship
“It’s very important. I think it goes to the four years of hard work. Just guys who really just stuck around and really bought into the idea of coming back and playing for something bigger than us. I think that was one of the goals we had at the beginning of the year and we accomplished it. Now we have two more goals that we want to accomplish as well and we are just going to keep working hard.”
on the team’s celebration in the locker room
“Honestly, we were just excited. We had some speakers playing. But we have to understand that we are playing for something a lot bigger than this. We have an ultimate goal in mind. This is one of the things we needed to do to get there. This was a step in the right direction.”
on UCLA’s difference in play from the first half to the second
“I think we didn’t turn the ball over as much in the second half. I had some bad turnovers in the first half. We had some bad turnovers just overall as a team. I think our offensive flow was better in the second half as well.”
on the team’s resilience to bounce back from being down in games
“I think we have a lot of guys who have been in this position. Also the freshmen aren’t freshmen anymore. They have been in positions like this as well. We are just comfortable. We have a lot of trust in each other as a team. We try to hold each other accountable as best we can. You know, when I make a mistake Dave (Singleton) gets on me and when Dave makes a mistake I get on him. You know, it’s just goes back and forth. We have that relationship with one another on the team. So I think that’s why we are so good in those situations.”
Redshirt senior guard Tyger Campbell
on what it feels like to be Pac-12 Champions
“It feels great but we got a lot more to do this season.”
on stepping up his play in the second half
“It felt good. Colorado is a great team and they play really good at home. We just tried to toughen up the defense in the second half and try and rely on moving the ball and just getting the shots that were available. It means a lot to me that we can go on a 2-0 road trip and going back to LA to play next week.”