Postgame Quotes – UCLA vs. Washington State (Dec. 30, 2022)
POSTGAME QUOTES
UCLA 67, Washington State 66
December 30, 2022
Mick Cronin, The Michael Price Family UCLA Men’s Head Basketball Coach
opening remarks
“We didn’t give up, so you have to give the guys credit. We hung in there, and our defense got better as the game went on. Last four minutes of the first half, that got us back in the game. We were on a pace to give up 45 at halftime. We got back in the game with some deflections. We had seven in the first 15 minutes, we end up with 37. Give Washington State credit, they were ready to play, they’re at home. I think they only play four home games this year. It’s really hard for them, almost unheard of. They’ve been through a ridiculously tough schedule, not playing in their own building. Their size bothered us, Gueye had 18 rebounds. There’s a lot of ways to win a game. One, you never give up. You adjust, we made some pick-and-roll adjustments, started switching it. We started getting to the foul line. We went up soft earlier in the game, it was ridiculous, the missed layups and blocked shots. We finally started going up with some strength and getting to the foul line, that’s why we won. And we converted. Games like this, although you don’t want to go through them – you’d love to come out and dominate – are really great learning experiences.”
on the second-half defense
“Effort changed. Our defense got better as the game went on. We win the game because we have a deflection, a steal. Will McClendon makes an unbelievable … his simple pass, but for a freshman that hasn’t played much, to be able to put that pass on the money to Adem who doesn’t travel, gathers himself, goes up and scores. Obviously gets the goaltend. Freshman to freshman for a victory. I think that’s indicative of where we can continue to improve. Tyger was the one with the deflection. He read the pass off the pick-and-roll. We just kept saying, ‘look guys, if we don’t start defending we’re taking an L. I preach it to these guys all the time, if you don’t defend you’re not going to win. Winning with offense, you’re going to be a .500 team. The guys showed a lot of grit and toughness. Obviously, Jaime got it going. I did a bad job of preparing him for this game. He kept trying to get to the rim to get layups, and I told him that wasn’t going to happen, that they’re going to double and trap you. I wanted him to score from 5-10 feet, before that came. When guys don’t do stuff, it’s on me. I should have done a better job of articulating what I wanted from him. He made the adjustment.
on going up against shot-blockers
“I was the king of jumping into people back in my day, because I wasn’t going to be able to shoot over you. If you give a shot-blocker room to take a step towards you, you’re not going to score. You have to freeze his step by taking it to his chest. They only had four block shots, but they altered a lot. We missed shots and layups early. Their shot bothered Tyger and his pull-ups I think. We never gave up. Hopefully we learned a lesson tonight that people could not care who you are or who you just beat and how well you’re playing. They’re also motivated to play better, they’re going to take their best shot at you. I don’t think we understood that tonight. We haven’t played in nine days, I think the rust was evident.”
on Will McClendon
“One thing about Will McClendon, once he gets his legs underneath him to be the shooter who was known for making big shots. Will is almost like Jaylen Clark, just a freshman version. He makes the right pass, he defends, he’s very smart. One of the smartest players on our team. There’s a thing called basketball intelligence, has nothing to do with books, Will McClendon is a really intelligent basketball player. We went all out to get him. I think you’ll see, the more he gets minutes, the intelligent things he does. Once he gets to knocking down some shots, we’ll really be in business.”
UCLA senior guard/forward Jaime Jaquez Jr.
on the comeback
“It means a lot. It just shows the toughness of this team and how far we’ve come. We could have easily folded, but we didn’t. We decided to stick it out, play defense, work, and do whatever we can to get back in this game.”
on the difference between halves
“I think in the first half, we weren’t getting what we wanted offensively. I tripled down sometimes on the defensive end.”
on the last minute plays by the freshmen
“It’s big time. It gives confidence to those guys and that’s exactly what we need. They need experience like this to be in games, it doesn’t really help a team like us to come in here and win by 30. This is real life games, conference play, real experience that we’re going to need these guys to have when we get down the road and eventually into the tournament.”
UCLA fifth-year guard David Singleton
on the game
“It’s definitely a reality call. I keep telling the guys everyone is ready to play UCLA. I’m glad we won though, glad we grinded out the win. We haven’t had to come back from a deficit like that. I’m proud of us.”
on free throws
“It was huge, it was enormous. There are different ways to win the game, and one of those ways was to shoot 21-from-22 from the free throw line. I’m glad we did. I’m glad we manned up and knocked it down when we got to the line.”
on the quick turnaround
“It’s attention to detail and rest. Taking care of your body, eating right, everything off the court. Just eat, rest, and watch film and prepare for the next game.”
