Postgame Quotes – UCLA vs. Pepperdine (Nov. 23, 2022)
POSTGAME QUOTES
UCLA 100, Pepperdine 53
November 23, 2022
Mick Cronin, The Michael Price Family UCLA Men’s Head Basketball Coach
opening remarks
“Obviously, I was happy with our effort tonight. We made Pepperdine, who’s a good team, look like they weren’t, but they are. Very happy with our energy, our effort, our team attitude, our focus on our effort. We took a few shots we shouldn’t have, that’s an area where I still have to improve our team. When we show some patience, we shoot the ball extremely well. We’re still in the learning process, so we have a lot of contributions tonight. I know you’re going to ask about Amari, for guys like Adem and Amari, you can’t even imagine the pressure those kids are under. I do, because you can cut it with a knife, you see it every day. So, very happy for him. I just try to simplify life for guys like that. Just keep playing hard, keep being coachable, it will all happen for you. It did for Peyton Watson, he went in the first round of the draft. He kept his attitude great, and kept working hard. But really happy for Amari, the last thing I’d add is Jaime … eight rebounds. The reason everybody respects him is not for his scoring, it’s Jaime the warrior. That’s who he’s going to have to be in his career beyond UCLA. But we need him to be that, to go out-hustle people. He’s really evolved as a scorer, but as Magic Johnson told it, when he learned to shoot threes he didn’t stop playing point guard. You can’t stop being a hustle guy and a tough guy if you’re Jaime just beause you’re a better scorer. You have to build on your game, not change your game. I was really happy with that tonight.”
on what made a difference defensively
“Our effort to guard the ball. Starting at the point of attack, our ball pressure was better than it’s been all year. We understood that if we let them get comfortable and in a rhythm, [with] the way they shoot the ball we were going to be in trouble. Team comes in shooting 46%, I’ve never seen two guys after five games shooting 58% like they had. That was our goal. Our effort was much, much better. I didn’t think we played harder than our opponents in Vegas, and I take that personally.”
on Amari Bailey
“We knew they weren’t going to guard him. He’s a very intelligent kid, he could hear their bench telling him. I’ve been telling him since he committed that when he got here people weren’t going to guard him, but he’s so explosive that you have to pick a poison. I’ve been telling him, you’re not going to get to the rim at this level, they’re going to force you to make shots, which he can do. He just has to accept it. It’s an adjustment. You saw, he was looking to catch and shoot. He could hear their bench, and he said okay I’m going to take what you give me. So once he got it going, our whole team was looking for him, we started running plays for him.”
on Amari’s bounceback post-Vegas
“Amari has unbelievable mental toughness. I worry about him, because guys like him and Adem, I understand the pressures they’re under. There was a time in my life I felt the pressure, I don’t anymore. I won’t talk about why, that’ll be in my book that sells three copies someday. It’s just tough.”
on shot-making
“It would be nice, makes me a better coach. Again, when the ball goes in, you’re always smarter. But usually the ball goes in when you execute, five guys play as one and takes what the defense gives them, then the ball tends to go in more. I thought we forced some shots we didn’t need to force. We talked about that at halftime. That’s why we shot 59% in the second half. That’s with walk-ons playing the last five minutes. They didn’t force the ball.”
on shot-making
“Statistically, we put some things up and told our guys ‘we have no chance if this continues.’ Where we rank in the nation, field goal percentage, defense, free throw attempts, offensive rebound percentage. These things have to improve. Coach Savino and I, we’ve never had a team this early in the season when you’ve played some bye games only be plus-two on the glass. That’s ridiculous, that has to change. We’re plus-18 tonight. We’ve just been so reliant on our talent and shooting, it got us beat. We played really good teams, but you have to play defense and you have to take better shots.”
UCLA freshman guard Amari Bailey
on his performance
“Honestly, I was just taking what the defense was giving me. I credit my teammates, also, for keeping our heads up and looking for me and making the right play.”
on what he learned from last week’s road trip
“They say you judge a man by how he handles adversity. To bounce back collectively as a group – not just me individually, it just happened to be my night – but collectively as a team, we all put it together. I feel like this was one of our first games where on the defensive end, and sharing the ball, I thought it was a great collective win.”
on facing Pepperdine
“Pepperdine’s bench the whole time was calling me a non-shooter. If you watch the film, they went under the screen and I kind of felt it was disrespectful, like they were giving me plenty of [space] to shoot the ball. So I was just taking what the defense was giving me.”
UCLA senior forward Jaime Jaquez Jr.
on Bailey’s performance
“It was great, it was great to see it. Being a freshman, I know how it is to start slow and get adjusted. Practice is one thing, but once you get out there in the game, it’s a lot different, a lot harder. He’s been adjusting great. As you can all see, he had a great night tonight and I’m expecting him to have a lot more great nights just like this one. He’s just getting settled in, and his feet are just getting wet. There’s a lot more to this kid than I think you guys are ready for.”
on the second-half hot streak
“I think it was a learning curve for us as a team during Vegas. We had opportunities to put teams away, and we didn’t. Coming out in this game in the second half, we wanted to have that mentality of put them away early and not give them a chance to even think they could come back in this game. We just came out with that mentality, and it showed.”
Pepperdine head coach Lorenzo Romar
on UCLA’s 19-2 run
“I have to give UCLA credit. They took us out of what we were trying to run. They never took their foot off the gas pedal. They took us out of everything we were trying to do. We are a young team.”
on his message to the team
“I told them to learn from it. That’s the way it’s supposed to look like. UCLA is a very experienced team.”
on their upcoming homestand
“Right now, I’m just thinking about Phoenix. We have to gear up and have a short-term memory. We’re just thinking about Grand Canyon.”
UCLA 100, Pepperdine 53
November 23, 2022
Mick Cronin, The Michael Price Family UCLA Men’s Head Basketball Coach
opening remarks
“Obviously, I was happy with our effort tonight. We made Pepperdine, who’s a good team, look like they weren’t, but they are. Very happy with our energy, our effort, our team attitude, our focus on our effort. We took a few shots we shouldn’t have, that’s an area where I still have to improve our team. When we show some patience, we shoot the ball extremely well. We’re still in the learning process, so we have a lot of contributions tonight. I know you’re going to ask about Amari, for guys like Adem and Amari, you can’t even imagine the pressure those kids are under. I do, because you can cut it with a knife, you see it every day. So, very happy for him. I just try to simplify life for guys like that. Just keep playing hard, keep being coachable, it will all happen for you. It did for Peyton Watson, he went in the first round of the draft. He kept his attitude great, and kept working hard. But really happy for Amari, the last thing I’d add is Jaime … eight rebounds. The reason everybody respects him is not for his scoring, it’s Jaime the warrior. That’s who he’s going to have to be in his career beyond UCLA. But we need him to be that, to go out-hustle people. He’s really evolved as a scorer, but as Magic Johnson told it, when he learned to shoot threes he didn’t stop playing point guard. You can’t stop being a hustle guy and a tough guy if you’re Jaime just beause you’re a better scorer. You have to build on your game, not change your game. I was really happy with that tonight.”
on what made a difference defensively
“Our effort to guard the ball. Starting at the point of attack, our ball pressure was better than it’s been all year. We understood that if we let them get comfortable and in a rhythm, [with] the way they shoot the ball we were going to be in trouble. Team comes in shooting 46%, I’ve never seen two guys after five games shooting 58% like they had. That was our goal. Our effort was much, much better. I didn’t think we played harder than our opponents in Vegas, and I take that personally.”
on Amari Bailey
“We knew they weren’t going to guard him. He’s a very intelligent kid, he could hear their bench telling him. I’ve been telling him since he committed that when he got here people weren’t going to guard him, but he’s so explosive that you have to pick a poison. I’ve been telling him, you’re not going to get to the rim at this level, they’re going to force you to make shots, which he can do. He just has to accept it. It’s an adjustment. You saw, he was looking to catch and shoot. He could hear their bench, and he said okay I’m going to take what you give me. So once he got it going, our whole team was looking for him, we started running plays for him.”
on Amari’s bounceback post-Vegas
“Amari has unbelievable mental toughness. I worry about him, because guys like him and Adem, I understand the pressures they’re under. There was a time in my life I felt the pressure, I don’t anymore. I won’t talk about why, that’ll be in my book that sells three copies someday. It’s just tough.”
on shot-making
“It would be nice, makes me a better coach. Again, when the ball goes in, you’re always smarter. But usually the ball goes in when you execute, five guys play as one and takes what the defense gives them, then the ball tends to go in more. I thought we forced some shots we didn’t need to force. We talked about that at halftime. That’s why we shot 59% in the second half. That’s with walk-ons playing the last five minutes. They didn’t force the ball.”
on shot-making
“Statistically, we put some things up and told our guys ‘we have no chance if this continues.’ Where we rank in the nation, field goal percentage, defense, free throw attempts, offensive rebound percentage. These things have to improve. Coach Savino and I, we’ve never had a team this early in the season when you’ve played some bye games only be plus-two on the glass. That’s ridiculous, that has to change. We’re plus-18 tonight. We’ve just been so reliant on our talent and shooting, it got us beat. We played really good teams, but you have to play defense and you have to take better shots.”
UCLA freshman guard Amari Bailey
on his performance
“Honestly, I was just taking what the defense was giving me. I credit my teammates, also, for keeping our heads up and looking for me and making the right play.”
on what he learned from last week’s road trip
“They say you judge a man by how he handles adversity. To bounce back collectively as a group – not just me individually, it just happened to be my night – but collectively as a team, we all put it together. I feel like this was one of our first games where on the defensive end, and sharing the ball, I thought it was a great collective win.”
on facing Pepperdine
“Pepperdine’s bench the whole time was calling me a non-shooter. If you watch the film, they went under the screen and I kind of felt it was disrespectful, like they were giving me plenty of [space] to shoot the ball. So I was just taking what the defense was giving me.”
UCLA senior forward Jaime Jaquez Jr.
on Bailey’s performance
“It was great, it was great to see it. Being a freshman, I know how it is to start slow and get adjusted. Practice is one thing, but once you get out there in the game, it’s a lot different, a lot harder. He’s been adjusting great. As you can all see, he had a great night tonight and I’m expecting him to have a lot more great nights just like this one. He’s just getting settled in, and his feet are just getting wet. There’s a lot more to this kid than I think you guys are ready for.”
on the second-half hot streak
“I think it was a learning curve for us as a team during Vegas. We had opportunities to put teams away, and we didn’t. Coming out in this game in the second half, we wanted to have that mentality of put them away early and not give them a chance to even think they could come back in this game. We just came out with that mentality, and it showed.”
Pepperdine head coach Lorenzo Romar
on UCLA’s 19-2 run
“I have to give UCLA credit. They took us out of what we were trying to run. They never took their foot off the gas pedal. They took us out of everything we were trying to do. We are a young team.”
on his message to the team
“I told them to learn from it. That’s the way it’s supposed to look like. UCLA is a very experienced team.”
on their upcoming homestand
“Right now, I’m just thinking about Phoenix. We have to gear up and have a short-term memory. We’re just thinking about Grand Canyon.”