Postgame Quotes - UCLA vs. UC Davis (Dec. 21, 2022)
POSTGAME QUOTES
UCLA 81, UC Davis 54
December 21, 2022
Mick Cronin, The Michael Price Family UCLA Men’s Head Basketball Coach
opening remarks
“Give Davis a lot of credit. I think they played really hard. They’ve got some guys that can make some shots. Good guard play. I think they’re extremely well-coached. There’s a lot of areas – missed layups were ridiculous today. We’ve got to improve on our finishing around the rim. We’ve got to do better jobs as coaches with our young guys finishing around the basket. With that said, we’ve got to do a much better job on the defensive glass.”
on if the team is heading in the right direction to open Pac-12 Conference play
“I guess I would say I don’t believe in all that stuff. I believe in game-to-game and day-to-day. In this era, it’s so hard to keep guys focused on just the team and whatever the team needs to do. I believe in ‘What do you do when you don’t have the ball?’ Do you play or do you watch? Obviously, Jaylen Clark plays. … Real teams play when they have a bunch of players who compete when they don’t have the ball. Early on that wasn’t the case. We’ll see is what I would say. I hope so. We got great guys on our team. Last week, they were committed to winning.”
on how unique Jaylen Clark’s defensive instinct to anticipate where the ball is going to be
“Well to him, he’s stepping in and stealing that ball three seconds before he steals it. You’ve got to position yourself to make plays. But again, some guys rest while he’s positioning himself and setting up steals. Other guys are resting. … You’ve got to be an unbelievable offensive player to not compete on the other end. If you think it’s hard guarding someone now, go ahead and guard somebody in the NBA.”
on Jaime Jaquez Jr.’s slow start
“He got two fouls. He started off bad. Two turnovers right at the beginning. Jaime’s strength is his weakness. He’s the toughest dude and he’s like, ‘Give me the ball.’ You’ve got to be able to lead the defense. They were committed to once he bounced it, they were coming. He’s got to be able to read that. That’s evolution. When we play him right on the perimeter, he’s got to realize (UC Davis) wasn’t going to play him like Maryland or Kentucky. They were coming where Maryland and Kentucky stayed at home, and they thought someone could guard him. … His aggressiveness is his strength. But at times, it can be his weakness.”
UCLA junior guard Jaylen Clark
on the game
“I feel like I knew coming in, especially after last week, and with it being the holiday and everybody being ready to go home and see their families, it was going to be a hard game to get up for. And that’s no disrespect to UC Davis, but I figured that’s just what people know. We got off to a slow start.”
UCLA redshirt senior guard Tyger Campbell
on if the team is ready for Pac-12 play
“Obviously, we have a lot of work to do. Just coming out, be good on defense, we move the ball on offense, but we have to come in with the mentality that every game matters. We just have to keep playing like we have everything to lose.”
on the team’s slow start against UCD
“The way UC Davis played defense, they tried to disrupt you. We had to settle into the game a little bit. As opposed to running our plays, we had to take what they gave us. If they’re over-playing, we need to drive and make something happen. I think we came out in the second half and we figured it out more. We ran some better sets and did better down the stretch.”
UC Davis head coach Jim Les
opening statement
“We just got beat by a really good basketball team. They have really good strength and length and they cover lots of ground. In order to really win, they have to have a great defense and you see that with them. Their defense kick-starts their offense and they come at you in waves.”
on how they build on this
“For us, we did some good things. We competed hard defensively, but we needed to take care of the ball better. We had too many turnovers. I wish we could have had some of those miscues back. Give UCLA credit, their style of play forced us into those. That’s a well-coached and well-oiled machine.”
on where they go from here
“We go to Hawai’i, that’s our first league game on the 29th.”
UCLA 81, UC Davis 54
December 21, 2022
Mick Cronin, The Michael Price Family UCLA Men’s Head Basketball Coach
opening remarks
“Give Davis a lot of credit. I think they played really hard. They’ve got some guys that can make some shots. Good guard play. I think they’re extremely well-coached. There’s a lot of areas – missed layups were ridiculous today. We’ve got to improve on our finishing around the rim. We’ve got to do better jobs as coaches with our young guys finishing around the basket. With that said, we’ve got to do a much better job on the defensive glass.”
on if the team is heading in the right direction to open Pac-12 Conference play
“I guess I would say I don’t believe in all that stuff. I believe in game-to-game and day-to-day. In this era, it’s so hard to keep guys focused on just the team and whatever the team needs to do. I believe in ‘What do you do when you don’t have the ball?’ Do you play or do you watch? Obviously, Jaylen Clark plays. … Real teams play when they have a bunch of players who compete when they don’t have the ball. Early on that wasn’t the case. We’ll see is what I would say. I hope so. We got great guys on our team. Last week, they were committed to winning.”
on how unique Jaylen Clark’s defensive instinct to anticipate where the ball is going to be
“Well to him, he’s stepping in and stealing that ball three seconds before he steals it. You’ve got to position yourself to make plays. But again, some guys rest while he’s positioning himself and setting up steals. Other guys are resting. … You’ve got to be an unbelievable offensive player to not compete on the other end. If you think it’s hard guarding someone now, go ahead and guard somebody in the NBA.”
on Jaime Jaquez Jr.’s slow start
“He got two fouls. He started off bad. Two turnovers right at the beginning. Jaime’s strength is his weakness. He’s the toughest dude and he’s like, ‘Give me the ball.’ You’ve got to be able to lead the defense. They were committed to once he bounced it, they were coming. He’s got to be able to read that. That’s evolution. When we play him right on the perimeter, he’s got to realize (UC Davis) wasn’t going to play him like Maryland or Kentucky. They were coming where Maryland and Kentucky stayed at home, and they thought someone could guard him. … His aggressiveness is his strength. But at times, it can be his weakness.”
UCLA junior guard Jaylen Clark
on the game
“I feel like I knew coming in, especially after last week, and with it being the holiday and everybody being ready to go home and see their families, it was going to be a hard game to get up for. And that’s no disrespect to UC Davis, but I figured that’s just what people know. We got off to a slow start.”
UCLA redshirt senior guard Tyger Campbell
on if the team is ready for Pac-12 play
“Obviously, we have a lot of work to do. Just coming out, be good on defense, we move the ball on offense, but we have to come in with the mentality that every game matters. We just have to keep playing like we have everything to lose.”
on the team’s slow start against UCD
“The way UC Davis played defense, they tried to disrupt you. We had to settle into the game a little bit. As opposed to running our plays, we had to take what they gave us. If they’re over-playing, we need to drive and make something happen. I think we came out in the second half and we figured it out more. We ran some better sets and did better down the stretch.”
UC Davis head coach Jim Les
opening statement
“We just got beat by a really good basketball team. They have really good strength and length and they cover lots of ground. In order to really win, they have to have a great defense and you see that with them. Their defense kick-starts their offense and they come at you in waves.”
on how they build on this
“For us, we did some good things. We competed hard defensively, but we needed to take care of the ball better. We had too many turnovers. I wish we could have had some of those miscues back. Give UCLA credit, their style of play forced us into those. That’s a well-coached and well-oiled machine.”
on where they go from here
“We go to Hawai’i, that’s our first league game on the 29th.”