Mick Cronin, The Michael Price Family UCLA Men’s Head Basketball Coach
opening statement
“It felt like we’re starting over, to be honest. With such a big break, and then Cody didn’t play in our first nine games, in our second season here it’s great to have him back. Just trying to get him into a rhythm (and) get our substitutions into a rhythm. I knew that we were going to take Cal’s best shot because I know what Mark Fox is made of and I know how upset he was with their defense Thursday. They gave up 50 points in the paint. They were minus-38 in points in the paint. I can only imagine their film session and their practice yesterday. So we told our guys it was going to be World War III. We were probably going to have to grind it out. We do a good job at taking care of the ball. We're top 10 in the country in that. It gives us a chance. Eventually, we knocked down some shots. I thought (David Singleton) had a few big buckets for us off the bench while we were trying to get Tyger (Campbell) a little bit of rest. But our defense and our effort were the keys to our win tonight.”
on Cody Riley’s defensive performance
“Huge. And he’s starting to get his conditioning. He played 26 (minutes) tonight. Getting his condition, his game legs, it’s going to be huge for us getting him back. He’s really shot the ball lights out. That was the one thing – he could do form shooting with the knee brace. … Jaime (Jaquez Jr.) made some big plays. Tyger had a few turnovers tonight which is very rare for him, but he made big plays. We knew they were going to sag off him so we had told to make sure to shoot the ball.”
on if it’s easier to bring back the defense rather than offense after a long hiatus
“Probably. And bringing Cody back because we had played nine games without him, so trying to get used to incorporating him (in) because Myles is more of a screen-roll rebounder where Cody is a scorer. … A lot of that is Cal. They’re well-coached, they’re physical. It’s hard to find a rhythm. Road basketball is tough. You get out onto the road, you’ve got to find a way to win and rely on your defense. Even to this year, we have to get some more touches on the ball. Once we started driving and passing we got wide-open shots. That’s when we finally knocked down a few 3s. We were driving to score and we’ve got to drive to pass if we want to have a layup. Once we started trying to make one more pass – when we get to that point and we don’t try to rely on our individual talent even though we have it and we have better ball movement – I think our shooting percentage will go up.”
redshirt senior forward Cody Riley
on his defensive performance
“I just came in at halftime and coach was talking about how shots weren’t falling so we had to pick up defensive intensity. Once they did the action up top on the big man, I just tried to pressure up and bring some energy to the team on the defensive side.”
on defense being the team’s identity
“Coach tells us defense is what’s going to win the games. We’ve got to stop other teams from scoring. When we come out, we’re not always going to make shots. We can’t rely on making shots. It’s the defensive side where we win the ballgame.”
on how close he feels being back to normal health
“I feel good. Besides being out for eight or nine weeks, just working back to getting back into game shape and working on conditioning and getting back into the flow of things on the court.”
redshirt junior guard Tyger Campbell
on the team’s 10 steals
“It helped us because I’m sure we got points in transition. We were able to play off that energy and create things. Coach likes to turn our defense into offense so that was good for us.”
on how it is to have Cody Riley back
“It’s great to have Cody back. I’m excited for him. I know he's been working really hard to get back onto the court. He looks good out there. He’s just going to keep working to get his conditioning back and then he’ll be great.”
on his confidence when shooting the ball
“I’m just confident. If I see an open shot, I’m going to take it and try to make it. My teammates were setting me up and putting me in a good position. I am confident. … Consistency. It’s cool I'm shooting 50 percent right now. I just want to extend it for the rest of the season. That’s all that matters to my team. It’s not about personal stuff. I just worked really hard in the offseason and then constant reps after practice and being confident as well when getting the shot and knocking it down when I need to.”
Oo passing the ball better in the second half
“I think coming in at halftime, the coach made a big point of Cal is a really good help team so when we drive to the paint we have to drive looking for others. So, we came out in the second half trying to do that. I know we got a few assists in the second half. It was solid. It worked for us.”
junior guard/forward Jaime Jaquez Jr.
on how much therapy he had to go through to be able to play tonight
“I went through a lot. I was up early trying to get as much rehab as I could. Big shout out to Tyler, our trainer. He just helped me through that all. I give all the credit to him. He’s the reason I was able to play tonight.”
on how it is to have Cody Riley back
“It’s been great. Cody is a huge piece for us. We missed him when he was out. Super excited to have him back on the court. His presence is just something we really appreciate and we really love as a team just him being out on the court. He’s a great passer out of the post and plays great defense. His presence just brings our team together.”
opening statement
“It felt like we’re starting over, to be honest. With such a big break, and then Cody didn’t play in our first nine games, in our second season here it’s great to have him back. Just trying to get him into a rhythm (and) get our substitutions into a rhythm. I knew that we were going to take Cal’s best shot because I know what Mark Fox is made of and I know how upset he was with their defense Thursday. They gave up 50 points in the paint. They were minus-38 in points in the paint. I can only imagine their film session and their practice yesterday. So we told our guys it was going to be World War III. We were probably going to have to grind it out. We do a good job at taking care of the ball. We're top 10 in the country in that. It gives us a chance. Eventually, we knocked down some shots. I thought (David Singleton) had a few big buckets for us off the bench while we were trying to get Tyger (Campbell) a little bit of rest. But our defense and our effort were the keys to our win tonight.”
on Cody Riley’s defensive performance
“Huge. And he’s starting to get his conditioning. He played 26 (minutes) tonight. Getting his condition, his game legs, it’s going to be huge for us getting him back. He’s really shot the ball lights out. That was the one thing – he could do form shooting with the knee brace. … Jaime (Jaquez Jr.) made some big plays. Tyger had a few turnovers tonight which is very rare for him, but he made big plays. We knew they were going to sag off him so we had told to make sure to shoot the ball.”
on if it’s easier to bring back the defense rather than offense after a long hiatus
“Probably. And bringing Cody back because we had played nine games without him, so trying to get used to incorporating him (in) because Myles is more of a screen-roll rebounder where Cody is a scorer. … A lot of that is Cal. They’re well-coached, they’re physical. It’s hard to find a rhythm. Road basketball is tough. You get out onto the road, you’ve got to find a way to win and rely on your defense. Even to this year, we have to get some more touches on the ball. Once we started driving and passing we got wide-open shots. That’s when we finally knocked down a few 3s. We were driving to score and we’ve got to drive to pass if we want to have a layup. Once we started trying to make one more pass – when we get to that point and we don’t try to rely on our individual talent even though we have it and we have better ball movement – I think our shooting percentage will go up.”
redshirt senior forward Cody Riley
on his defensive performance
“I just came in at halftime and coach was talking about how shots weren’t falling so we had to pick up defensive intensity. Once they did the action up top on the big man, I just tried to pressure up and bring some energy to the team on the defensive side.”
on defense being the team’s identity
“Coach tells us defense is what’s going to win the games. We’ve got to stop other teams from scoring. When we come out, we’re not always going to make shots. We can’t rely on making shots. It’s the defensive side where we win the ballgame.”
on how close he feels being back to normal health
“I feel good. Besides being out for eight or nine weeks, just working back to getting back into game shape and working on conditioning and getting back into the flow of things on the court.”
redshirt junior guard Tyger Campbell
on the team’s 10 steals
“It helped us because I’m sure we got points in transition. We were able to play off that energy and create things. Coach likes to turn our defense into offense so that was good for us.”
on how it is to have Cody Riley back
“It’s great to have Cody back. I’m excited for him. I know he's been working really hard to get back onto the court. He looks good out there. He’s just going to keep working to get his conditioning back and then he’ll be great.”
on his confidence when shooting the ball
“I’m just confident. If I see an open shot, I’m going to take it and try to make it. My teammates were setting me up and putting me in a good position. I am confident. … Consistency. It’s cool I'm shooting 50 percent right now. I just want to extend it for the rest of the season. That’s all that matters to my team. It’s not about personal stuff. I just worked really hard in the offseason and then constant reps after practice and being confident as well when getting the shot and knocking it down when I need to.”
Oo passing the ball better in the second half
“I think coming in at halftime, the coach made a big point of Cal is a really good help team so when we drive to the paint we have to drive looking for others. So, we came out in the second half trying to do that. I know we got a few assists in the second half. It was solid. It worked for us.”
junior guard/forward Jaime Jaquez Jr.
on how much therapy he had to go through to be able to play tonight
“I went through a lot. I was up early trying to get as much rehab as I could. Big shout out to Tyler, our trainer. He just helped me through that all. I give all the credit to him. He’s the reason I was able to play tonight.”
on how it is to have Cody Riley back
“It’s been great. Cody is a huge piece for us. We missed him when he was out. Super excited to have him back on the court. His presence is just something we really appreciate and we really love as a team just him being out on the court. He’s a great passer out of the post and plays great defense. His presence just brings our team together.”
