Jaime Jaquez Jr. capped off a thriller at Pauley Pavilion on Thursday night, as he nailed a 3-pointer in the final two seconds of the game to lift UCLA past Arizona State, 75-72. With 0.6 seconds remaining on the clock, freshman guard Jaquez Jr. nailed the game-winning 3-point basket, giving the Bruins a 3-point win over the Sun Devils. UCLA has won six consecutive games and 10 of their last 12 contests.
Pac-12 Networks' Don MacLean spoke to UCLA's Jake Kyman after the Bruins edged Arizona State, 75-72, on Thursday night. Kyman tied his career high, scoring 21 points. He made 5 of 8 shots from 3-point territory against Arizona State.
from Jeff Siegel
Jake Kyman, Jaime Jaquez Jr. and Tyger Campbell spoke to the media on Thursday evening after UCLA edged Arizona State, 75-72. Kyman scored a team-leading 21 points in the Bruins' sixth consecutive win.
from SunDevilSource Video
Jaquez's 3 propels UCLA to win over Arizona State
from AP via ESPN.com (link)
LOS ANGELES -- Jaime Jaquez had practiced driving down the floor and hitting the game-winning shot plenty of times in a park while growing up. On Thursday night he got to do it for real.
The UCLA freshman hit a 3-pointer from the top of the key with .6 seconds remaining to give the Bruins a 75-72 victory over Arizona State and a share of the lead in the Pac-12 Conference.
"It is something you dream about a lot -- battle for first place and hitting the shot. To do it tonight was amazing and an unreal feeling," said Jaquez, who was one of five UCLA players in double figures with 18 points.
Tyger Campbell tied it at 72 with a free throw in the final minute but the Bruins were called for a lane violation on the second attempt. Arizona State's Remy Martin -- who scored a game-high 30 points -- missed a 3-pointer, which set the stage for Jaquez's game-winner.
UCLA coach Mick Cronin didn't call a time out after Martin's miss because he didn't want Arizona State to come out with a zone defense. Cronin said the original plan was for Campbell to drive into the paint and hopefully draw a foul.
"At the end you have to trust your players," said Cronin, who is in his first season with the Bruins.
The Bruins (18-11), who were 8-9 and 1/3 in the conference at one point, have won six straight and 10 of their last 12. They are tied with Oregon atop the conference at 11-5. UCLA hosts Arizona on Saturday before finishing the regular season at Southern California on March 7.
"This is a tremendous win for our team. It was a great game. We made one more play," Cronin said. "We are trying to build faith in our team and the fan base. We're still a bubble team and we have to rest up. That's the reality of our situation."
Arizona State (19-9) -- which beat UCLA by 18 in the first meeting on Feb. 6 -- had its seven-game winning streak snapped and is a half-game back at 10-5. The Sun Devils last two losses have come on last-second shots.
"We have really been on the right side of many of these games," Arizona State coach Bobby Hurley said. "It was a tough contested shot. I just wish one of our guys had that opportunity."
Jake Kyman tied a career high 21 points, with 19 coming in the first half, and Jalen Hill added 13 for the Bruins.
It was Martin's second game with 30 or more points this season. Rob Edwards added 23 for the Sun Devils, including seven 3-pointers.
Arizona State jumped out to a 24-14 lead before UCLA responded with 11 straight points as part of an 18-2 run. Kyman scored 14 during the rally, including three straight 3-pointers. A 3 by Edwards pulled Arizona State within 36-35 with 1:04 remaining before the Bruins scored the final five points to go up 41-35 at halftime.
UCLA extended its lead to nine with 11:44 remaining on a dunk by Hill but the Sun Devils went on a 14-4 rally to grab a 60-58 advantage three minutes later as Edwards powered the run with eight points.
There would be five ties and seven lead changes the rest of the way.
BIG PICTURE
Arizona State: Alonzo Verge Jr. was averaging 20.6 points off the bench during the Sun Devils winning streak but struggled against the Bruins. The junior guard was saddled with early foul trouble and had just 12 points in 23 minutes before fouling out.
UCLA: Campbell had a career high 14 assists, marking his second straight game with 10 or more. He had 11 in last Saturday's win at Colorado.
UP NEXT
Arizona State: Remains in Los Angeles to face Southern California on Saturday.
UCLA: Hosts Arizona on Saturday in its last home game of the season.
LA
Times
FEB. 27, 2020
10:21
PM
Jaime
Jaquez Jr. ran down the court, accompanied by his coach’s voice screaming
at him to set a screen.
The UCLA freshman guard was
supposed to be a complementary player with the score tied against Arizona State
on the final play of a taut game matching the Pac-12
Conference’s most sizzling teams. The plan was for Bruins point guard Tyger
Campbell to drive and get fouled or find an open teammate.
As Campbell
repeatedly dribbled the ball between his legs on the perimeter, probing for an
opportunity, Jaquez circled back behind him and picked up a screen from
Campbell.
Suddenly freed
from defenders, Jaquez rose for a three-pointer. He fell down after the ball
left his hands, following its arc from his backside.
“It felt good,”
Jaquez would say later. “It felt good going off my hand, it looked good and
that was it.”
That was it, and
that was that.
Jaquez’s three-pointer fell through the net with six-tenths of a
second left. The fans howled inside Pauley Pavilion. UCLA’s
rise from January morbidity to an improbable share of first place in
the Pac-12 was complete.
Jaquez
allowed himself a moment of celebration even before the Bruins polished off the
75-72 victory on Thursday night, leaping to bump bodies with Campbell in the
backcourt as teammate Chris
Smith threw the ball toward an official so that the Sun Devils could
inbound it. Jaquez intercepted the pass near the free-throw line, completing
the Bruins’ sixth consecutive victory.
“Jaime’s
a tough kid, man,” UCLA
coach Mick Cronin said after the Bruins (18-11 overall, 11-5 Pac-12)
moved into a first-place tie alongside Oregon with two games left to play in
the regular season. “He’s got amazing fortitude for a young player.”
There
was more celebrating to come. Jaquez was mobbed by teammate after teammate
before finally giving Kenneth Nwuba a piggyback ride on his way off the court.
Jaquez finished with 13 points, five rebounds and four steals for
the Bruins, helping them strengthen a late-season surge that’s put them in
position for an at-large NCAA tournament bid after losing three of their first
four games to open Pac-12 play.
UCLA
also got a boost from freshman shooting guard Jake Kyman, who scored 19 of his
21 points during a first half in which he made five three-pointers to help the
Bruins overcome a 10-point deficit.
“Kyman
looked like Larry Bird out there for a while,” Arizona State coach Bobby Hurley
said after his team’s seven-game winning streak ended in most disheartening
fashion.
The
Sun Devils (19-9, 10-5) had held a 72-71 lead after guard Alonzo Verge Jr. made
two free throws with 1:56 left before the teams traded empty possessions. Kyman
ripped down a defensive rebound with 54 seconds left and Campbell eventually
drove and was fouled, making one of two free throws to tie the score with 40
seconds to play.
Arizona
State’s Remy Martin, who led all scorers with 30 points, hoisted a three-pointer
that went off the side of the rim and out of bounds with 16.3 seconds left.
Cronin opted to let his team inbounds the ball immediately instead of taking a
timeout because he feared that Hurley would use the extra time to switch
defenses and throw off the Bruins. It turned out the Bruins knew exactly what
to do.
“Jaime was just so open,” said
Campbell, whose final pass became his career-high 14th assist, “and I knew he
was going to hit it, so I passed it back and he stepped into it and it was
cash. I knew it was cash when it left his hands.”
A
crowd of 9,626 that included actor Henry Winkler and former Bruins standout Luc
Mbah a Moute went into delirium when the ball went through the net. No one
enjoyed it more than Jaquez.
“You
dream about shots like that in a big college game like that, a battle for first
place,” Jaquez said. “That’s something I used to do when I was a kid. I used to
go to the park by myself and run up and down the court counting down from
three, two, one, hitting big shots like that.
“It’s something every kid dreams about doing. Tonight,
it was amazing. It was an unreal feeling.”
Jaquez Jr.'s Buzzer Beater Sinks Sun Devils, 75-72
from UCLA Men's Basketball website.
LOS ANGELES – Freshman Jaime Jaquez Jr. knocked down a 3-pointer with 0.6 seconds remaining to give the UCLA men's basketball team a 75-72 win over Arizona State Thursday evening in Pauley Pavilion presented by Wescom.
Freshman Jake Kyman scored 19 of his team-high 21 points in the first half to lead the Bruins (18-11, 11-5 in Pac-12 play). Jaquez Jr. and redshirt sophomore Jalen Hill registered 13 points apiece. Redshirt sophomore Cody Riley scored each of his 11 points in the second half and redshirt freshman Tyger Campbell added 10 points and a career-high 14 assists.
POSTGAME: Jake Kyman | POSTGAME: Jaime Jaquez Jr.
Remy Martin scored a game-high 30 points for the Sun Devils (19-9, 10-5), who entered the contest riding a seven-game winning streak. Rob Edwards, who made seven of nine shots from 3-point range, added 23 points. Alonzo Verge Jr. posted 12 points before fouling out in the second half.
"At the end of the day, players win games and we just happened to make one more play, guys," said Mick Cronin, The Michael Price Family UCLA Men's Head Basketball Coach. "Let's just be honest. We just happened to make one more play. I didn't call timeout because, right there, I didn't want to give him a chance to come out in a zone or change defenses and get organized. I think sometimes you've got to have faith in your players. Try to get the switch I wanted, then have Tyger try to create something. Obviously, Jaime's a tough kid, man. He's got amazing fortitude for a young player."
POSTGAME PRESS CONFERENCES: Coach Cronin | UCLA's Student Athletes
The Bruins converted just six of their first 19 field-goal attempts (31.6 percent), as the Sun Devils established a 24-14 lead with 8:21 remaining in the first half. On the heels of two Campbell free throws, Kyman sparked UCLA's offense by hitting three consecutive 3-point baskets. That trio of 3-pointers put UCLA ahead for the first time since the 14-minute mark.
Kyman knocked down two more from distance before halftime and piled up a game-high 19 points in the game's first 20 minutes. His first-half point total (19) marked the most points scored by any UCLA player this season before halftime. UCLA led at intermission, 41-35.
The frontcourt combination of Hill and Riley combined to score 15 of the Bruins' first 17 second-half points. UCLA led, 58-50, as the second half approached the midway point. Arizona State's Rob Edwareds scored the next eight points, however, and a Verge Jr. jump shot put the Sun Devils back into the lead with 7:54 remaining in the second half.
There were five ties and six lead changes the rest of the way, capped by the Jaquez Jr. triple off the feed from Campbell near the top of the key. Jaquez Jr. intercepted the Sun Devils' inbounds pass to seal the victory.
UCLA (11-5 in the Pac-12) is currently tied with Oregon (11-5 in the Pac-12) for first place in the Pac-12 standings.
The Bruins will play their regular-season home finale against Arizona on Saturday evening. Game time in Pauley Pavilion presented by Wescom is 7 p.m. (PT). The Bruins' Pac-12 showdown will be nationally televised on ESPN.
Postgame Quotes - UCLA vs. Arizona State
POSTGAME QUOTES
UCLA 75, Arizona State 72
Feb. 27, 2020
UCLA 75, Arizona State 72
Feb. 27, 2020
Mick Cronin, The Michael Price Family UCLA Men’s Head Basketball Coach
opening remarks
“I think it was a great night for college basketball and the Pac-12. People watching that game, hopefully they realize what’s going on with our conference. A lot of young teams last year, a lot of really good teams this year. Arizona State, it was a huge win. They’re playing so well. They’re so well coached, they’re so well prepared. Some of the things we had been running, they took away early in the game and caused us to get off to a slow start. Bobby (Hurley) does just a tremendous job. His guys play hard, they defend. Thought there was a stretch where we got up nine in that second half, they really played—I thought they played harder than us for a while. Forced us to turn it over. Obviously, we’re a one point guard team. He (Tyger Campbell) had 14 assists and whenever I tried to rest him, Bobby exploited it because he’s a really good coach. He knows what he’s doing. It’s a chess match the whole game against them. He’s trying to get certain mismatches and isos, I’m trying to do the same thing on the other end. But at the end of the day, players win games and we just happened to make one more play, guys. Let’s just be honest. We just happened to make one more play. I didn’t call timeout because, right there, I didn’t want to give him a chance to come out in a zone or change defenses and get organized. I think sometimes, you’ve got to have faith in your players. Try to get the switch I wanted, then have Tyger try to create something. Obviously, Jaime’s a tough kid, man. He’s got amazing fortitude for a young player.”
opening remarks
“I think it was a great night for college basketball and the Pac-12. People watching that game, hopefully they realize what’s going on with our conference. A lot of young teams last year, a lot of really good teams this year. Arizona State, it was a huge win. They’re playing so well. They’re so well coached, they’re so well prepared. Some of the things we had been running, they took away early in the game and caused us to get off to a slow start. Bobby (Hurley) does just a tremendous job. His guys play hard, they defend. Thought there was a stretch where we got up nine in that second half, they really played—I thought they played harder than us for a while. Forced us to turn it over. Obviously, we’re a one point guard team. He (Tyger Campbell) had 14 assists and whenever I tried to rest him, Bobby exploited it because he’s a really good coach. He knows what he’s doing. It’s a chess match the whole game against them. He’s trying to get certain mismatches and isos, I’m trying to do the same thing on the other end. But at the end of the day, players win games and we just happened to make one more play, guys. Let’s just be honest. We just happened to make one more play. I didn’t call timeout because, right there, I didn’t want to give him a chance to come out in a zone or change defenses and get organized. I think sometimes, you’ve got to have faith in your players. Try to get the switch I wanted, then have Tyger try to create something. Obviously, Jaime’s a tough kid, man. He’s got amazing fortitude for a young player.”
on how close final play was to what he wanted
“I wanted Tyger to get fouled or assist. What I was telling him was no more wild shots. He’s three-for-16. I wanted him to get fouled even more or assist even more, but I’m asking him to do so much. And then he’s got to go down to the other end and guard a guy that took 24 shots, so he’s completely exhausted. And in fairness to him, Remy’s such an offensive weapon. It’s hard. I was trying to sneak him out, but every time I tried to sneak him out for a rest, they’re pressuring us. I wanted him to try to get fouled or create an assist, eat up some space. Jaime did a great job. Something we work on every day is moving behind the line so you catch the ball in a one-two-step rhythm. You’ve still got to make it. But the way he moved in with the shot, he attacked… with his feet, something we work on all the time.”
on what it means to be tied for first place in Pac-12
“Well, obviously, you’re trying to build a program. We’re trying to build faith in a fan base. We’re trying to build faith in your locker room. So, it’s huge for us. But the truth of it is, we lose the next two, we’re going to be tied for fifth place in this conference. We’re still above the team, so, we’ve got to rest up. Got another one-game tournament Saturday night. It’s just the reality of our situation.”
“Well, obviously, you’re trying to build a program. We’re trying to build faith in a fan base. We’re trying to build faith in your locker room. So, it’s huge for us. But the truth of it is, we lose the next two, we’re going to be tied for fifth place in this conference. We’re still above the team, so, we’ve got to rest up. Got another one-game tournament Saturday night. It’s just the reality of our situation.”
on his team’s toughness
“Like I said, it was a great game. We just made one more play than them. I really think they’re (ASU) playing as well as anybody in the country. There’s a lot of parity this year. You’d be hard pressed to see anybody play college basketball that has three guys that make shots and make the plays of (Rob) Edwards, (Remy) Martin and (Alonzo) Verge. All three of those guys are extremely tough to defend. Romello (White) didn’t put up big numbers tonight because of foul trouble, but that was our game plan, try to get him in foul trouble. We wanted to try to drive it at him as much as we could and attack him because [when] he’s in there with those three, they’re almost impossible to stop, to be honest with you. They’re playing that well and Bobby’s done such a good job with them. Tremendous win for our team. It was a tremendous win for our team.”
UCLA redshirt freshman guard Tyger Campbell
on plan for final play of the game
“So pretty much what happened was I was bringing it down and we ran a play to try and get the ‘4’ on me and I was going to try go downhill, get fouled, make something happen. I saw Jaime (Jaquez) circle back and his man help in. Jaime was just so open and I knew he was going to hit it, so I passed it back and he stepped into it and it was cash. It was when it left his hands.”
on taking 16 shots and whether he planned to be more aggressive
“I think it was more of just I was taking what the defense was giving me. They were letting me get downhill a lot and I was beating my man. When I get in there, I’m not shy to shoot it and I was going to let it go.”
on how tired he was at the end of the game after his defensive effort
“I was a little winded at the end, but you have to have that mentality at the end of the game. You just have to get up and you have to play. I’m on the court, my coach believes in me, and I’m just there.”
on back-to-back 10-plus assist performances and his comfort level as a facilitator
“I always feel comfortable as a point guard. That’s my true position. I’m a true point guard. It has been good these past couple games, but like you said, I’m the only one passing it. The other guys have to hit the shots and my teammates have just been hitting [shots off my passes]. I give all my credit and all the credit to my teammates.”
on Coach Cronin’s message throughout the season
“His message has always been the same. Just believe in each other and keep practicing hard. A lot of people don’t see what we do at practice, in the locker room, and how we act toward each other. We just have to stay together and stay as a team. Just let everybody be on the outside. Just keep coming together after every game.”
UCLA freshman guard/forward Jaime Jaquez Jr.
on plan for final play of the game
“Coach Cronin—he was yelling at me, ‘screen, make sure he doesn’t get to go under so they don’t have to switch’. We want him to switch. I went and made sure I set it really low. My man switched; I get back. Something we work on every single day in practice [is] getting behind the guy driving—spacing. So, just practice. He drove, coming back around he passed me the ball. I shot it. It went in.”
on if he knew the final shot was going in when it left his hands
“It felt good. You know, a lot of shots I take, they all feel good. That one just went in. So yeah, it felt good coming off my hands. It looked good. That was it.”
on if he counted down and hit pretend buzzer beaters growing up
“Yeah, that’s something you dream about a lot. You dream about shots like that in a big college game like that, battling for first place—something I used to do when I was a kid. I used to go to the park just by myself and just run up and down the court, counting down from 3-2-1, hitting big shots like that. It’s something that every kid dreams about. To do it tonight, it was amazing. It was an unreal feeling.”
on how it feels to be tied for first in the Pac-12
“It feels great right now. We, as a team, we believed from the start that this could happen. We believed it from the very beginning, even when we were losing games. This is what we’ve been working for. This is what we’ve worked for—playing for first-place games, trying to get a shot into the (NCAA) Tournament, and just doing big things like this. We believed from the start, so this is what we expected."
on what Chris Smith said to him after the game winner
“To be honest, I couldn’t hear anything. It was like really, really loud. But I know one thing—shooters shoot. That’s kind of a motto we have. So, if you throw it up, shooters shoot, it’s going to go in eventually.”
on how it feels to secure this big win against Arizona State
“It feels amazing to get them back. We lost at their place and we beat them here, but we have a mission to accomplish, and that’s to win. Win our games. Win out and try to get this first place in the Pac-12.”
on expecting an even bigger crowd on Saturday against Arizona
“We hope for more. It was great. An atmosphere like that is fun. Hopefully, the crowd had fun. I know we had a lot of fun jumping around after the game, hitting shots, everybody going crazy. Come out Saturday, please.”
UCLA freshman guard/forward Jake Kyman
on his hot streak from long range in the first half
“My confidence was building after I took that floater on the baseline. Once you see a shot go in, your mentality just gets a little bigger. You take more shots. Your confidence just goes up. And Tyger (Campbell), the rest of the guys were finding me and I was open, so I was shooting them and they were just falling.”
on preparing for Saturday’s game against Arizona
“We’re just going to do the same thing we did last time. Defense is our mindset every game. We have to focus on the best players and trying to get the ball out of their hands, so other players can do what they’re not used to doing. Just go from there. Keep playing defense and then, obviously, on the offensive end getting open shots, taking good looks. That’s how we can win. That’s how we do the same formula every time.”
Arizona State head coach Bobby Hurley
opening remarks
“It was a hell of a game to be a part of. You see why both teams are at an elite level. We had so many guys out there just competing. We have really been on the right side of many of these games. It was a tough contested shot. I just wish one of our guys had that opportunity.”
on their foul situation
“We’ve never had those type of foul troubles in those key situations.”
on Jake Kyman’s play
“Jake looked like Larry Bird out there. I know I’m going way back. We’ve been down big and we’ve had responses. It was just impressive to watch these teams clash. Both will have runs in the NCAA Tournament.”
on Remy Martin’s play
“He has a few lay-ups that trickled off the rim in the first half. He really did his part today. They did a great job at individual match-ups. They have great size.”
on where they go from here
“We pick up the pieces. I’m not angry at all at our team. I’m just really impressed with how they competed. I’m proud of how we shot and stayed in the game. I’m going to make sure we also recover physically.”
Arizona State junior guard Remy Martin
opening statement
“These are both great teams. Both teams made some big shots. I really had to make that one shot. That was a key for me. At the end of the day, I think I’m capable of making any shot. They’re just really a big, tough team. I just think we took too long to match their energy. They just got back in the game.”
on where they go from here
“We go back to the drawing board and watch film.”
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