Monday, February 3, 2020

UCLA dismantles Utah 73-57. Bruins improve to 12-10, 5-4.

Bruins' freshman guard Tyger Campbell scored a career-high 22 points and dished out eight assists, as UCLA defeated Utah, 73-57, on Sunday afternoon in Pauley Pavilion presented by Wescom. Jaime Jaquez Jr. scored 18 points and had four steals.

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UCLA Men's Basketball Defeats Utah, 73-57

from UCLA Men's Basketball website LOS ANGELES – Tyger Campbell scored a team-leading 22 points and had eight assists to lead the UCLA men's basketball team past Utah, 73-57, in a Pac-12 game in Pauley Pavilion presented by Wescom on Sunday afternoon.

Campbell helped UCLA (12-10, 5-4 Pac-12) secure their fourth victory in their last five games, connecting on 7 of 13 shots and 2 of 4 attempts from 3-point range. He registered a season-high 22 points and finished the game one assist shy of season high in that category.

Jaime Jaquez Jr. scored 18 points and tallied four steals, while Jalen Hill logged 14 points and a team-leading eight rebounds.

"I was really happy with our win," said Mick Cronin, The Michael Price Family UCLA Men's Head Basketball Coach. "Happy for Tyger Campbell, obviously. It's tough being a young guy when everybody expects the world from you in your first year. Unfortunately, that's how college basketball has changed for the worse now. But he stood in there, kept working. You stand in there and keep working and you get better."

The Bruins led Utah (12-9, 3-6 Pac-12) by a 32-21 margin at halftime and saw their 11-point lead early in the second half fall to as few as four points (50-46) with 9:12 to play.

From that point in the game, UCLA pushed its margin back to double-digits with a jump shot from Campbell, a deep 2-point shot from Jules Bernard and a pair of free throws from Jaquez. That offensive sequence gave UCLA a 56-46 cushion with 7:47 left in regulation.

The Bruins led by as many as 19 points (67-48) with 3:22 to play in the game.

Campbell scored 16 of his 22 points after halftime. He made 6 of 9 shots in the second half to help the Bruins secure the win and improve to 5-4 in Pac-12 action.

UCLA out-rebounded the Runnin' Utes by a 33-31 margin and have now out-rebounded the opposition in 20 of 22 games this season.

The Bruins will return to action at Arizona State on Thursday, Feb. 6. Game time at ASU's Desert Financial Arena is 8 p.m. PT (9 p.m. MT, local time in Arizona). UCLA will conclude its two-game road trip at Arizona on Saturday, Feb. 8.

Postgame Quotes - UCLA vs. Utah

POSTGAME QUOTES
UCLA 73, Utah 57
February 2, 2020

Mick Cronin, The Michael Price Family UCLA Men’s Head Basketball Coach
opening statement
“Obviously, happy with our defensive effort. They can really shoot the ball. I thought we needed to pressure them, try to speed them up because they shoot it well and they pass it well. It’s a great recipe, offensively. They’ve been on a roll lately. They won two against the Washingtons. They led USC for 38 minutes the other night. Really happy with our win. Happy for Tyger Campbell, obviously. It’s tough being a young guy when everybody expects the world from you in your first year. Unfortunately, that’s how college basketball has changed for the worse now. But he stood in there, kept working. You stand in there and keep working and you get better. Today, I thought he had the advantage in the pick and roll. Obviously, we rode him as long as we could and he dominated the second half from an offensive standpoint.”

on what is clicking defensively
“Our focus, our buy-in. Changing DNA is really hard to do. It’s the hardest thing, as a coach, to do, changing the DNA of a program. And I say that with all respect because Steve [Alford] won a lot of games ... They just did it differently. It’s not better, it’s not worse. They just did it differently. They scored a whole lot of points. Young guys, they have no defensive DNA. That’s not my fault, Murry’s [Bartow] or Steve’s. Good coaching is telling your guy ‘Don’t foul,’ because he’s got nobody as good as Tyger on the bench, or Jaime [Jaquez Jr.] or Jake [Kyman], whomever you want to pick. Their big guys, who tell them [to] stand by the rim. Cody’s [Riley] never fought around the post and made those type of plays in his life. Nobody’s ever asked him to do that, to make those defensive plays. So, it just takes time. There’s buy-in, but then you find out what you’re all about, like I told our guys. People judge you and the world’s not fair. People have a lot of prejudice in the world, unfortunately. They prejudge West Coast kids. They prejudge UCLA kids, saying they're soft or they're selfish. These guys are proving that they’re not. We’re no finished product. Their effort is there. That’s all you can really ask. You just try to build habits over time. You see Cody out there, his stat line’s not great, but he made some unbelievable defensive plays — especially in the second half. And that’s what you’ve got to have if you’re going to have a winning team. You have guys that are focused on that instead of pouting about how many shots they make. It’s a big change in their DNA for us.”

on offensive performance, especially from Tyger Campbell
“We thought Tyger had an advantage in the pick and roll. I could see he felt confident out there. I’m not a big ‘My offense’ guy. I’m a big ‘Where’s the mismatch.’ More like the pros, I guess. Go to your strength. It’s going to be different every game, depending on how the other team defends. I could see he was extremely confident, so in the second half, we rode that as much as we could. I thought Jalen [Hill] and Jaime, around the rim, was special… But I would say, in my opinion, you can’t ever have a real program if you turn the ball over. Our last two games, we’ve only had 10 turnovers. You’ve got to be around that number to be a real program, year in and year out. That’s got to be around your average and, obviously, that’s a DNA change for us, as well. We led the Pac-12 in turnovers last year. We go on the road, if we turn it over, we won’t win next week. But I’m happy for Tyger. Really happy for him.”

UCLA redshirt freshman Guard Tyger Campbell
on his teammates rushing over to him to help him up when he was fouled and fell
“I feel like if it was anyone on the team doing that, all four guys would have run through, but it just shows how together we are as a team. Winning brings people together, and y’all don’t see a lot of the stuff we do in the locker room and in practice and off the court. We’re just trying to stay together as a team and just push through these games and win some games.”

on bringing the energy despite a Noon start
“I just came into the game and wanted to win. That’s all we care about. It’s not really about points or anything like that. I just came in and wanted to win for my team. I love my team, and we’re trying to go on a run in this Pac-12 right now.”

on persevering this year
“Just go hard in practice every day and keeping guys together in practice. I wouldn’t have been able to do what I did today without my team finding me, and JHill (Jalen Hill) setting the ball screens he set me today. It’s really just a team effort. I might have had 22, but it was the whole team, and it was everything that mattered. It’s team-oriented; all we care about is team and winning.”

UCLA redshirt sophomore forward/center Jalen Hill
on coming into the game with confidence
“Every game we’re just trying to play the same – play hard, play smart. Obviously when you win a game and then you go into practice, you can really focus on the things that you did do well and the things that you need to improve on. It makes the next game easier.”
on if the goal of the team has changed being one game out of first in the Pac-12
“The goal has never changed. We want to win. Whether we were in eighth or wherever we were at, it doesn’t matter. Now that we’re one game out of first we’re just that more focused. We want to win, and Coach Cronin is doing an amazing job in practice keeping us focused and keeping us grounded so we can keep getting win after win.”
on what has changed defensively in the last few weeks
“Talk, communication. Just knowing that every guy is on the same page. Nobody’s trying to gamble on defense. Nobody’s trying to do anything that we haven’t practiced. Just knowing that everybody’s got each other’s back, it really helps.”

UCLA freshman guard Jaime Jaquez Jr.
on keeping the pressure up in the second half of both games this weekend
“During the beginning of the games usually at the start we get really good jumps and we’re ahead a lot of the time. And in the second half of the game, we usually tend to fall apart. So that was a big emphasis during the last couple of practices – just keep it together in the second half and finish our game. So that was our mentality, and that’s what we were working on throughout practices and the games.”

Utah head coach Larry Krystkowiak
opening remarks
“First half there was a lid on the rim. I thought we missed a bunch of open shots. You guys witnessed it. We were one for 12 from three at half. We started the second half, hit three threes and then it was a couple-possession game and we couldn’t sustain it. The free throw line was the key.”

on their offensive efficiency
“Overall, we just missed some offensive shots. We had a stretch where we had seven turnovers in our first 13 possessions. The margin for error is just too slim against a team like this.”

on their road record
“There is a different story line for each game. We are 0-5 on the road, but we’ve played tough teams like Arizona and Colorado which are physical top-20 teams. We didn’t make enough plays at Arizona State and USC, but we were in those ball games. Tonight is a four-point game. We have to have some onions. One thing about it, I know we’ve rode some guys pretty hard.”

Utah sophomore forward Timmy Allen
on the two games in Los Angeles
“It’s very frustrating. We had an opportunity to win in both. The details, the small things, we just have to pay attention to those.”
on where they go from here
“We get to the gym. We’ve got to get reps up and get our mind right.”
on the tough interior defense in the Pac-12
“I just have to make some plays. It’s going to be like that all season.”
on the team’s shooting in this game
“I feel like this is the grind-it-out part of the season. We have to decide where we are at. It’s a long season.”
on how they are going to improve
“We just have to come out a little bit stronger and make some plays. We were right there.”

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