PAC-12 CONFERENCE MEN'S BASKETBALL CHAMPIONSHIP

March 10, 2022

Mick Cronin

Jules Bernard

Jaime Jaquez

UCLA Bruins

Postgame Press Conference

UCLA - 75, Washington State - 65

MODERATOR: We'll have Coach Cronin give an opening statement in a second. We've got Jaime Jaquez and Jules Bernard on the podium with him. So we'll have him give an opening statement and open up to questions.

MICK CRONIN: I thought Washington State gave everything they had, made us play. Roberts had a pretty good game, so did Jakimovski. Kyle has done a great job rebuilding their program, so hopefully they make the NIT.

But obviously these two guys both got it going. We were stuck in the mud a little bit, and Jules made some big shots, got our energy level up. We got out in transition. I thought that changed the game.

If you guys don't mind, you can ask them questions first so they can do what they gotta do.

Q. It's almost like same, same stuff as the last couple games, a huge output from you. I think you scored 14 out of 16 during one stretch of the second half. Feels like you've adapted your low post game to really dominate down there. What's allowing you to have so much success and keep it going?

JAIME JAQUEZ JR.: I would say taking my time down there, playing at my speed, not trying to go get sped up or anything like that. Just really slow down and be able to find my teammates as well when double teams come. And just taking my time and be able to rise up and finish.

Q. Jaime, Jules, did it feel like the energy shifted for the team when Jules hit that three pointer at the end of the shot clock in the first half, give you guys the lead again?

JULES BERNARD: I think the energy shifted when Peyton Watson came in. He gave us a lot of great energy on the defensive end, and then playing confidently on the offensive end. And then we started to get deflections and get out in transition. I feel like once we get easy buckets in transition, that gets our juices flowing. So I think those two things really helped us pick back up our energy in the first half.

Q. Jules, you obviously went through a bit of a cold stretch earlier in the winter in conference play, but shooting 50 percent from three these past few games, has something changed, or is it more you're hitting the open looks you weren't before?

JULES BERNARD: Slumps happen, but I've been working diligently and trying to get my rhythm back and, you know, coming in later in the night and shooting and stuff like that.

But it's -- I'm getting open looks. People, my teammates are drawing double teams and finding me on the perimeter and things like that. So just trying to play with confidence and help my team win, that's it.

Q. Jaime, there was a moment when I think Peyton Watson was getting sucked in and you guys were walking back on the court, you were in his hear talking to him. Obviously you guys went to March Madness last year and have experience in tournament play, but he's one of the guys who doesn't. What's it like sharing what you know about this kind of situation with a younger guy like him?

JAIME JAQUEZ JR.: I go back to what Chris Smith -- he was my guy. He mentored me when I came in. He was older. Tried to give me all the tips he knew. And that's what I'm trying to do for Peyton as well.

I think I was telling him -- I think he might have scored a basket, if that's the play you're talking about, just told him get off two feet and rise up and score. Don't worry about the foul. Don't try to draw a foul, just try to score. And then they are going to foul you, and then you get to shoot two free throws. So really just tell him to be under control, take his time, and play at his speed.

Q. I think you guys held them without a basket for eight and a half minutes toward the end of the first half. It felt like maybe the game was won there? How locked in is your game right now and how important is it to carry that forward?

JULES BERNARD: I think we're getting there. There's still some adjustments we need to make. Sometimes we go through certain lapses or certain plays where we fall asleep.

But for the most part, I feel like we're definitely improving throughout these past few games on our defensive energy and just getting deflections and playing aggressively on defense.

MICK CRONIN: You guys good with them? What do you got?

Q. (Off microphone)?

MICK CRONIN: Always is when you play Washington State. There's so much -- they made -- I think they made three late. I wasn't happy again with the way some of our guys we put in at the end didn't finish the game right. But in the meat of the game, I think we held them to five made threes.

Q. (Off microphone)?

MICK CRONIN: You've gotta get all the way to Flowers and Roberts because if they can get it off, it might go in. In fairness to them, they had some in and outs. But we tried to get -- I agree with Jules, guys. I think that Peyton -- we had a line up with Peyton, Jaylen Clark and Myles, which is our most athletic lineup.

Those guys, that lineup changed the game in the first half. Those three guys were in there. That was by design. I was hoping to be able to play a lot of guys tonight. Played Jaime too much. I didn't want anybody to get over 30. But it's hard to take him out. But I was able to get Peyton in there. Peyton was great in the first half.

But that lineup, we can defend them better. So it's hard for Dave and Jake. They're guards are so fast. Flowers is so good, and Roberts is to fast. So those are tough matchups.

Q. Jaime has become such a dominant force here the last couple --

MICK CRONIN: Kiki VanDeWeghe.

Q. What's it like to have that going into a game, you know you can get the production he's giving you here?

MICK CRONIN: That's why you develop players. You know, I know that in Westwood we're used to guys coming in ready made at times, whether it's Lonzo or Kevin or Baron Davis, all the greats.

But even Peyton needs development. And when he doesn't play well, I blame myself, not him. It's my job to develop him. And that's what Jaime is trying to help him with. Because Jaime didn't finish like he -- he wasn't this -- he was Peyton as a freshmen.

So Jaime played a lot more because he wasn't on a great team. But he's developed, and coaching matters and attitude matters. That's why we do things the way we do things.

We have a formula. Mental state. You gotta to be coachable. You can't get better if you're not coachable. It's like Johnny, when he charges, I blame myself. Because I should have coached that out of him by now. He's got to learn to just make the easy play when the guys got position, stop and just pass the ball, don't try to do too much.

So I still got to improve him. While they're with me, that's just how I look at it. I always look in the mirror. If they're not playing up to their ability, it's my job and my staff's job to get them there.

Jaime has come a long way. But that's hard work, his toughness, his talent, great attitude. Just unbelievable attitude. You've interviewed these guys. For the people that don't know them, all you gotta do it is listen to these guys talk. They're unbelievably bright and extremely good kids. Makes your job easier.

Q. Obviously the defense was Myles, but he looked more assertive offensively as well. Got to the free throw line five times, hit them all.

MICK CRONIN: Michael Lewis is MVP because Myles was -- not only he did five for five, like they were all like nothing but net. So it's great to see him getting the ball up and in. We hit him -- a couple good passes to him on rolls where they fouled, and they were shot blocking team too. So they got six of them tonight. So they're hard to score on around the rim at times.

Q. You weren't totally satisfied with how the team closed out against the USC last week. Aside from the last minute when you'd emptied the bench today, how did you feel about how the team closed?

MICK CRONIN: It was great. But even those guys, I take pride, gotta take pride in your performance. Especially when you're playing for a seed and want people to see you win by 20 instead of 10. Gotta take pride in your performance until the clock hits 0. But it was what it was.

I didn't think we'd be up 20. I have a lot of respect for their guard play. And obviously Mouhamed Gueye being out doesn't help. But those two guys can beat you now. They looked liked the Golden State Warriors Saturday when they played Oregon. It was crazy. I watched that film. Gave me a sleepless night last night.

Q. Johnny had a couple charges. Do you see any signs of him maybe getting back a little more rhythm?

MICK CRONIN: Yeah. The only reason -- I asked T.J. what his minutes were at, and that's why I never put him back in because I didn't want to get him over 30. He got enough time tonight.

He's getting there. He looked good. You can tell he's moving pretty good out there.

Q. Obviously with Tyger and Johnny combining for eight points, what do you say to those guys, needing them in a tough three-day, potentially, tournament like there?

MICK CRONIN: We don't care who scores. We really could care less. We worry about -- we've gotten to a point where we're passing the ball much better. We have 15 assists. I'm concerned with our turnovers. We have average nine; we had twelve.

They -- with the way they played defense, they were -- it's hard to get Johnny open. We started the second half, I tried to run something to get him a shot, he was gonna be open, their big guy immediately jumped out. So they had the red alert on him for sure.

Q. You talked about Johnny Juzang and the charges. How do you feel about him going forward and handling those? I know you said you wanted him to make the easy passes.

MICK CRONIN: He'll get better. He's easy. He's a bright guy. He said, What should I do? I said, Make life easy.

Q. You think he'll do that going forward?

MICK CRONIN: Oh, yeah. He's great. He's easy to deal with. When you're trying to -- in defense of any of score, the balance as a coach, you don't want to ever take away they are aggressiveness. But you have to teach them, though, where's the line, when you gotta hit the brakes.

That's a read he's gotta make. When a guy has got position, he's gotta stop. He just like, I'm just going to power this guy up. Because he's 6'6" at least, and he can put a hook in. Teams are scouting him and trying to draw that charge, and he's got to know that.

Q. You guys were plus 15 on the boards, plus 15 second-chance points. How did that feel knowing that you can bang around beneath the basket too in addition to getting guys like Jules and Jaime three pointers?

MICK CRONIN: Early on, they were beating us on the glass. Abogidi, I think his three offensive rebounds were all in the first four minutes. So it wasn't looking good. But we always talk about you gotta play harder than them, you gotta run harder than them and be more physical than them.

As the game went on, we were. We started doing that. But even if you look down, second chance points, as you mentioned, but points in the paint were plus 18.

It's hard to lose when you get 40 points in the paint and you make let 11 free throws. If you can get to 50 on layups and free throws, it's hard to lose. You're going to make enough shots, you're gonna get 70. And I like, as you know, our chances when we get 70. Pretty good.

Q. Curious how you handle the rest of tonight and rest of recovery. Will you stay and watch this game?

MICK CRONIN: The staff is out there. Coach Cronin is eat and sleep. Film for me.

Q. Tomorrow, how will you handle --

MICK CRONIN: Breakfast. Breakfast. Film. And we will not practice tomorrow. Everything we'll do in a hotel walkthrough.

One interesting thing about the bubble that was great last year, we could walk to an actual court and do our walkthrough. But we just do them in the hotel and we turn the ballroom into a walkthrough.

But if we have to go -- and we played Washington twice in the last two weeks, and we played USC six days ago. If we have to go over them too much, we got problems. So rest recovery is my biggest thing. Thank you, guys.

MODERATOR: Thank you, Coach.