NCAA MEN'S BASKETBALL CHAMPIONSHIP: SECOND ROUND - SAINT MARY'S VS UCLA

March 18, 2022

Jules Bernard

Tyger Campbell

Mick Cronin

Jamie Jaquez, Jr.

Moda Center

UCLA Bruins

Media Conference

THE MODERATOR: We are joined by the student-athletes from UCLA. Jaime Jaquez, Jr., Jules Bernard and Tyger Campbell.

Q. Jaime, St. Mary's is so disciplined in half court game, what have you seen watching film of them, and how do you counteract the way they attack the basket and move the ball so well and cut and space and all that stuff?

JAIME JAQUEZ, JR.: We watched a lot of film this morning trying to get an idea of how they run their offense and defense and trying to get a feel for how they play. They run a lot of pick and roll, they have crafty guards that can pass and score. As a defensive team we're going to have to do everything we can to disrupt them and get them out of their system and do everything we can to like I said, disrupt.

Q. I was curious, do you guys fill out brackets as a team. I'm sure you have UCLA making a deep run. Did you pick UCLA to win?

TYGER CAMPBELL: I didn't make April bracket.

JAIME JAQUEZ, JR.: I didn't make a bracket.

TYGER CAMPBELL: We're locked in on the tournament. We didn't make one.

Q. Was last night a wake-up call. I know you said you didn't need one but was last night having a game that close against a lower seed opponent, was that any kind of energizing for you guys.

JULES BERNARD: I don't want to discredit Akron because they're probably one of the better defensive teams we played all season and they're extremely well coached. Going into the game we knew it was going to be tough and obviously with all the upsets going on and even like last year, seeding is fun but to us it doesn't really matter. We know that if you're in the tournament you're good enough to win a game. So we knew that coming in. We knew it was going to be a tough game. It was definitely a good test for us to get out of the way, play a tough team like that. So to have that game under our belt I think it will help propel us a little bit.

Q. Did any of you catch their game against Gonzaga when they won at home? If you did what was it like watching them do that?

JAIME JAQUEZ, JR.: I didn't watch the game personally. I don't know about these guys. We definitely took a lot of film from that game and like I said today earlier, we watched a lot of film and just trying to see what they do, how they play, and just kinda get a good feel of what kind of a team they are.

Q. Tyger, when you watched back the deep shot you made. You were on the logo. Did you know that at the time? When you watched it back was it like I was far back on that shot?

TYGER CAMPBELL: I knew I was deep but until I watched the video I didn't understand how deep I was. I was looking at the shot clock and not trying to get a shot clock violation so, yeah.

Q. There are situations when you find yourself beyond the key and well beyond the arc and Coach mentioned you have practiced that shot for about 10 minutes. Is that something you do often?

TYGER CAMPBELL: I try to make a focus on getting threes up before games and like Coach said when I was practicing it we had a 40-minute practice and I was shooting with my teammate, Will, and I was messing around the arc. I wouldn't say I practiced that deep of a shot but I practice threes a lot.

Q. I take it you have seen a little bit of St. Mary's now. Is there anybody in the Pac-12 to whom you would compare the Gaels?

JULES BERNARD: What we picked up this morning from watching film is Washington State is a doesn't comparison. I believe they said one of their coaches, if not the head coach, actually worked for St. Mary's. They have a lot of crafty guards, quick guards that can control the game with pick and rolls, like Washington State, so I would say that would probably be the best comparison.

Q. Tyger, last night from what I remember when you hit that deep three right before you jabbed a couple times, you had a little smile on your face. Did you know that you were going to let go of it that deep?

TYGER CAMPBELL: Before the shot?

Q. Before the shot. And the play before that you caught it deep and had this little smile like maybe I'm going to hit this is this space.

TYGER CAMPBELL: I don't remember the smile but I knew I hit a shot the previous possession. I was feet ready, hands ready, ready to shoot, and I knew I was going to let it go when I got it. I don't remember the smile but, yeah.

JULES BERNARD: I remember the smile.

TYGER CAMPBELL: Okay. Jules remembers the smile.

Q. What things will you have to do better tomorrow than you did last night to win?

JAIME JAQUEZ, JR.: I think we played a solid defensive game against Akron, as you saw, it was low scoring. We held them to 54 points. We have to continue our defensive effort like we had in that first game and continue to try and get great shots. I think we had a lot of great looks last night that didn't go in, but we've got to keep that up and trust in our offense and trust that we're going to hit those shots down the stretch.

Q. I will acknowledge this is a weird question, but Tyger I have wondered this all season: How heavy is your hair when you play with it? There is an on going conversation in the Pac-12 about who's hair is heavier, yours or Haley Jones at Stanford who plays with an intense weave. Are you familiar with her?

TYGER CAMPBELL: Yeah, I've seen some stuff, but I don't know how much my hair weighs. I have never weighed my hair. Probably a couple pounds, a little heavy.

Q. (Away from mic.)

TYGER CAMPBELL: No, I don't really notice it. I've had it for over six or seven years now, gone through different phases, big, small, but I don't know how much it weighs.

THE MODERATOR: Thanks, gentlemen. Good luck tomorrow.

We are joined by head coach of UCLA Mick Cronin.

COACH CRONIN: Watching St. Mary's before I went to sleep was the worst thing I could have done because then I stayed up all night with paranoia.

Q. The metrics say that St. Mary's is better on defense than offense and certainly --

COACH CRONIN: By a long -- by 9 to 50, right?

Q. Exactly.

COACH CRONIN: I agree with you.

Q. But watching them on offense I was -- their ball movement, spacing, discipline?

COACH CRONIN: They were awesome against Indiana. But I agree with you. They have a system, so their guys are just really comfortable in their system, which is their pick and roll offense, predominantly and then their post-ups. Kuhse is a maestro with the ball in the pick and roll, Logan Johnson, you're welcome, Randy, is my guy and he's just a -- he's improved every year. He knows what his strength are, he plays to them.

When you watch them play I just keep thinking -- you can't speed 'em up. As you're alluding to, you see how good they are. Obviously they've played great against Indiana and they scored more points than their average but the metrics say they're 9th in the nation defensively. That's because they defend the three and the rim. You defend the three and the rim you're usually going to be pretty good defensively.

Q. Do they have an international flavor to the way they play?

COACH CRONIN: They always have. That's been going back to Dellavedova before Patty Mills and numerous guys.

Q. I asked your players if there's anybody in the Pac-12 to whom they would compare St. Mary's and they said you guys told them Washington State?

COACH CRONIN: Right, for obvious reasons.

Q. Do you see any of UCLA in St. Mary's?

COACH CRONIN: Oh, I don't know. That's a tough one. In what way would you mean.

Q. Style of play, more half court, precise in what they do?

COACH CRONIN: We're more athletic. We try to execute. We probably do some -- probably try to do -- I don't know if this is smart, because I've always talked -- Randy and I go way back, now.

What they do, the genius of what they do is they master what they do. The offense would be the difference but they just do what they do. They're not going to come out and try and trick you. The way they trick you is by being great at what they do in the offensive system and really on defense as well. They protect the rim. They only give up five threes a game, I think, and they're good at it. And it's worked for him. What he's accomplished there in Moraga because Randy got me back in '04 I was the coach at Murray State. He talked me into coming out. At least he got me a win first, we beat Davis before they put it on us in game 2.

Q. (Away from mic.)

COACH CRONIN: I went to Claim Jumpers there in Moraga after and he was there with the three officials. (Laughter.)

Q. That's the only time Claim Jumpers has been mentioned in the NCAA Tournament press conference today. Where is Johnny Juzang? Do you need more from him?

COACH CRONIN: I think we definitely need more from him. I have to do a better job of getting him freed up. He needs us to be a high execution team, so the one you're alluding to in the NCAA Tournament last year we were an elite screening team and our execution was high which is why we were able to score at the clip we scored at.

It's on me to get him freed up more

Q. (Away from mic.)

COACH CRONIN: I think so. I don't know if somebody kicked him in the calf. I saw him massaging his calf but, heck, at this time of year I don't know what is 100% in that room. I think you're alluding to offense. It's different. What happened to him is you become a victim of your own success, too. Everybody we played against all season this year, they all saw the NCAA Tournament last year. So he's got guys cloaked all over him every game. We've got to get him free more.

Q. Tara VanDerveer at Stanford has pledged to donate $10 for every three made in the women's NCAA Tournament by all teams and put that money toward humanitarian efforts in Ukraine. She has also challenged every NCAA Tournament men's and women's coach to join her --

COACH CRONIN: $10.

Q. For all the threes.

COACH CRONIN: Still, that's not that -- do the math real quick.

Q. I'm with you, I'm just wondering if you were going to?

COACH CRONIN: Make 500 threes the rest of the tournament? That's easy. Good for her. I have no problem on that.

Q. I was going to ask if you were going to accept her challenge --

COACH CRONIN: Yeah, that's easy, that's not even a hard one. I will give you one while you're on the case.

Q. Sure?

COACH CRONIN: I think we should have a charity thing every year where we donate $1 from every ticket sold from every first-round game in both tournaments. The NCAA should take $1 from every ticket from every first game including the First Four and we should decide where we're giving it. There is a lot of -- obviously with what's going on -- I'm a history guy so I follow the Ukraine situation and there is a lot of things at home --

Q. What would your charity be this year?

COACH CRONIN: Too many. When you're in LA too many. Obviously we have homeless issues, but I was thinking of my mother, something to do with young girls, under privileged girls homes women. I have a daughter and my mother was a charitable person so mine would lead toward that.

Q. Not as important as that last question --

COACH CRONIN: Nothing it, right? (Laughter.)

Q. Is it difficult to defend a team that runs as many pick and rolls as St. Mary's does?

COACH CRONIN: Depends who you're running the pick and roll with. I have friends in the NBA you guys don't understand how to teach pick and roll offense. I'm like, oh really? That's nice. Look who the hell you've got running the pick and roll. Chris Ball, Jason Kidd you have the best 30 guys running the pick and roll. I'm really proud of the way you run pick and roll. But Kuhse is the problem, not the pick and roll. Kuhse is the problem. And Randy has trained him, obviously. Their guys are always in the right spots. If you watch the film the guy's head is up and it's like he can see right through -- he can see through the other coach. He knows what the coach -- I know what you're trying to do to me.

He can start to read the coverages.

Q. What about the other end of that with Matthias Tass their big on the other end of the pick and roll, how difficult is he to scout out?

COACH CRONIN: He's a solid player. Again, another guy that probably nobody wanted that Coach Bennett took and has made him into a great player. Randy is one of the best college coaches in modern times and people just don't understand because they don't get it.

They just think the guy with the best players is -- he's the legend. When people in California or on the west coast understand if you've been to Moraga what's been accomplished at St. Mary's is a modern miracle because he takes guys like that and turns 'em into players, and it just never stops. I used to tell Randy, you've got to get out of there, what are you doing? He's turned down jobs, because I keep thinking he can't keep pulling this out, it's like you're winning in poker with five cards in a seven-card stud game, and he just keeps pulling it off, with player development.

Q. You know, Mick, there are a lot of people in Moraga who like it there.

COACH CRONIN: If you see their gym and resources compared to some of the jobs he's turned down, I thought he lost his mind years ago, but now he has name recognition so recruiting is easier for him.

Q. How do you slow down Tommy Kuhse? You were talking about the pick and rolls. I know you can't take them away, but how do you slow him down?

COACH CRONIN: We'll see. I love you, Tracy, but if you want me to tell you our defensive strategy for the game -- it hasn't been 24 hours. I think I'm at my game seven on my film watching. I don't know if I have the answer yet. I'm being serious. I've watched people play his pick and rolls, you go under he shoots it in; you drop cover, he attacks you big and finishes; you blitz him, he hits the roll guy; you soft him and tag too hard, he hits the spot-up three in the opposite corner. So you're going to have to pick your poison with him. You deny him, he cuts backdoor.

Q. Mick, your dad gets a lot of air time, some would say more than you?

COACH CRONIN: It's ridiculous.

Q. I was wondering has there ever been a time during the course of your coaching career where you guys hit a big shot or something and out of the corner of your eye you see him celebrating and thinking what the hell is going on over there?

COACH CRONIN: No, he's always behind me, and I'm trying to figure out how the hell to beat Akron, worried about him. There was a time -- most of the time -- my daughter is 15 now, and I was worried about how much candy he was giving her during the game, and he sends me home with her after 8 cotton candies. That was my life for a long time. You know how grandparents are.

THE MODERATOR: Thank you, Coach.