WATCH: Tyger Campbell, Myles Johnson on UCLA Men's Basketball Battling Through Losses

UCLA men's basketball guard Tyger Campbell and center Myles Johnson were the two players made available to the media on Tuesday morning before practice.

Campbell talked about how he handles losses and what he is planning to do to handle this upcoming stretch of six games in 12 days. Johnson faces those same challenges as a student-athlete, and he said he'll be entering this home stretch open to whatever role the coaches give him to help the team as a whole.

TYGER CAMPBELL

Six games in 12 days plus school – any adjustments to handle it?

I honestly don't know. It's our first time doing something like this I think. So I don't know what Coach is going to have us do, whether that's taking off practices, or not go as hard. But this is new for me. I'm just looking forward to playing all these games. I'm just really excited and it's just what our schedule turned out to be. Just gotta take it for what it is.

Hard academically?

Yeah, of course. But we have great teachers here, great faculty. They work with us. It shouldn't be too taxing. A lot of the players get ahead of their work before we got trips, so I'm not really too worried about it.

Going against a good 3-point shooting defense?

We just gotta come ready to play, honestly. We got good 3-point shooters, we haven't been shooting it the best at the moment. But we've got guys working on it and ready to go into the game and hit shots, hit big shots. Just credit to their defense, I guess. They're going to try to take us out of our 3-point stuff, keep us off the line, taking long 2s, but we just gotta come prepared for that, knowing that's what they're good at.

What makes WSU defense so good?

Ummm. I don't really know. We haven't started the scout yet. I've seen a couple of their games this season. I haven't really watched too in-depth with their defensive schemes. So I don't really have an answer for you on that. I'm sure they just play together and that's probably why they are a great defensive team.

Watch games on off days? Or try to take days off basketball?

I say a little bit of both, because being a student-athlete can be overwhelming at times. But I watch this YouTube page called "Matthew Loves Bball" and they do condensed games. So I'll just throw that on my TV on YouTube or something and just watch the play by plays on that.

Uneasiness about injuries?

I mean I feel that's in every gym across the country. If someone goes down, regardless of who it is, you're going to be worried about them. So I wouldn't say there's anything extra, but we're just trying to get guys to 100% right now. We have great trainers and people that are willing to help us. I wouldn't say there is anything extra, it's just we're trying to get guys healthy right now.

Main difference between defense played against Arizona, Cal, Stanford vs. defense you played last week? How do you get back?

I just say what Coach preaches: We just gotta play with energy and effort. You can control your effort on the court, you can't control whether the ball goes in or turnovers sometimes, but we can control our energy and effort, so we just got to start playing harder like we were in the games you mentioned.

Frustrating when team doesn't play with energy and effort?

Just frustrating in the sense of not playing with energy and effort will lead to a loss, and it's shown itself this year. I wouldn't say I really get frustrated at anybody individual or anything like that, I'm just frustrated with the fact that we lost.

How does that happen with such a veteran team?

I think guys, including myself, just not being locked in all the way on the scouting report. And then, never make excuses, but we have guys fighting, coming back from injuries right now, so in and out. You can say a bunch of different things, but I would just say we just gotta work more on it and be ready by this week.

Jaime playing on ankles?

Respectfully, I feel like you should just ask Jaime that. Of what he thinks about playing on them because I don't really want to speak on another athlete in that type of way. I think you should just ask Jaime.

MYLES JOHNSON

Six games in 12 days challenging for you academically?

Yeah, it's definitely gonna be challenging with all these games coming up, but the whole season is challenging when it comes to balancing school and academics and basketball, so just gotta keep grinding, keep doing everything on time. I try to start everything super early so I'm already getting ahead on everything I need to, so it's just keep on doing what I've been doing with my time and management and stuff like that.

What does coach mean when he says to play meaner?

Yeah, it's definitely been a challenge, I know what you mean by that. Coach Cronin wants me to be as aggressive as possible when I'm on the floor, especially being as big as I am, I kinda really can use my size to my advantage. And that's kinda something that's been – I've been told that forever, I've been a nice guy, I gotta be more aggressive and stuff like that. So it's definitely a challenge I'm facing, currently, plus we need it. I can help as much as I can and being aggressive will obviously help the team a lot.

Why do you think channeling that is a challenge to you?

Uh, I mean, I honestly couldn't tell you. It's just I guess I'm just more mild natured than I thought and I guess I just have to bring that out of myself when it comes for us again, so.

Heard anything from coaches about lineup changes moving forward, and how do you communicate with Cody about playing time?

No, we haven't really talked much about lineups going forward for these coming games. But you know, when Cody's in, I'm always ready to go, whenever he needs a break or a sub or he gets a couple fouls, I'm always ready to go. So kind of just stay ready and when I'm in the game, make use of my minutes as much as possible and when I'm not, cheering for everyone on the floor to do good and compete. So I just play it as it goes.

Instinct to kick out on offensive rebounds? Coaches look at film and tell you to go up with it?

Yeah, definitely. We definitely looked at the film and some of the offensive rebounds I had. But mostly, in my head, I'm thinking as soon as I grab a rebound, everybody's collapsing to the ball, everybody's coming. Especially with this team, such great 3-point shooters, it's easier to spread out, offense is gonna be wide open cause everyone's gonna be trying to get the offensive rebound or trying to get the rebound in general. So I guess it is kind of intuition to kick it out, even in previous teams I've been on, it's kinda just get the rebound and you already know that everybody's gonna be collapsing so you kinda just kick it out and then you have a whole new clock at that point, so you either run something or get to doing something.

Follow Connon on Twitter at @SamConnon
Follow All Bruins on Twitter at @SI_AllBruins
Like All Bruins on Facebook at @SI.AllBruins
Subscribe to All Bruins on YouTube

Read more UCLA stories: UCLA Bruins on Sports Illustrated
Read more UCLA men's basketball stories: UCLA Men's Basketball on Sports Illustrated