WATCH: Mick Cronin Talks UCLA's Passing, Beating Bellarmine
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UCLA men's basketball coach Mick Cronin spoke with reporters following the Bruins' 81-60 win over Bellarmine at Pauley Pavilion on Sunday night. Cronin talked about the Knights' passing, Jaime Jaquez Jr.'s breakout performance, Adem Bona's career night, the importance of passing to UCLA's offense and why his team nearly got outrebounded.
Opening statement
Both teams played extremely hard. I knew coach Davenport was going to have his guys ready. He needs to evaluate his scheduling, my close friend, can't play at Louisville, at Duke, at Clemson, at Loyola Marymount, at UCLA – I don't like your chances. But look how hard his kids played. If you respect the game, watching them play is, it's refreshing, in my opinion. Preparing for it makes you a better team because you have to defend the whole clock. You have to have, put pressure on the ball, active hands and communication and they're gonna pick you apart. And they've struggled to shoot it this year but they got hot for a little bit. But I thought, you know we were tired, guys played too many minutes without J-Rock out there, so that was a factor. We didn't start the second half with much defensive energy, but great win for us. Wherever you can get better, and they make you get better. Our passing was off the charts. Part of the reason I like to play coach Davenport's team is because you get to teach your guys what it's like to watch a team the passes the ball. And if we would ever pass the ball and continue to get 26 assists, we'll continue to shoot 61%. Our passing was awesome. Even Amari's last basket on the baseline was because Dave caught it and immediately threw it to Amari so he had a chance to blow by a guy on the closeout instead of Dave holding it. Just simple things like that, that we're getting a little bit better at. I think playing Bellarmine helps it, so hopefully that that's going to be a benefit for them, hopefully J-Rock is just in bed with the chills, got his medicine and be OK by Tuesday's practice.
Jaime Jaquez?
Yeah, you know, look, the open man is the go-to man. You know, I told Amari and Tyger at halftime they didn't have a basket but they had eight assists and no turnovers. This is why they need to listen to coaches when it comes to basketball. Coaches that actually have a job coaching with a retirement plan that can actually coach... because coaches understand the facts. And they're the ones that can help you get where you want to go. Because there's so many plays that in the course of the game that have nothing to do with the stat sheet. I could just tell you, I can take your man because you lost them. Would that show up in the stat sheet as a winning play? That's why you have to, in talent evaluation, you know, guys like that. And then we try to talk about it constantly. There's just so many other things but Jaime was just – he was the recipient of it. I think he missed one shot inside the line. No doubt about it. I was most happy, I thought Jaime played as hard as he's played all year in the first 10 minutes of the game on defense. Jaime is gonna have a long career because can defend the pros, period. And if he can't, he won't play. He's not going to make it because he can score. Now we need all the baskets we can get. But he had four steals early, I thought he set the tone defensively for us.
Adem Bona?
A little bit, he gets tired. Look, Adem's young. This is I think probably his high minutes, 29, on the year and he got the recipient of a lot of lobs. But defensively, it's tough. I told him and Kenny you're gonna have to guard guys who are at the 3-point line. You know, Curt Hopf, for them, can shoot, made four threes. They're not going to go at you, they're gonna try to spread you out and shoot it. It's just all things that the stress that they put on your defense, it makes you a better team in the long run.
Difference when creating so many assists?
I blame myself. We got a lot of freshmen, but nobody wants to hear that stuff. Nobody wants to hear it. In fact, I don't wanna hear it. You know, it's like you got to get the job done. That's what they pay us for. You want to be a high-efficiency team that shoots a high percentage, you're gonna have to pass the ball because the good teams aren't going to give you a layup early in the clock. It's gonna take you... I talk to our guys about boxing, it's like body blows. Tyger took a one-on-five three early in the game, Amari took a one-on-four pull up. And they were both open, but those are headshots. You know, in boxing, when you throw body blows, eventually the other team wears down. You get a wide open 3, you get a lay up, you get the ball to Jaime where they can't stop it. You know we even had Tyger getting layups off the cut late in the game. So just got to get the job done as a coach. It's the hardest thing by far. If you were to save to me basketball wise, that is the hardest thing. Because, you know, as we see at AAU events, passing is not in vogue, dribbling is the term of the day. And we got to get better at posting. We finally got Adem the ball on some lobs. But it's just so different, today's game, these kids play... Unfortunately, in Europe, they're being coached every day. And you know, our guys are playing pickup. They're rolling out in vans, warming up two minutes and playing, and watching each other dribble. It's not basketball. Might as well go play soccer, you might get in better shape. And then you wouldn't develop the bad habits. And then here I come, you know, we come in and you got to get the job done. Gotta teach guys how to move without the ball and get off the ball, shoot it, pass it or drove. It's the hardest thing to do by far.
Rebound battle?
They're the best ball block-out team in the country. And you got to remember we only missed 20 shots. We shot 31-for-51. They're the best block-out team in the country. And we're a spread team and we were trying to use it against them and kick it out and shoot it when we're open and were only 3-for-16. That's gonna happen. If we hadkept doing that, you lose. Instead, we kept moving the ball and getting layups. That's why we were able to get to 81 on a night where we couldn't throw it in the ocean from three.
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