The Bruins’ star seniors led the team in points, doing most of their work in the second half of the conference title-clinching victory.
UCLA men’s basketball guard/forward Jaime Jaquez Jr. and point guard Tyger Campbell spoke to reporters following the Bruins’ 60-56 win over Colorado in Boulder on Sunday. Jaquez talked about what winning the Pac-12 meant to him and his other veteran teammates and how they were able to come through in the final moments, while Campbell talked about his clutch shots and his team’s celebration.
JAIME JAQUEZ JR.
How important was winning the Pac-12 title?
Very important. I think it goes to the four years of hard work that guys like, you know, even J-Rock as well, just guys who really just stuck around and really bought into the idea of coming back and playing for something bigger than us. That was one of the goals that we had in the beginning of the year and we accomplished it and now we’ve got two more goals that we want to accomplish as well and we’re just going to keep working hard.
What was the celebration like?
I mean, honestly, we were just excited, we had some speakers playing, we were just excited but we’ve got to understand, we’re playing for something a lot bigger than this. We have an ultimate goal in mind, this was one of the things we needed to do to get there and this was a step in the right direction.
Difference between the first and second halves?
I think we didn’t turn the ball over as much. I think in the second half we only had three turnovers—I had some bad turnovers in the first half, we had some bad turnovers just overall as a team and I think our offense flow was better in the second half as well.
What does it say about your resilience that you came back from down 10 to win?
Yeah, I think we have a lot of guys that have been in this position and the freshmen aren’t freshmen anymore, they’ve been in positions like this as well, we’re just comfortable and we have a lot of trust in each other as a team, we try to hold each other accountable as best we can—when I make a mistake, Dave gets on me and when Dave makes a mistake I get on him, it just goes back and forth and we have that relationship with one another on the team, so yeah, I think that’s why we’re so good in those situations.
Get excited when you saw Arizona State beat Arizona, knowing that it gave you an extra opportunity on the road?
Yeah, we were obviously excited, we knew what that meant and we wanted to finish the road trip off on a good note.
When da Silva left, how did that change the way Colorado played?
I think he’s a pretty solid defender as well, he can make a lot of tough shots and his three-point shooting was something that I think they missed from him, he hit a couple of big shots for them in the second half.
How excited were you were you saw Amari get free on the baseball pass?
I mean, I was excited from the moment he inbounded the ball, I saw the defender was playing on the inside and no one was back and I was like, oh, it’s over and just threw it down. I think Amari used to play football, [inaudible] used to play football, I made that connection, I don’t know if J-Rock knows anything about that.
Tyger made some bigs plays down the stretch?
Yeah, he can hit tough shots, he does it in practice all the time. When his team needs a bucket, he can get them a bucket. I’m just so happy, he had a great second half and really came through for us and I think that really meant a lot, I think that’s really going to get him going coming into these next two games.
How big was this win?
I think it was very big, just like I said before, just a steppingstone in the right direction but we’ve got an ultimate goal, that’s to win a national championship, and this was just a step in the right direction, so we know we’ve got a lot of season left. It’s not over yet.
How do you not change your approach next week having already won the title?
I think we would have loved to have all the marbles on the line the last game of the season, I think that would have been fun, I know the guys talked about it, but obviously we want to get it done as fast as we can, we get a win here at Colorado and we’re treating it like everything is still on the line still, that’s just how we’re treating it and yeah, we’re excited to go play.
TYGER CAMPBELL
Step through layup and step back jumper?
Um, you know, the shot clock was going down and I just felt like we needed a basket and I tried to create one and luckily my flip shot went in and then the step-back, I just tried to hold my follow-through and then it went through, so I was just trying to be as focused as possible at the end of the game.
What does it feel like to be the Pac-12 champions?
It feels great but we’ve got a lot more to do this season.
How big of a win is this for you, personally, on the road against a physical team?
Yeah, it felt good, you know, Colorado’s a great team and they played really good at home and so we just tried to toughen up the defense in the second half and kind of rely on moving the ball and getting the shots that were available, so it means a lot to me that we could just go on a 2-0 road trip and going back to L.A. to play next week.
How did you guys celebrate in the locker room? Coach said he didn’t want water on him?
Yeah, I’ll just keep it in the locker room.
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