WATCH: Jaylen Clark, Myles Johnson, David Singleton on UCLA Beating Washington
UCLA men’s basketball guard Jaylen Clark, center Myles Johnson and guard David Singleton talked to reporters after their team’s 76-50 win over Washington at Pauley Pavilion on Saturday night. Clark and Singleton both notched career highs and combined for 47 points, with Clark talking about his aggressiveness and Singleton explaining his perspective when he’s knocking down 3-pointers. Johnson owned the boards and he talked about how that led to him shooting key technical free throws down the stretch.
Filling gaps with players out?
Jaylen Clark: I feel like our team is always mostly prepared. If you look at our practices, it’s really competitive – one through 12. We all can really hoop, from David to Myles, and when everybody's here, we can fill our roles, but if they need us to step up, we can all do that too.
Career high for Jaylen two nights in a row – in a groove?
JC: Oh yeah, for sure. Like I said, you got an opportunity, you just try to make the most out of it, keep working, like I said. I just feel like everything I've done (inaudible).
David career high?
David Singleton: I just knew in the zone, there’s going to be holes in the zone, so I just wanted to run to the open spots. Every night, just being prepared. You never know when your team might need you, so tonight they needed me, so I just got the job done.
Myles taking the technical free throws?
Myles Johnson: We got to the huddle and Cronin just says, ‘The way you’re playing, you get to shoot the free throws.’ At first, I was like, ‘OK.’ You know, I’ve been working on it, just went up with confidence and I made them, so that was good.
Coach telling you to be less aggressive sometimes, Jaylen?
JC: Yeah, I mean I’m just an aggressive player, but he’s talking about my head obviously. I can’t get hit again in the head. So it’s kind of hard. I don’t really be thinking, I get caught up in the moment, you just see the ball, you running up and want to dunk this. But later in the game, I calmed down, just go off two feet, just like we wanted.
Defense on Brown?
JC: I feel like it came from a lot of my teammates. I started off on him, but we were switching a lot. They were switching a lot. Playing with Myles helps me out a lot, because I know if I get beat I have backside help. He's gonna come and block it from the backside or just wall up. So, as a team, I feel like we did a really good job containing him and I'm open to guarding him.
Slow start – new lineup or defense?
JC: No, I just feel like we haven't seen many zones. The Washington zone, they are very aggressive and stuff. When people like David started hitting 3s, it started opening it, they started to have to guard him, stretch it out and then we were able to get into the middle and attack it inside out.
David what was going through your head when you were hot there?
DS: What was going through my head? Just keep shooting. Just keeping making the right play. I knew if I didn't force it, the shots would still come. And if I keep moving the ball, passing the ball, I would be a threat with my passing and my shooting. So just playing the right way.
Mindset going into games?
MJ: Mentally, I just lock into the scouting report and do whatever is needed for that game. Like this game, they aren't really that much of an inside team, they shoot a lot of 3s, so long rebounds were my biggest focus today, and definitely boxing out the big dude. And on offense, they play zone, so all the rebounding was gonna be open on offense. Today's focus was rebounding for me and I just do what we need to do. If we need box, we need rebounds, that's what I'm gotta do – posting up all day today, wipe out everybody so they get layups. Just doing whatever I gotta do to get the dubs, that's my mindset going into games.
How is everyone holding up over long stretch?
DS: It's going pretty good. UCLA offers us many resources to recover, stay hydrated, stay healthy. So, shoutout to the staff for keeping us focused and on track. The coaching staff is doing a really good job of paying attention to our bodies and keeping us locked in and being ready for the next game.
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