Watch: Mick Cronin Praises Myles Johnson, Jaylen Clark After UCLA's Win Over Washington

MICK CRONIN

Jaylen Clark late season Pac-12 Player of the Year?

Remember, I told you in October, the way he’s been down three different times for almost two weeks, so it’s been very, very unfortunate. Since Chris Smith went down, it’s like somebody’s got a voodoo doll poking holes in my team, [inaudible] sticking holes in my team. It’s my 19th year as a head coach, I went 17 years with one ACL. I played games with literally we never had a guy miss a game in years.

Terrified when he went down after his dunk?

I have begged him to protect himself on the fastbreak. I tell all these guys, you go off one foot on a fastbreak, I got used to people trying to take me out, so I started going off two [feet] back in my day. You’d get undercut. When you get up that high, it’s hard when you land. For him, I told him, forget those dunks, let’s just lay it in and make sure we land on our feet and not our head and then I’ll stop begging you to. But instincts kick in.

Guys have stepped up when others go down?

Yeah. Really happy for David, obviously. Even though they played zone, I thought Jaylen Clark had a big game because he does such a great job of moving. So many people, the zones cause you to stand and he’s out and he’s in and he’s three-point line, top of the key, baseline and high post and he just keeps cutting and moving, which is what you’ve got to do; you’ve got to move without the ball against a zone defense. David was [inaudible] a lot of good ball movement. Obviously, with Johnny out tonight it was important for David or Jaylen to give us some made shots.

Johnny and Cody's status?

Cody for sure. I would think Johnny. He fell off a scooter. I’m telling you, we have a plane almost go down, I mean, it’s just unbelievable. It’s the year of unbelievable. Let’s just get it all over before March now. You can’t even make it up. Literally, you can’t make that up.

Cody Riley's status?

Load management. Ben, we talked about these six games in 12 days, it’s a long grind. Myles just walked in here but you can dominate a game with seven points when you get 13 rebounds and three blocks.

Luxury that only two guys have logged 30+ minutes in these past two games?

I was definitely trying to do that tonight. Definitely trying to do that tonight. And absolutely, with the stretch we're in, trying to – once I knew that the game was, at a certain point – that's why you didn't see much of Jaime. He was playing tonight as needed.

Handle mental preparation with lighter practices?

Yeah, film, walkthrough. Film, walkthrough yesterday, same thing tomorrow. We do more on our game day cause they're recovered by then, so tomorrow's all recovery and mental preparation.

Tyger's injury on the first possession?

I think he just took a stinger to the shoulder, that's what – I didn't see it, but I saw him do that. I was just happy his shoulder didn't pop out, was gonna add that to the list.

Myles shot the technical free throws?

You rebound like that, you play like that, you get to shoot the free throws. Plus he puts more time in on his free throws with coach Lewis than anybody, so he earned it. You rebound the ball the way he did, block shots the way he did, you get to shoot the technicals, especially when you lead us in rebounding and deflections. You're either 1 or 2 in both categories every game, you get to shoot.

Mixing and matching lineups similar to December 2011 at Cincinnati?

Oh, back to when we had those guys out for six games? We went 6-0? The problem now is I knew who was out for six games, you know? We had a bunch of guys get suspended because of a fight. But now, I can't give a guy from his apartment to Mo Ostin without falling off a scooter. I don't know who the hell's out every day. I'm scared to pick my phone up every morning. Tyler Lesher's done a great job as our trainer, but he's the grim reaper. Every time he comes near me, it's bad news. So it's tough cause you don't know who's in and who's out. Like, we knew Cody wasn't gonna play in the middle game of these three, but I had no idea with Johnny. The Tyger thing happened at the last second, and so it just is what it is. You gotta find a way to win. When we just play, all we care about is winning, we're really, really tough. And these two guys you're gonna talk to – Myles and Jaylen – their defense and their rebounding take us to another level. But I was very happy for David tonight, obviously. Guys did a good job moving the ball and he was due for a game like this. He's the best shooter in the Pac-12.