Jaime Jaquez, Adem Bona rave about playing in front of UCLA home crowd

UCLA has won 21 consecutive games at home after defeating Stanford on Thursday night, which is the longest such streak in the nation. Before the game earlier this week, Jaime Jaquez and Adem Bona talked about what they like about playing at Pauley Pavilion.

“We enjoy playing at home,” Jaquez said. “We really love playing in front of our fans. We enjoy defending our home court. We take it as an advantage for sure. We’re excited. We’re comfortable there and we just love playing at Pauley.”

The team hasn’t lost in Westwood since Jan. 13, 2022 when Oregon beat them in overtime by just three points. Since the start of the 2020-21 season, Mick Cronin’s squad has only lost twice at Pauley Pavilion.

The No. 4 Bruins have won five straight games after losing back-to-back road games to Arizona and USC.

Since UCLA beat their rival Trojans at Pauley Pavilion in early January, the Bruins have won by at least nine points in each home game.

“They bring a lot of energy, a lot of support, a lot of love,” Bona said. “I appreciate them for being there every single game. It’s fun playing at home. You’re coming home, you’re hype, you’re excited.”

One thing that Bona said he likes are all the chants and traditions from the UCLA fans and crowd.

“I love the band,” Bona said. “I love the roll call. I like when the band do there thing and he gets me excited a little bit too. It’s kind of amazing.”

Mick Cronin says home wins are key to avoiding letdown games

While Jaime Jaquez and Adem Bona talked about the excitement of winning at home, Cronin talked earlier in the week about what winning at home means to a basketball team.

“I just say this: There was a time I was a young coach, you studied guys who built programs,” Cronin said. “And in college basketball you have to win at home or you’re not going to build what you want to build if you don’t plant a flag at home. You have to find a way to do it. If you think you’re going to go out and make NCAA Tournaments by going undefeated on the road, you’re in trouble.”