Jaime Jaquez credits UCLA's resiliency

UCLA star Jaime Jaquez led his team to its first Pac-12 regular season title in a decade Saturday with a 60-56 victory over Colorado. He scored a game-high 17 points as the No. 4 Bruins held off the Buffaloes in Boulder, Colo., thanks to some clutch play down the stretch.

That included a late basket and two free throws from freshman Amari Bailey and a team defense that held Colorado to 33.3% shooting from the field for the game.

Jaquez said afterwards that the team’s resiliency is a result of the experience and the roster and the trust the players have in one another.

“I think we have a lot of guys that have been in this position,” Jaquez said. “The freshmen aren’t freshmen anymore. They’ve been in positions like this as well, which is comfortable. 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. When Dave makes a mistake, it goes back and forth. We have that relationship with one another on the team. I think that’s you know why we’re so good in those situations.”

Jaime Jaquez, UCLA celebrate Pac-12 regular season title

The 2022-23 regular season title is the first one in 10 years for UCLA. It is also the 32nd regular season conference title for the Bruins.

Jaime Jaquez said winning the title was a goal at the beginning of the year and it was important to accomplish and finish the job.

“Very important,” Jaquez said. “I think it goes to the four years of hard work that guys like…even guys who just stuck around and really bought into the idea of coming back and playing for something bigger than us.”

Head coach Mick Cronin was proud of his team for getting the job done on the road.

“Yeah, not many people are ranked two or three in every metric in college basketball, so if I’m not happy now, I don’t know when the heck I’m gonna be happy,” Cronin joked in the postgame press conference following his team’s win over the Buffaloes.

All-Pac-12 point guard Tyger Campbell was also excited about the win but kept it in perspective.

“It feels great,” Campbell said. “But we’ve got a lot more to do this season.”