Postgame Talk: Aday Mara Freed, UCLA Defeats Wisconsin 85-83

The Bruins may have finally unlocked the Big Lad and changed the trajectory of the season.

Sebastian Mack (Photo credit: @UCLAMBB)

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Rumors of the demise of Mick Cronin’s UCLA program have been greatly exaggerated.

The Bruins have seemingly regained their form following their four-game skid, and Tuesday’s game was a huge statement of intent as UCLA held serve against a solid Wisconsin squad, winning by the final score of 85-83.

The biggest story of the game will, obviously, be the play of Aday Mara. After being a healthy scratch in Friday’s victory over Iowa, Mara reintroduced himself to the basketball world in perhaps his best performance in a UCLA uniform. Mara played 21 minutes and scored 22 points on a perfect 7-7 from the field, to go with an 8-11 performance from the free throw line. In the postgame, Mick Cronin pointed out that this was not Mara’s first good game this season, calling out the Gonzaga game in particular, but it was the first game where he was officiated fairly. Wisconsin had no real answer for Mara on the interior, which is somewhat surprising given the Badgers’ size, but the referees also called fouls on Wisconsin when Mara had the ball, and that opened so much up for him.

It also opened things up for Sebastian Mack, who went off in the second half to finish with 19 points. With Wisconsin putting more of a focus on stopping Mara, it opened up drives for Mack, who took advantage of poor Max Klesmit on repeated possessions down the stretch. I have my problems with Mack as a player, but there is no doubt that he has the Cronin toughness to go and get a basket when he needs it, and this game presented a great opportunity for him to provide a complementary scoring option to the interior play of Mara.

There are a few more players to shout out, specifically Dylan Andrews and Skyy Clark. UCLA has struggled to get consistent play out of their guards, but this was the game where it all seemingly came together. Clark had a few nice baskets and played solid, mistake-free basketball, and he hit some key free throws to ice the game at the end. Andrews continues to regain his confidence and played solid basketball, putting in nine points while dishing seven assists. Maybe most crucial? Andrews and Clark combined for only one turnover.

The offense continued its hot streak from the Iowa game, but it was the defense that keyed things in the second half. Wisconsin had its way with the Bruins in the first half, shooting 57.7% from the field, including 10-18 from three. Things started to turn at the end of the half with Mara in the game, but was the second half where the Bruins really got after the Badgers. Wisconsin shot 43.5% in the second half and only hit five threes, and the defensive intensity helped fuel the offensive surge. Was this a perfect defensive outing for the team? Hard to say; John Tonje got his as expected, and John Blackwell went off in the second half, but this was a step in the right direction. We even saw Tyler Bilodeau get to play his more natural position at the four for long stretches of this game alongside Mara (partly due to Eric Dailey being in foul trouble) and it truly helped hide his defensive liabilities. There are some good lineup ideas that came out of this game that I would expect Mick Cronin to take a closer look at going forward.

The key play of this game was, of course, a defensive play brought on by a smart defensive substitution by Cronin. With the Bruins up two and the Badgers having the ball, Cronin took out Mara and went with William Kyle, who had played six minutes in the first half and hadn’t seen the court at all in the second. Cronin said after the game that he did it so that UCLA could switch every screen, and the decision paid off, as Clark guided Blackwell into the lane so that Kyle could block his shot and secure the victory. Between Kyle’s excellent performance last Friday and Mara’s performance in this game, I would expect Cronin to start mixing and matching his bigs based on the opponent, but that’s two encouraging performances in a row for a position group that has struggled to make an impact in conference play.

Let’s quickly discuss the elephant in the room: the refereeing in this game. Simply put:

The first half was generally well-officiated, which was clearly a problem for the Big Ten officiating crew. After reviewing the tape, the referees went back out there and reestablished dominance, finishing the game with 44 foul calls, 31 of which came in the second half. The officiating was rough both ways, which almost seemed designed to make both fanbases angry, and was a huge disservice to what was a very good basketball game.

(As an aside, I think I may need to apologize to Arizona fans about one single thing because I totally get how Wisconsin shot 50 or so free throws against them this year. Greg Gard must be the greatest ref whisperer of all time because that man had the officiating crew seeing ghosts out there.)

I should hedge my bets a bit here by stating that Wisconsin is a really good team but they are coming off a road trip back-to-back, and winning in the Big Ten on the road seems extremely hard. This team has had highs before, only to immediately faceplant in their next outing. This UCLA team is the same one that could not make shots against Nebraska and has struggled to maintain defensive focus. They’re just as capable of losing a game as winning it.

But as I mentioned in the comments a few games ago, UCLA always seems to go through a midseason lull under Cronin, as guys get complacent and struggle to play to the standard required of them. Part of that can be laid at the feet of dealing with temperamental 18-22-year-old basketball players, but part of it is just the demands of Cronin’s program. Even with more veteran players, that can take some getting used to, and it is usually after that midseason lull that the team refocuses and plays the way that Cronin wants them to. While I do not doubt that Cronin wants to win conference titles, his mode of coaching seems more focused on having his team prepared to win in March and trying to peak at the right time.

There’s always a process, and right now the process led to a breakout performance and a victory. That has to count for something.

Go Bruins!

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