Postgame Talk: The Bobby Hurley Show Comes to Town as UCLA Beats Arizona State 90-77
Donovan Dent had a coming-out party, and the Bruin backcourt provided some hope for the future.
Look, I’m going to talk about what UCLA did in this game in a second, trust me, but I need to get this off my chest:
I love watching Bobby Hurley's basketball teams.
Let me be clear on something: these teams are not good, far from it. But they’re extremely entertaining to watch. You never know what you’re going to get from Hurley’s Sun Devil squads. Some nights, you might get an Arizona State team that shoots the lights out of the building, and on others, you might get a team that looks like it is touching a basketball for the first time. At no point does it ever look like Hurley is having any sort of effect on the game; on the contrary, if you told me Bobby spends the entire game screaming, “Why aren’t you doing what I’m telling you?” then I would believe you. Arizona State film sessions consist of Hurley wheeling a CRT TV into the room and playing 1992 Duke highlights on loop. I’m convinced of it.
All of which to say, I don’t think there was ever a point where UCLA felt in danger of losing to Hurley’s ragtag squad of talented yet uncoached players, but I was thoroughly entertained throughout UCLA’s 90-77 victory over Arizona State.
Okay, I will also note that UCLA’s offense helped keep things engaging, as the Bruins shot 46.8% from the field, including an impressive 53.8% from three-point range, en route to their 90 points. This was the UCLA offense firing on (mostly) all cylinders, with Donovan Dent, Skyy Clark, and Tyler Bilodeau each scoring over 18 points. Dent in particular had a breakout performance, finishing the game with 20 points on an efficient 9-17 shooting night, even hitting one of his three three-point attempts. Dent was a force in the first half, hitting a variety of shots in the paint and finally looking healthy enough to take advantage of his top-end athleticism to create separation. Then, in the second half, he became more of a facilitator, getting his teammates involved in the scoring party. Sure, he had four turnovers, but it felt as if the Bruins finally understood how best to play with Dent, clearing out the lane for him to drive (and having a few guys crash for dumps and easy put-backs) while others set up on the perimeter for open looks from deep.
Skyy Clark also had a tremendous game, scoring all 18 of his points from behind the arc (and only taking three shots inside the arc) while playing excellent defense (when the referees allowed him to). This was the kind of performance that makes you understand what one of the central conceits of this roster was: that the combination of Dent and Clark (and Trent Perry off the bench) gave UCLA one of the best backcourts in the nation, and the team would just need solid play on the back end to support them. In this game, that solid play came from Tyler Bilodeau, who put up 18 efficient points on his own and continues to look “better” defensively, but it also came from Stephen Jamerson, Brandon Williams, and Jamar Brown. Jamerson continues to look like the better post option for UCLA, especially from a defensive standpoint. Williams did a lot of the little things well and really helped shore up the defense when Jamerson had to leave due to foul trouble. Brown gave a lot of energy and hustle on defense while hitting several threes on the other side.
The downside to this game is the performances of Xavier Booker and Eric Dailey Jr. I mentioned at one point that Booker was getting plenty of exercise, which was the nicest way possible to point out that he was a net negative on the floor. Booker could not handle Arizona State’s interior players, and he was not contributing on the offensive end either, seemingly pressing to score. He was so bad that Mick Cronin opted to run with Bilodeau and Williams as his interior options down the stretch when Jamerson was forced to sit with four fouls. Williams was also on the court because Eric Dailey couldn’t be relied upon to play basketball today. Dailey had six rebounds, which was nice, but he was generally a net negative on offense, too often going into business for himself instead of playing with the rest of the team, and his lackadaisical effort on defense was not helping matters. Dailey had one of the laziest fouls I’ve seen during one of Arizona State’s fake runs in the second half, and at that point, Mick Cronin decided he’d seen enough, as Dailey only played three of the final 10 minutes, with one of those minutes coming in the final minute.
But for a game that felt like a must-win for so many, UCLA handled business and then some. There was a lot to like in this game, to the point where you can see the path forward for this team. Get great play from the guards, have one of Bilodeau or Dailey provide scoring punch from the wings, and profit. It’s not a recipe for a national championship, but it can keep UCLA in any game going forward.
Go Bruins!
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