Postgame Talk: Nothing Gained, Nothing Learned in UCLA's 71-40 Rout of Boston University
Of all the games of basketball that have been played, this was certainly one of them.
I sat up in the stands at Pauley Pavilion from opening tipoff through the sound of the final horn, and I’m still not sure what I sat through.
For anyone who did not watch, the UCLA Bruins were never truly challenged by the Boston University Terriers, as the final score of 71-40 would suggest. But anyone watching this game would see these Bruins still have plenty of learning to do to achieve their goals, as UCLA was sloppy defensively and still figuring things out on offense throughout the game.
Let’s start with the missing element: Dylan Andrews did not play in this game. No, it was not a disciplinary action or a result of his subpar play against New Mexico, but rather due to a left groin pull that left him questionable heading into the game. With BU being a lower-tier opponent, there was no reason to rush Andrews back for this game, so he sat on the bench while the other guards got increased play.
It is with the guards that I want to start focusing on because I am already at the point where I am wondering how much more rope Mick Cronin can afford to give Skyy Clark. Clark had his third-straight poor game to start the season, only scoring four points on 1-3 shooting with only two assists in 26 minutes of play. His defense was similarly poor, with Clark gambling way too much and allowing the Terrier guards to penetrate the defense easily. I do believe Clark can provide quality play for the Bruins, but it seems pretty obvious at this point that Clark should not be relied upon for the major minutes that Cronin seems to have him tabbed for at the moment.
At this point, Sebastian Mack has seemed to play his way into an increased role, possibly into the starting rotation. With Andrews out, Mack focused on his scoring more than distributing in this game and finished with 12 points on 3-5 shooting (including 1-2 from deep). Mack is also playing much better defense than we saw from him last year, and if Cronin is going to preach defense first, it would make more sense to play Mack more. Trent Perry also seems ready for an increased role; he’s shown a willingness to mix it up on the defensive glass and is a good passer. He’s probably not at the point where he is ready for 30+ minutes, but Cronin went to Perry as the first guard off the bench in this one, and it seems apparent that there is more and more faith in Perry as a player who makes winning plays.
I was encouraged by what I saw from Dominick Harris in this game, and specifically the willingness of Cronin and the coaching staff to let him play through things in the second half. Harris ended up with 15 minutes in this game and played solid defense, which will hopefully open the door for more playing time going forward. On offense, Harris continued his early cold streak, but the staff were encouraging him to shoot and the stroke itself looked very good, just more unlucky than anything (his last shot was quite-literally halfway down the net before ringing out). Those will eventually fall, and unlock some more things offensively.
In the title, I said that there was nothing learned, and part of that has to do with all the turnovers and sloppy play we saw tonight. The Bruins finished with 15 turnovers in this game, 10 of which came in the first half with the starters pressing way too much and throwing the ball all over the place. Part of this comes from a bunch of new players learning each other’s tendencies and how they want to play together, but the other part is some of the newer pieces are pressing way too much. Chief among them in this game were Tyler Bilodeau and Kobe Johnson. For Bilodeau, it was clear that Boston was focused on limiting what he could do offensively, and instead of taking what the defense was giving and looking to get others involved, Bilodeau ended up forcing too many looks, ultimately finishing with a measly six points on 3-8 shooting and only three rebounds. For Kobe Johnson, I think he’s taking the preseason praise from Cronin regarding his defense too harshly, as he is gambling way too much and ending up out of position too often. And again with the pressing, Johnson led the team with four turnovers.
Where UCLA was able to get some positives were from some of the more unsung players, starting with Lazar Stefanovic. Stefanovic got the surprise start in this one and made it count, going for a team-high 13 points on a highly-efficient 4-7 shooting. Stefanovic has seen his role simplified this year and is flourishing at the moment, with his 3-5 outside shooting standing as a clear highlight of the evening. Also doing well was Eric Dailey Jr., who tied Stefanovic with 13 points while playing good defense.
Maybe the most encouraging thing from this game was the play of William Kyle III, who continues to grow more comfortable each day with what is being asked of him. Kyle finished with seven points on 3-4 shooting and had six rebounds, chipping in a block as well. If Kyle can continue this level of development, that would go a long way to shoring up some defensive issues against the bigger frontlines in the Big Ten. Aday Mara also had some solid minutes in mop-up duty, and getting that extended run should help him develop as the season goes on.
Here’s the long and short of it: this team is going to be a work in progress early on, just like last year. The big difference is that this team has multiple players with a track record of good play, so it’s more on unlocking that ability. Dominick Harris isn’t going to go this cold forever, just like Johnson isn’t going to play this wildly defensively and the team isn’t going to turn the ball over at a high rate and look lost on rotations all season. There are positives, but you play games like this to start working out the kinks.
Let’s see if something more is learned this Friday.
Go Bruins!
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Cronin will get the turnover (and related) problems under control, especially when Andrews returns. My biggest concern is although Boston University is a small team without any talented bigs, UCLA did not dominate the rebounding as they should have. Not blocking out is part of it but we do not have any player over 6'9" nor with any bulk to bang with the talented Bigs. Will be a season long problem.
After listening to the post game interview with Josh Lewin, it was clear that CMC is focused on getting the defense set first and the offense will follow.