Postgame Talk: UCLA Can't Rebound But Still Beats Maryland 67-55
The Bruins lost the rebounding battle 48-29, which allowed a bad Maryland team to stick around.
It’s been a while, folks. I’m going to do this one notes-style, just to get back into the swing of things.
First of all, my vacation was wonderful. Japan was a great country to spend a few weeks in, with its fantastic public transportation and how clean everything is. My partner and I enjoyed our few weeks strolling through temples, eating our way through the cities, and relaxing in some hot springs. As a bonus, it was pretty cheap all around! Highly recommend a trip for anyone on the fence.
Now, because I was on the opposite side of the world, it was hard to watch UCLA’s road games against Iowa and Wisconsin (also, they were region-locked), but I did catch the highlights, and they served to reinforce an idea I’ve had since the Gonzaga game: this current UCLA team does not travel well at all. The Bruins generally played well enough to win, but they started slow out of the gates in both games, failing to meet the moment from the jump and digging themselves a hole that they were forced to spend the rest of the game trying to dig out of. UCLA lacked a consistent defensive effort, and in both games the Bruins got killed from distance while failing to hit at their usual clip. It’s not a great look for what is supposedly a more veteran team, but in general, the Bruins have to figure out how to travel and win games on the road.
Losing Skyy Clark clearly hurt the team against Wisconsin, and it did not help in this game either. This is not to say Trent Perry was not capable in relief today, as his 16 points led the team and he hit a variety of big shots down the stretch, but Clark is a steadying presence, and Perry still makes some mistakes from pressing (my “favorite” of his mistakes was throwing a completely unneccesary go-ahead pass to Steven Jamerson off the backboard, leading to a fast break and points for Maryland). Plus, he struggled with the extended minutes and cramping in the second half.
As the title suggests, the biggest issue in this game for the Bruins was the rebounding. UCLA was outrebounded 48-29, and the problems were particularly egregious on the defensive end; the Terrapins were able to grab 20 offensive rebounds on their 44 misses. This led to 24 second-chance points for Maryland, and if you’re looking for a reason that the Terrapins were able to keep things close despite shooting 30.3% from the field, then that is the main culprit. Maryland had 15 more shots than the Bruins, and given the shot and rebounding disparity, it is shocking that UCLA was able to win this game comfortably.
This was an up-and-down game from Eric Dailey Jr, but given what he has turned in through much of the year, I’ll take it. Dailey’s 15 points on 5-14 shooting was pretty inefficient, but he also had nine rebounds and did not record a turnover, which has been a problem for him this season. If Dailey can build on this, focus on his defensive effort and rebounding, then he can turn things around on the season.
Tyler Bilodeau turned in his second-straight empty calories game. Bilodeau finished with 10 points, but it mostly came from the free throw line, as he hit six of his nine attempts while only going 2-5 from the field. Worse, Bilodeau went 21 minutes without recording a single rebound and instead spent that time getting caught out defensively. Bilodeau is not a good defender, no matter how Cronin tries to hide him, so Bilodeau has to be an offensive force just to get to net neutral. Or, and this is a long shot, UCLA could turn Bilodeau into the backup center going forward.
Xavier Booker had five points and zero rebounds in 16 minutes. I don’t bring this up to be mean, more to state the obvious that he has no business being the starting center at this point. Steven Jamerson, with his eight points and five rebounds, provided more consistent effort for the starting unit, both from a defensive and rebounding standpoint. Meanwhile, Bilodeau can platoon with Brandon Williams (when he returns) to give him some defensive and rebounding help. The benefit to this rotation is that it would shift Eric Dailey down to his more natural position at the four while opening up more playing time for Trent Perry and Jamar Brown. UCLA’s best lineup against Maryland featured Bilodeau and Booker off the court, and Jamerson and Brown on it, and a lot of that had to do with the effort to clean up the defensive glass.
Getting the win against Maryland was pivotal if UCLA is going to turn around its season. UCLA has two winnable road games coming up at Penn State and Ohio State, and then hosts Purdue. Obviously, it would help to get Skyy Clark back and healthy, but more than anything else, the Bruins need to figure out how to play a more complete road game.
Go Bruins!
Thanks again for supporting The Mighty Bruin. Your paid subscriptions make this site possible. Questions, comments, story ideas, angry missives and more can be sent to @TheMightyBruin on Twitter.