Postgame Talk: UCLA Plays One of the Season Openers of All Time, Beats Eastern Washington 80-74
The Bruins did not play with any sort of effort, but they have Donovan Dent, which proved to be the difference.
The best thing I can say about this game is that at no point did I feel like UCLA was in danger of losing. Call it the Donovan Dent Effect, if you must, but it never felt as if UCLA was going to fold.
That is not to say the Bruins played a great game. If anything, it felt like UCLA saw they were 30-point favorites and decided that 30% effort was probably going to be enough to win the game. You can understand it after two exhibitions against strong teams in San Diego State and UC Irvine, but it was also an effort unbecoming of the #12 team in the country, and the Bruins’ 80-74 victory over Eastern Washington felt earned in all the wrong ways.
Now, some caveats should go in place here. First off, UCLA was without the services of Eric Dailey, whom the Bruins held out as a precaution, as he works his way back from a leg injury he suffered during preseason practice. Second, and maybe more importantly, Mick Cronin was trying to get the team to work on some defensive concepts in a live game setting and was willing to let them work through mistakes. One of my takeaways from this game was the lack of a quick hook from Cronin for defensive lapses; Cronin still yelled at guys for their mistakes, but it took multiple mistakes before he turned to the bench. As a result, there’s going to be plenty of tape for the Bruins to go over.
That said, oh boy, this defensive effort was not great. UCLA used some heavy rotations throughout, sending multiple defenders whenever the ball went into the post and often leaving Eastern Washington with an easy shot as a result. The backside help was sloppy at best and disinterested at worst, with Donovan Dent in particular getting caught multiple times, allowing his defender to sneak past him for an easy backdoor cut. The rotations seemed designed with the idea of the four and five moving over to try and force the ball back to the perimeter, but to work, you need everyone locked in on their job, and that was just not happening in this game. Tyler Bilodeau, in particular, had a nightmare of a game, looking slow on his rotations and constantly out of position. Bilodeau was also one of the best offensive players for Eastern Washington, as he was seemingly screening out multiple Bruin defenders on the perimeter, leading to easy baskets for the Eagles.
The good news is that UCLA has some time to figure things out on the defensive end, and that Cronin tends to get his teams playing good to elite defensive basketball by the end of the season. There were some bright spots on defense, like Jamar Brown giving good effort and Xavier Booker rebounding at a solid clip, so you imagine things will get better.
On offense, UCLA was as-advertised for the first 30 or so minutes of this game. A lot of that comes down to Donovan Dent, who looked effortless running the offense. Dent finished with 21 points on 8-17 shooting, and it felt like he could have finished with even more points had he been a little more selfish with the ball (or at least finished his dunk attempt). Dent also finished with nine assists, and he spent a good chunk of the game looking to get his teammates involved. What stood out to me the most was what happened in the second half when Cronin pulled Dent from the game. As I mentioned in the game chat, Cronin was very calm with Dent, bringing out a clipboard and having Dent show what he was seeing on offense. Call it the maturation of Cronin if you will, but so far, Cronin has shown a willingness to ride Dent and his talent without micromanaging him, which is the biggest positive step in this game.
I was also impressed with Xavier Booker’s performance overall. No, his defense wasn’t stellar, but he did a good job on the boards and provided a positive offensive contribution, scoring 14 points on 6-7 shooting. This was a good performance to build on for Booker, and if he can continue focusing on getting rebounds and serving as an interior deterrent, then UCLA might be in business.
One last shout-out goes to Trent Perry, who had a solid bounce-back game after a poor performance against UC Irvine. Perry finished with 11 points on 5-8 shooting and generally played under control throughout his time on the court. Perry’s issue at the moment appears to be one of consistency, so if he can continue to string along good performances like this, it will go a long way to solidifying the second unit.
The best thing about this game is that UCLA won. The second best thing is that it should act as a wake-up call to the team, which will need to improve its effort in a hurry - Arizona comes to Los Angeles in a week, and the Bruins will need to bring their A game for that rivalry showdown.
Donovan Dent led the Bruins with 21 points and nine assists. Xavier Booker led the team with seven rebounds. Isaiah Moses led the Eagles with 15 points.
Go Bruins!
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obviously threw in the towel in the second half. Cronin should have them running wind sprints all day today...
Please explain to me the objective of an offense where one player dribbles the ball while the other 4 players stand still.