Postgame Talk: UCLA Gets Back on Track in 94-70 Victory Over Iowa
The question going forward is if the Bruins have righted the ship or simply took advantage of a undermanned Hawkeyes squad.
The last time I was in Pauley Pavilion, the audience was alternating between cheering on the home team and frantically checking updates on their phones as a ridiculous windstorm was giving way to one of the most destructive wildfire outbreaks in California history. The drive home was as harrowing as any in my life, with power outages and downed trees making the entire trip a harbinger of the week to come.
So it was in that light that the Bruins returned to Pauley Pavilion to play in front of a fanbase that is starting to pick up the pieces. Nothing was more indicative of the past few weeks than the lack of students, as classes have moved online for the past week as students were told to leave campus out of caution for the Palisades fire. In the grand scheme of things, the fact that UCLA was able to host this game at all should be celebrated as a victory, a desperately needed return to normalcy.
Fortunately for Bruin fans, the team was determined from the jump to put things right as well.
Much has been made about the drop in performance from the team since the calendar turned to 2025, and while this game may not put all of those fears to bed, the UCLA Bruins came out with a sense of renewed focus and defensive intensity that has not been seen since the Gonzaga game, and the offense finally returned in a major way, as the team ran out to an early lead and cruised to victory over the Iowa Hawkeyes, 90-74.
In the competitive portion of this game, UCLA was incredibly locked in on defense. Say what you will about the Iowa defense, but the Hawkeyes came into this game with the 17th-ranked offense per KenPom. Given that, you have to really like what the Bruins did in the first half, holding the Hawkeyes to 38.1% from the field and forcing 12 turnovers. The Hawkeyes were unable to generate anything easy on offense, exemplified most by the fact that Iowa only had four assists in the first half (by comparison: the Bruins had 18 of their 26 assists in the half). In the second half, things let up a bit, helped by a combination of a questionable whistle from the referees (UCLA had four fouls in the first half compared to 14 in the second) and some players getting more run than they did in the first half, but by that point the result was well out of hand so you can excuse it more.
The full game stats all look great for the Bruins on offense, as the team shot 62.1% (36-58) from the field and dominated the Hawkeyes in the paint by a 44-22 margin. The Bruins were attacking the inside early and often, though it should not be lost on people that Iowa lacks the size that the Bruins have seen in the prior four-game skid. Tyler Bilodeau was able to be an offensive force in a way that we haven’t seen in a while, finishing with 18 points on a hyper-efficient 8-10 shooting from the field, while Eric Dailey Jr. scored a career-high 23 points on 8-12 shooting, not missing a single shot from inside the arc. Kobe Johnson had perhaps the best overall game for the Bruins, scoring nine points while leading the team in rebounds (eight) and assists (six).
There were two performances that were encouraging and hopefully, something to build on, starting with Dylan Andrews recapturing some of his 2024 form in the competitive portion of this game. Andrews finished with 13 points on 5-9 shooting, and he was scoring from all levels, hitting a few threes while attacking in the midrange. The ending shot at the half, with Andrews driving past his defender, pulling up, and nailing the shot as time expired, may not have been a big moment in the game considering it made it a 33-point lead rather than a 31-point lead, but it may be a big moment in the season if it is indicative of Andrews finding his game going forward. Andrews did not have a great second half, but he did only play seven minutes as he seemed to be dealing with something, given the context of the game, I’m not sure how much you can take from that.
Perhaps more encouraging was the play of William Kyle III, who came into the game early and played 27 minutes of solid basketball. Kyle had 12 points on 6-7 shooting, showing off some patience on the block and was aggressive on the boards and getting to the rim. Most importantly, he played solid defense, and Cronin was willing to play him alongside Bilodeau, which helped to hide Tyler on defense while also letting him feast on a better mismatch on offense. This was an important step forward, and if the Bruins can get Kyle to play 15-20 minutes of good basketball, that will allow for so much more going forward.
(As for Aday Mara, who did not see the court in this game, I said it in the comments of the game thread but as the game progressed it became clear that this would not have been a good game for him. Iowa loves to push the pace, and Mara works best in slower games that allow him to get up and down the court in a reasonable amount of time. UCLA still needs to get Mara into a more playable state, but I do understand what happened in this one.)
If you’re looking for something to be concerned about, I think you would be focusing on UCLA’s guard play near the end of the game, as the combination of Skyy Clark, Sebastian Mack, and Trent Perry had all kinds of issues breaking the Iowa press. This was the most engaged Iowa was on the defensive end, and given the game state you could tell it was catching the Bruins off-guard. Dylan Andrews was making some questionable choices against it earlier, so the hope is that the guards in general tighten things up in this phase going forward.
The good news, however, is this: UCLA won, and won in a way that feels like some things were figured out. They won this game on the strength of their defense, and the offense finally started hitting the open shots they’d been missing in previous games. The energy and effort on display in this game was notably higher than we’d seen in the prior four games, which I’m sure many are hoping is a sign that this team is turning the corner mentally.
Basketball is a game of runs, and while we tend to think of that in terms of individual games, that can also be used to describe the play of a team over a longer time period. UCLA had a run of really good play following their loss to New Mexico, with great wins over Oregon, Arizona, and Gonzaga. Then they went into a dry spell in Big Ten play, struggling on both ends of the court and looking lost.
Perhaps this is the start of the next run of play for the season. It would definitely be a good time to start.
Go Bruins!
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Dimitri, either Mara is in the dog house or under the weather. When you're up by 30 at the half, you can give the kid some playing time. I was happy to see Kyle get extended play. I would still like to see Dailey, Bilodeau and Kyle/Mara together. I don't think it's going to happen. I also think that will hurt against bigger teams. Andrews played better last night. We did struggle against the press a bit. I'm happy that we played much better last night, but I don't know what to glean from that.
Nice blowout win against the (defense-less) Buckeyes, but the Bruins were outscored in the 2nd half, started committing more fouls, and really struggled against the full-court press. I think they have to show more consistency and beat a much stronger Badger team on Tuesday in order to convince anyone that their recent 4-game losing streak was just a temporary midseason slump.
Go Bruins!