I don’t have many thoughts after another UCLA loss to Gonzaga. You could boil this one down to a variety of factors:
UCLA is still incredibly young, and Gonzaga has a ton of veterans who were able to take advantage of a UCLA team that is still figuring out things like defensive rotations on the perimeter, especially from Sebastian Mack. This feels like the biggest thing that the Bruins can control going forward, and something I expect to improve as the season progresses.
Anton Watson absolutely went off for Gonzaga, putting up 32 points on an unreal 14-15 shooting night. You have to assume he regresses to the mean in a second matchup, but it probably did not help that Mick Cronin insisted on placing bigger post players like Aday Mara, Kenneth Nwuba, and Berke Buyuktuncel on him early, which was an exploitable mismatch that Watson took advantage of repeatedly. The best option was Ilane Fibleuil, who was able to lock things down and provide a huge spark, but Cronin did not seem to trust him until it was too late. I can already see Fibleuil occupying the Jaylen Clark role in my head where I lose my mind wondering how he does not see 20+ minutes on the court.
On the flip side, every single other Euro UCLA has absolutely need to get stronger, and in a hurry. Aday Mara got the start in both halves, got in immediate foul trouble, and sat out the rest of the time, finishing with more turnovers than points/rebounds/assists combined. Berke Buyuktuncel played more, but his 11 minutes was indicative of a player who was nowhere near prepared for the level of physicality in this game. Jan Vide did not even play, the lone UCLA scholarship player not to see the court, and honestly I can’t blame Cronin based on what Vide has shown thus far this year. This group had an abysmal Maui Invitational, and really need to show some growth for UCLA to have a chance at doing something big this year.
I wanted Dylan Andrews to shoot more after the Marquette game, but 2-15 is not gonna get it done, and he really needed to get to the rim more and force things. Sebastian Mack was better in this regard and already has shown a solid ability for drawing fouls, but he looked hobbled by the end of this game. Lazar Stefanovic had by far his best game of the tournament, and I still wanted him to be more aggressive on offense. Adem Bona was fine but got really hosed by the refs.
Finally, I’ll address it: the refereeing in this game was absolute garbage. There was no consistency or flow to the game, and it’s as if these guys decided that they were going to make this game as unwatchable as possible. Both teams combined for 51 fouls, and while you could argue they were evenly spread, the fact that both teams were forced to juggle foul trouble for no reason other than the refs wanted to make the game about them made this impossible to have any real takeaways from the game.
Still, despite how frustrating this game was, it was encouraging to see this UCLA team play as closely as they did against two excellent squads. There were multiple moments against Gonzaga and Marquette where it felt like the game was going to get away from them, and yet the Bruins kept clawing back, and even had the ball down three points with under 40 seconds to go. You can count on this team to develop over the course of the season, so the fact that they’re already going toe-to-toe with veteran squads and not backing down is a great sign for the rest of the year.
I was going to say this after the Marquette game, but obviously probs with the postgame but the comment will still sort of apply here:
In games decided by 6 points or less, it’s easy to point at just 1 or 2 bad decisions or 1 or 2 bad calls by refs. In the Marquette game, the bad calls were fairly obvious. In the Gonzaga game, the refs decided to be the main characters.
How does Aday, Bona, Berke and Kenneth all end up with 2+ fouls before the 10 min mark od the first half?! When I saw both Brandon and Devin Williams on the floor at the same time, that’s when I first thought we were going to lose the game, until we started fighting back and gave us a chance.
The refereeing was uneven for both teams and neither team adjusted well. The main difference was: It took one Gonzaga player to play out of his mind, in a game he’ll never have again for the rest of his life, to beat us. To me, that’s both encourage and deflating at the same time, to know we were that close and yet just so far. I still have high hopes for this team, but as we get into conference play, we have colorado, Arizona, and usc who have highly skilled players, and it will definitely be a challenge to get through the conference
Even with poor shooting, foul troubles, and allowing Watson to have a huge night, the Bruins still had a decent opportunity to beat the Zags. Although they came away from the trip with just 1 win against a Div. II school, they were competitive for the most part and avoided being blown out in their losses against more experienced, top-ranked teams. The current shortcomings and growing pains for this new group of players could be Coach Cronin's biggest challenge since his inaugural season at UCLA. Hope this year's team eventually develops that signature toughness we're used to seeing during March Madness and be more capable of beating ranked teams. Go Bruins!
Blown away by the fact that the refs continue to have so many biased calls against ucla bigs. The ucla bigs touch a guy and get a foul but on the other end they are big so hack away opposition. It seems to be an ongoing trend against ucla that didn’t start this year either.
UCLA looked tired toward the end of this game, and I cant blame Mack for hobbling as he must have seen 30+ minutes all three days?
The most disappointing thing so far on this team is the offense. They’re just not that good as indicated by the kenpom efficiency metric and probably all the others.
The foreign players are going to have to adjust to American basketball clearly. Aday has to toughen up and get stronger. As much as I loved Thomas Welch, he never quite toughened up the way he was needed and I can see aday being a work in progress for years to come even if he stays.
I had high hopes, but the lack of offense needs to change fast to get my hopes up … and stat 😀
Idk what small town rec league these refs were from, but they were bad the whole tournament. Such a shame that they made themselves the story over the 3 day tournament.
Apparently the only way to watch the UCLA women play UCONN tonight is through the FLOSPORTS streaming app which I have never heard of until now. It's not on any of the national sports networks nor the Pac12 network.
FLOSPORTS has specific subscription pricing plans corresponding to specific sports; FLOHOOPS, their basketball channel, is $29.99 per month WITH NO FREE TRIAL.
I downloaded the FLOSPORTS app on my Roku device and looked for ways of watching the Cayman Tournament without having to pay the subscription fee, but to no avail. From what I can see, I would have to pay the $29.99 subscription fee up front in order to view the UCLA vs UCONN.
Considering there's probably nothing on FLOSPORTS that I would want to watch besides this one single event, I'm not paying for a FLOSPORTS subscription.
It is sad and pathetic that one of the most compelling, must-watch games in the recent history of UCLA women hoops isn't available on any of many traditional sports networks.
I'm the weirdo because I subscribe to FloSports as they cover a bunch of cycling races I can't see otherwise, and tonight is the only time I've ever watched any other sport on their service, so bonus that it's our Bruins. But yeah, this level of matchup needs a higher visibility platform.
Good news, our women's team is up 33-17 midway thru the 2nd qtr and looking good so far!
I'm really f**king sick of Gonzaga. A half court prayer, a late logo 3 in transition (clown can't make 3s now in Denver by the way), and a ridiculous individual performance - that's what it takes for "legend" Mark Few to get by our overachieving, injured and outmanned, and brand new and undeveloped roosters the last 3 years respectively. Enjoy it now, zags. Watch us in a couple months.
Having said that, Mick really needs to develop a more reliable offense (i.e. bring in a coach to run it), and that's been an ongoing issue during his tenure at U.C.L.A. There's no reliable scorer like Juzang or Jaquez to fall back on right now, and the relative lack of motion and ball movement and offensive flow really shows with this brand new roster. I like the pieces though and feel like we have all the positions covered with some depth, but I'm not convinced the Cronin offensive schemes ever make the most of its talent on the court, so I expect that we'll continue to see a lot of nail biters where we rely on defense and better talent to stay in games that are closer than they should be - like two of the last 3 games, for instance.
I was going to say this after the Marquette game, but obviously probs with the postgame but the comment will still sort of apply here:
In games decided by 6 points or less, it’s easy to point at just 1 or 2 bad decisions or 1 or 2 bad calls by refs. In the Marquette game, the bad calls were fairly obvious. In the Gonzaga game, the refs decided to be the main characters.
How does Aday, Bona, Berke and Kenneth all end up with 2+ fouls before the 10 min mark od the first half?! When I saw both Brandon and Devin Williams on the floor at the same time, that’s when I first thought we were going to lose the game, until we started fighting back and gave us a chance.
The refereeing was uneven for both teams and neither team adjusted well. The main difference was: It took one Gonzaga player to play out of his mind, in a game he’ll never have again for the rest of his life, to beat us. To me, that’s both encourage and deflating at the same time, to know we were that close and yet just so far. I still have high hopes for this team, but as we get into conference play, we have colorado, Arizona, and usc who have highly skilled players, and it will definitely be a challenge to get through the conference
Even with poor shooting, foul troubles, and allowing Watson to have a huge night, the Bruins still had a decent opportunity to beat the Zags. Although they came away from the trip with just 1 win against a Div. II school, they were competitive for the most part and avoided being blown out in their losses against more experienced, top-ranked teams. The current shortcomings and growing pains for this new group of players could be Coach Cronin's biggest challenge since his inaugural season at UCLA. Hope this year's team eventually develops that signature toughness we're used to seeing during March Madness and be more capable of beating ranked teams. Go Bruins!
Blown away by the fact that the refs continue to have so many biased calls against ucla bigs. The ucla bigs touch a guy and get a foul but on the other end they are big so hack away opposition. It seems to be an ongoing trend against ucla that didn’t start this year either.
UCLA looked tired toward the end of this game, and I cant blame Mack for hobbling as he must have seen 30+ minutes all three days?
The most disappointing thing so far on this team is the offense. They’re just not that good as indicated by the kenpom efficiency metric and probably all the others.
The foreign players are going to have to adjust to American basketball clearly. Aday has to toughen up and get stronger. As much as I loved Thomas Welch, he never quite toughened up the way he was needed and I can see aday being a work in progress for years to come even if he stays.
I had high hopes, but the lack of offense needs to change fast to get my hopes up … and stat 😀
Idk what small town rec league these refs were from, but they were bad the whole tournament. Such a shame that they made themselves the story over the 3 day tournament.
Lack of shooting hurt. You're not going to win many games shooting 35% from the field and 28% from three.
Thanks, Dmitri! Disappointing, indeed! Happy Thanksgiving, Bruin family!
Apparently the only way to watch the UCLA women play UCONN tonight is through the FLOSPORTS streaming app which I have never heard of until now. It's not on any of the national sports networks nor the Pac12 network.
FLOSPORTS has specific subscription pricing plans corresponding to specific sports; FLOHOOPS, their basketball channel, is $29.99 per month WITH NO FREE TRIAL.
I downloaded the FLOSPORTS app on my Roku device and looked for ways of watching the Cayman Tournament without having to pay the subscription fee, but to no avail. From what I can see, I would have to pay the $29.99 subscription fee up front in order to view the UCLA vs UCONN.
Considering there's probably nothing on FLOSPORTS that I would want to watch besides this one single event, I'm not paying for a FLOSPORTS subscription.
It is sad and pathetic that one of the most compelling, must-watch games in the recent history of UCLA women hoops isn't available on any of many traditional sports networks.
Being obnoxious has become THE interweb business model.
This is not the first time. Part of P12 Network’s broken promise to deliver all sports.
I'm the weirdo because I subscribe to FloSports as they cover a bunch of cycling races I can't see otherwise, and tonight is the only time I've ever watched any other sport on their service, so bonus that it's our Bruins. But yeah, this level of matchup needs a higher visibility platform.
Good news, our women's team is up 33-17 midway thru the 2nd qtr and looking good so far!
And just as I type that, FUCONN goes on a 14-0 run right before the half. Sigh. Why can't we have nice things?
Bruins up 38-34 at half.
A big 3rd qtr gives the Bruins a 19 pt lead to start the 4th 61-42!
Bruins close out their first win over UConn ever 78-67! Go Bruins!!
I'm really f**king sick of Gonzaga. A half court prayer, a late logo 3 in transition (clown can't make 3s now in Denver by the way), and a ridiculous individual performance - that's what it takes for "legend" Mark Few to get by our overachieving, injured and outmanned, and brand new and undeveloped roosters the last 3 years respectively. Enjoy it now, zags. Watch us in a couple months.
Having said that, Mick really needs to develop a more reliable offense (i.e. bring in a coach to run it), and that's been an ongoing issue during his tenure at U.C.L.A. There's no reliable scorer like Juzang or Jaquez to fall back on right now, and the relative lack of motion and ball movement and offensive flow really shows with this brand new roster. I like the pieces though and feel like we have all the positions covered with some depth, but I'm not convinced the Cronin offensive schemes ever make the most of its talent on the court, so I expect that we'll continue to see a lot of nail biters where we rely on defense and better talent to stay in games that are closer than they should be - like two of the last 3 games, for instance.