Dylan Andrews would like to keep playing basketball.
The UCLA Bruins are officially in win-or-go-home mode, needing to win out at the PAC-12 Tournament to make March Madness, and Andrews clearly understood the gravity of the situation. Andrews finished with 31 of UCLA’s 67 points as the Bruins won a fairly comfortable first round matchup with Oregon State by the final of 67-57.
Andrews will get most of the flowers for this one, and with good reason. Those 31 points came on a wildly-efficient 11-15 shooting, including 7-9 from deep. Andrews was completely in his bag for this one, and looked completely in control of the offense. To wit: he also finished with four assists on a variety of lobs to both Adem Bona and Aday Mara, something that has been sadly absent from the offense this season. At the same time, Andrews was the main point of attack when it came to defending Jordan Pope, and the Bruins were able to hold the phenomenal sophomore to 16 points on 6-16 shooting.
Andrews did not act alone, as Adem Bona had another superlative game, scoring 17 points on 5-8 shooting, including a solid 7-11 from the free throw line. Crucially, Bona was again able to play without fouling for the entire first half, which meant he was able to play freely in the second half and be an absolute menace defensively. That said, it was not a pretty game for Bona, as he finished with six turnovers by himself. Oregon State opted not to send a hard double-team at Bona and instead sat a second defender in the paint to keep Bona from diving right to the rim. Bona would instead dribble up towards the top of the key and would ultimately lose the ball. Cleaning that up is going to be paramount for the rest of the tournament.
Also paramount? Getting someone else going offensively. Lazar Stefanovic and Brandon Williams both scored six points to tie for third on the team, which already isn’t great, but Williams also took eight shots, which tied for second on the team. Sebastian Mack did not score at all and only took a single shot attempt. Both Stefanovic and Mack were dealing with foul trouble that limited their effectiveness early, but UCLA could really use one of them providing more offense.
Oregon up next, season still on the line.
Go Bruins!
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Go Bruins! At last a complete game. I thought the whole team executed their plays per CMC. Bona is getting better I hope he appreciates what another year could give. Otherwise I understand.
Go Bruins! At last a complete game. I thought the whole team executed their plays per CMC. Bona is getting better I hope he appreciates what another year could give. Otherwise I understand.
I was unable to watch being as how I don't have the stinking Pac12 network. I did listen on the radio though and it sounded like we kicked some butt!
Funny how when the team has a good game the noise stops. GO BRUINS!