Postgame Talk: UCLA Survives UCF Without Tyler Bilodeau, Advances With 75-71 Victory
The Bruins played an ugly game, but wins in March don't have to be pretty.
In the NCAA Tournament, there is no such thing as style points. The only thing that matters is if you win or not. And when your best offensive player, who was on track to play, ends up sitting as a precaution (and to give him more time to recover), then it becomes more imperative that you win by any means necessary.
To that end, the final score of 75-71 does not tell the whole story. You might expect a back-and-forth game with lead changes and big shots late. But the real story of this game is that the UCLA Bruins controlled the game throughout. Following an initial burst by the University of Central Florida Knights that likely had UCLA fans groaning and mentally preparing for disappointment, the Bruins of the last few weeks showed up in Philadelphia, turning up the defensive intensity to retake a lead that they would never relinquish.
Don’t get me wrong: this was an ugly game from UCLA for long stretches, but that seemed to be by design. The Bruins struggled offensively, finishing with a shooting 40% (27-68) from the field and 29% (6-21) from deep, and the offense that had flowed so well in recent weeks looked stuck in neutral, with the Bruins only managing 11 assists to eight turnovers. Credit to UCF, whose athleticism seemed to give UCLA all sorts of problems. Donovan Dent, who played the entire game a week after leaving the matchup with Purdue with a calf strain, seemed to struggle with penetration, so he is likely still not 100% recovered, but again, credit the length and size of UCF for creating issues.
But the Bruins were able to create a sizeable lead in this game in large part to their much-maligned defense, which has improved to a passable level in large part due to an increased activity level. UCLA forced 17 turnovers by the Knights, with 13 of them registered as steals; Dent had six steals on his own. Throw in nine blocks (four by Xavier Booker), and the end result was the Bruins holding a very good UCF offense to only 38% shooting (27-72) on the game. UCF loves to run an isolation offense, and UCLA routinely forced them into poor choices repeatedly, to the point that color commentator Steve Lappas was practically begging UCF (and formerly Stanford) coach Johnny Dawkins to draw up a single play. Coach Mick Cronin made a point prior to the game that he wanted to shut down UCF guard Themus Fulks, and the Bruins were mostly successful on that front; Fulks was limited to 10 points on 5-13 shooting and eight assists.
All of those turnovers and bad shots led to UCLA’s best offense of the night. The Bruins had 19 points off of UCF turnovers and had 21 fast-break points in general (I’m operating off the ESPN stats for this game because I don’t have access to Statbroadcast yet, so I’m not sure how accurate those numbers are). The Bruins are methodical by nature, but they’re a very good transition team when they want to be, and they routinely punished UCF for its basketball sins.
There were two problem areas for the Bruins on defense. First, their three-point defense was pretty bad, and while UCF only shot 38% from deep, that comes with the distinction that they took 32 shots from beyond the arc, which meant they made 12 of those. Jordan Burks, in particular, killed the Bruins from three-point range, with 18 of his game-high 22 points coming from beyond the arc.
The other problem for UCLA was, as usual, rebounding. This shouldn’t have been a surprise given that Tyler Bilodeau was out and Xavier Booker was forced into major minutes, but UCLA struggled to secure rebounds. The Knights got a ridiculous 25 offensive rebounds in the game, and while it did not kill the Bruins (in large part because UCF could not hit a layup to save their lives), it is a definite concern. With Bilodeau’s status still up in the air, the Bruins need to have the same attention to detail on that end that they’ve had against better opponents.
Bilodeau’s absence necessitated someone else stepping up, and that someone turned out to be Eric Dailey. Dailey rose to the occasion, pacing the team with 20 points on 8-17 shooting. Xavier Booker similarly upped his scoring output, with 15 points on 6-12 shooting and a team-high eight rebounds. And at the end of the game, the Bruins again turned to the Iceman, Trent Perry, who missed a few free throws but hit enough down the stretch to essentially put the game out of reach.
I’d be remiss if I did not mention the efforts of Skyy Clark, who had an uneven game at best. Clark finished with only eight points (and only took five shots in general) and had three turnovers, including a bad one late where he simply dribbled the ball out of bounds. He also dealt with foul trouble for parts of the game, though a heady move by Cronin got one of his fouls removed on review, freeing him up to play more in the second half. On the flip side, Clark provided plenty of energy that the Bruins needed at times, and even sacrificed a tooth for the cause late.
At this point of the year, winning is all that matters, and the win guarantees the Bruins will move on to play the winner of UConn and Furman (which, as I’m writing, is still a very close game). I mentioned on Selection Sunday that UConn is the best 2 seed that UCLA could have realistically faced, and this is a realistic game for the Bruins to win. Attention will turn to the status of Tyler Bilodeau, but the Bruins have at least won him more recovery time, which is all you can ask for now.
Game time for Sunday has yet to be determined, but it should be out later tonight.
Go Bruins!
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