Oh My! Shorthanded Bruins Get Crushed by Southern Cal, 66-48
UCLA was missing both Cody Riley and Jalen Hill tonight against the Trojans.
The casual UCLA fan who tuned in tonight to watch the Bruins’ game against Southern Cal might just have thought that Steve Alford was still the team’s head coach. That’s how bad tonight’s game was.
To be sure, the Bruins were missing both Cody Riley and Jalen Hill tonight. Riley is currently out with an ankle injury while Hill missed the game due to “personal reasons” as the ESPN announcing crew of Dave Pasch and Bill Walton reminded viewers about every ten seconds. And, they needed to do that because the Bruins were playing that bad.
UCLA was able to keep the game close for the first fourteen minutes or so in the first half. Things started off well enough for the Bruins. Johnny Juzang got the first bucket of the game to give UCLA a 2-0 lead, though, the Trojans tied it on the next possession. Jaime Jaquez, Jr. made a layup allowing the Bruins to re-take the an early lead and a Tyger Campbell jumper made it 6-2.
But, then, UCLA ran out of gas.
To be fair, they kept it close for a while and only trailed by three, 21-18, with six minutes left in the half but, when you only score once in those six minutes, your opponent is going to take advantage — and the Trojans certainly took advantage of that situation. Southern Cal knocked out not one, not two, but three three-pointers to quadruple their lead with a minute to go. The Bruins’ only answer was a Mac Etienne layup with 43 ticks left on the clock. As a result, Southern Cal led UCLA 30-20 at the break.
In the second half, the Bruins managed to cut the lead to seven points three different times, but the last time came with 13:11 left when Juzang hit a jumper and was fouled by Mobley. Juzang’s free throw made it 41-34.
Over the final thirteen minutes, the Trojans outscored the Bruins, 25-14, crushing whatever fight UCLA had left.
Juzang was the only Bruin to score in double figures. Jaquez, Campbell and Jake Kyman off the bench each added seven points. Juzang also led the team with 13 rebounds and tied Campbell for the lead in assists. Each player had four.
Meanwhile, Ethan Anderson came off the bench to drill five three-pointers for the Trojans to lead them with 19 points while Tahj Eaddy added three more from behind the arc, finishing with 16 points. The Mobley brothers didn’t score a lot of points for the Trojans, but Isaiah grabbed 11 rebounds while Evan had nine boards with four blocks.
It’s really easy to say that the Bruins lost because they were missing Hill and Riley. But I’ve got to say that the duo may have just made this one less ugly. It was a big reminder that we are still just a little over two years removed from having Steve Alford coaching the squad.
Mick Cronin needs to do a better job of having his team prepared to play with or without Riley and Hill. There really isn’t much else to be said about this one.
Go Bruins.
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I've written many times this season about the all around depth we have on this team and how that has been key to us getting by in games where no one player is standing out, but last night highlighted the converse of that asset. When we needed someone to step up and demand the ball and put the team on his back there was no one to do it. Juzang, I think, tried by virtue of the number of shots he took, but he really hasn't shown he can be that number one guy in the first place all year long. What this team has in essence is a bunch of really good role players, but last night we needed a star, and we really don't have that. A well rounded solid team can get past most average teams and we've done that so far, but against a highly talented team or when we have a glaring hole in the middle, we need a go to guy to counter that, pour in 25, and be the difference, and unfortunately we really don't have that.
We need Riley back badly so hopefully his ankle injury is mild. Hill worries me more, as "personal reasons" is so vague and can mean a lot, some of which can be really problematic. Hopefully is also something simple and easily addressed because we need him badly, too.
Props to Mac Etienne last night, though. He probably wasn't planning on getting minutes anytime soon until we abruptly lost both Riley and Hill, but he looked surprisingly comfortable and aggressive for a kid who was playing high school ball in December and was getting his first D1 minutes.
Go Bruins!
For the record... those that will say I’m not giving mick enough time... how are a few of the other coaches doing in their 2nd-4th term with a new team?
Nate Oates
Juwan Howard
Brad Underwood
Mike young
Cuonzo Martin
Darian DeVries
Mick has to recruit better players. Next year has some promise, but the first and second year were failures. I’m hoping he can turn it around, but this year I’d say he’s lost his players and the team has been on a steady decline as I view it from my other post