Tough game to watch but it seemed inevitable after the night before. Hopeful the stomach issues had to do with it, but ucla clearly need Riley. Not having Mac in there is also a big negative on defense.
As much as I hate timme… he and Chet outplayed the bruins as they had no interior response. On the outside, juzang Jules and jaquez looked atrocious on offense. Gonzaga has a lot of talent, and this game was over in the first 10 minutes. UCLA had a lot of open looks and couldn’t hit any of them. Most weren’t even close.
Hope this is more indication of a sick team as the last two games were really quite poor. I think it will help in the long run to get this out of the way and get back to what they’re good at… hard basketball.
I said I thought they looked arrogant, but perhaps it’s just them being sick. I feel like the team has a tendency to go 1:1 and put up shots way more than most d1 teams. I think that’s what I consider arrogance is more of a I can do this by myself approach. That’s the nba style. Doesn’t work as well in college against high quality opponents. You have to work a bit harder… when you don’t have energy it components the issue.
Timme is my least favorite ncaa player at this time. Right up there with Noah from Florida back in the day. UCLA has nothing on that level of arrogance. I’m excited to see him try to go pro and get destroyed. He needs to be put into place. If Chet is taking notes, he’ll be up there with timme on the all time most annoying players list
Cronin said sickness had nothing to do with their play tonight. It was no defense, lack of leadership on the court and no Cody Riley. He also emphasized that you aren't going to win many games when you allow your opponents to dribble uncontested the length of the court for layups 7 times. Pretty clear he thought their lack of defense made this a no contest game.
Cody's absence had a big time effect because there was no interior offense. Not saying they would not have been crushed with him playing but for the rest of the season, when Cody sits or gets in foul problems, UCLA will concede the interior to the better teams without an interior threat. Losing Mac was a big blow as Johnson offers no offense (as advertised), looks like his feet are buried in cement in the post and is not that good of a defensive player. Maybe Clark should spell Cody--shorter but can score and plays bigger than his 6' 5" body?
Last year, our best game was a loss to Gonzaga. We played as close to our potential as any Bruin team in recent memory. And yet, we lost to Gonzaga. This year’s Gonzaga squad is better than last year’s. We didn’t come close to playing as well as last year. We will need to improve significantly and get a little lucky to win a rematch, even with Cody Riley. I did like the effort and energy from Watson and Clark.
If these two teams face off in March, I'd rather be the team that lost this game.
That said, it was atrocious. The kind of game you throw out the tape and don't rewatch. Juzang was non existent. He only took 11 shots and it seemed like a lot less than that. Jaquez just had an off night....why did he shoot exactly twice as many shots as Juzang? This was his worse game in a long time. He uncharacteristically played a lot of hero ball, driving to nowhere circa Jules Bernard 2019. Speaking of Jules, he just had a terrible shooting night. Not much else to say about him. Tyger had no control over the game...the Zaga D controlled him. Really wish Singleton would have got more time early when it became clear Bernard was way off. Liked what I saw from Clark.
I’d say jaquez shooting so much was more because the ball movement was putrid. This team plays a lot of 1:1 iso on offense. This leads to players trying to make a play on their own instead of dribble to open up space and pass. It’s also why ucla only had 1 assist is because they rarely moved the ball around to the open player. I actually hope they watch this game over and over and over so they’ll remember how bad it sucks to get run off the court in the first 10 minutes. It will give them something to chew on going into each game where they say, let’s not do that again this year.
I’d rather be the team with the most talent. I wish that was UCLA, but I’d give the talent edge to the Zags. They’re a very tough matchup for our Bruins.
This rematch was a convincing no-match and painful to watch. Coach Cronin was right--his team wasn't ready to compete (physically or mentally) against the top-ranked team in the nation. Bruins seem to be regressing during the past several games. Hope they can turn things around quickly and play more like a cohesive team on offense and defense.
Not sure about regression… I think teams watch and learn what they can do to beat ucla. They play far too much 1:1 on offense and Gonzaga was ready for it. On defense, they seem to have watched the prior games and noted how easy it is to blow by our guards with tempo.
I also believe motivation by Gonzaga was a contributor. It is possible they had a grudge against us since we took them to overtime and the limit in the semi-final potentially leading them to being worn out for the final. They may figure that they should have won it all last year, but were drained in the final due the game with us, so payback for impacting them last year. Just a thought.
Tough game to watch but it seemed inevitable after the night before. Hopeful the stomach issues had to do with it, but ucla clearly need Riley. Not having Mac in there is also a big negative on defense.
As much as I hate timme… he and Chet outplayed the bruins as they had no interior response. On the outside, juzang Jules and jaquez looked atrocious on offense. Gonzaga has a lot of talent, and this game was over in the first 10 minutes. UCLA had a lot of open looks and couldn’t hit any of them. Most weren’t even close.
Hope this is more indication of a sick team as the last two games were really quite poor. I think it will help in the long run to get this out of the way and get back to what they’re good at… hard basketball.
I said I thought they looked arrogant, but perhaps it’s just them being sick. I feel like the team has a tendency to go 1:1 and put up shots way more than most d1 teams. I think that’s what I consider arrogance is more of a I can do this by myself approach. That’s the nba style. Doesn’t work as well in college against high quality opponents. You have to work a bit harder… when you don’t have energy it components the issue.
Timme is my least favorite ncaa player at this time. Right up there with Noah from Florida back in the day. UCLA has nothing on that level of arrogance. I’m excited to see him try to go pro and get destroyed. He needs to be put into place. If Chet is taking notes, he’ll be up there with timme on the all time most annoying players list
Cronin said sickness had nothing to do with their play tonight. It was no defense, lack of leadership on the court and no Cody Riley. He also emphasized that you aren't going to win many games when you allow your opponents to dribble uncontested the length of the court for layups 7 times. Pretty clear he thought their lack of defense made this a no contest game.
Of course he said that. Because he does not make excuses. That doesn't mean the players' bowels did not have a lot to do with it.
Cody's absence had a big time effect because there was no interior offense. Not saying they would not have been crushed with him playing but for the rest of the season, when Cody sits or gets in foul problems, UCLA will concede the interior to the better teams without an interior threat. Losing Mac was a big blow as Johnson offers no offense (as advertised), looks like his feet are buried in cement in the post and is not that good of a defensive player. Maybe Clark should spell Cody--shorter but can score and plays bigger than his 6' 5" body?
They sucked tonight.
Last year, our best game was a loss to Gonzaga. We played as close to our potential as any Bruin team in recent memory. And yet, we lost to Gonzaga. This year’s Gonzaga squad is better than last year’s. We didn’t come close to playing as well as last year. We will need to improve significantly and get a little lucky to win a rematch, even with Cody Riley. I did like the effort and energy from Watson and Clark.
If these two teams face off in March, I'd rather be the team that lost this game.
That said, it was atrocious. The kind of game you throw out the tape and don't rewatch. Juzang was non existent. He only took 11 shots and it seemed like a lot less than that. Jaquez just had an off night....why did he shoot exactly twice as many shots as Juzang? This was his worse game in a long time. He uncharacteristically played a lot of hero ball, driving to nowhere circa Jules Bernard 2019. Speaking of Jules, he just had a terrible shooting night. Not much else to say about him. Tyger had no control over the game...the Zaga D controlled him. Really wish Singleton would have got more time early when it became clear Bernard was way off. Liked what I saw from Clark.
I’d say jaquez shooting so much was more because the ball movement was putrid. This team plays a lot of 1:1 iso on offense. This leads to players trying to make a play on their own instead of dribble to open up space and pass. It’s also why ucla only had 1 assist is because they rarely moved the ball around to the open player. I actually hope they watch this game over and over and over so they’ll remember how bad it sucks to get run off the court in the first 10 minutes. It will give them something to chew on going into each game where they say, let’s not do that again this year.
*7 assists 😀
I’d rather be the team with the most talent. I wish that was UCLA, but I’d give the talent edge to the Zags. They’re a very tough matchup for our Bruins.
This rematch was a convincing no-match and painful to watch. Coach Cronin was right--his team wasn't ready to compete (physically or mentally) against the top-ranked team in the nation. Bruins seem to be regressing during the past several games. Hope they can turn things around quickly and play more like a cohesive team on offense and defense.
Not sure about regression… I think teams watch and learn what they can do to beat ucla. They play far too much 1:1 on offense and Gonzaga was ready for it. On defense, they seem to have watched the prior games and noted how easy it is to blow by our guards with tempo.
I also believe motivation by Gonzaga was a contributor. It is possible they had a grudge against us since we took them to overtime and the limit in the semi-final potentially leading them to being worn out for the final. They may figure that they should have won it all last year, but were drained in the final due the game with us, so payback for impacting them last year. Just a thought.