UCLA Drives Beach-Cruiser Over Long Beach State, 93-69
Once again, the Bruins led comfortably the entire time.
It’s already game two, and I’m a bit bored of the non-conference games.
That’s a weird thing to write for a few reasons. For one, the UCLA Bruins basketball season is still new enough for there to be interesting storylines to watch. For another, Long Beach State officially qualifies as a familiar opponent, with this being the third game these two teams have had against each other in a calendar year. Long Beach State is a pretty good team too; they won the Big West last year and returned a lot of pieces from that team.
So why am I bored? Because UCLA decided very early on that they weren’t going to entertain the idea of losing the game, using a 16-2 run midway through the first half to race out to a 21-point lead that they would never relinquish, ultimately winning by the final score 93-69.
This was not a redux of the first meeting between the two teams from last year, where the Bruins and LBSU exchanged blows for 30 minutes before UCLA was finally able to pull away. This also was not a redux of the second meeting, where UCLA was able to control the game for a longer stretch of time but saw Jaime Jaquez infamously roll his ankle and remain gimpy for the rest of the year. No, this was a game where UCLA asserted itself after an iffy first five minutes and never really took their foot off the gas pedal for the rest of the game.
If you’re looking for some interesting things, you can start with the minute allocation. I think Mick Cronin saw a chance for his starting lineup to work through some kinks, as Tyger Campbell, Jaime Jaquez, Jaylen Clark, and Amari Bailey each played at least 26 minutes (Jaquez was the only one to hit 30). David Singleton acted as the super-sub, playing 33 minutes. On the flip side, the interior struggled with foul trouble and could not stay on the court; Kenneth Nwuba led the group with 19 minutes, Adem Bona was able to stay on long enough for 17 minutes, and Mac Etienne had a disappointing two fouls in two minutes of action. I would have expected more Dylan Andrews in this game - he only played 11 minutes - and this is a game that you really would have liked Will McClendon to be available for because he could have used the experience. Minute allocation is something I’ll be watching a little closer this year because UCLA needs to develop a 2nd unit for the bigger games.
This was the official collegiate debut for Adem Bona, and he was fine. This wasn’t the defensive explosion that the exhibition against Concordia was for Bona, but LBSU is a pretty significant step up in quality. That said, he still affected what they wanted to do offensively, as Long Beach State really struggled to get anything on the interior while he was in. Bona added eight points on 4-4 shooting, but at this point anything he adds on that end is gravy, and it is very clear just how much better the UCLA defense is when Bona is in the game.
Turning to the other highly-touted freshman, this was actually a nice game from Amari Bailey. Bailey clearly was given more leeway to operate offensively, and he finished with 14 points on 7-15 shooting. I think it’s very clear that he’s not very confident in his outside shot - there were multiple times where he passed up a wide-open look for a contested drive - but Baile was much more active when it came to looking for his shot, and he looked much more confident as a result. He also continues to give solid defensive effort, and I have to assume he will continue to get better as he gets more comfortable with Cronin’s defensive system.
Jaylen Clark was excellent as usual. Jaime Jaquez missed more shots than you would like but was fine otherwise. Tyger Campbell did whatever he wanted. There’s not much more to say than that.
Tyger Campbell led the Bruins with 18 points. Jaylen Clark led the team with five assists, and David Singleton led the team with nine rebounds. Lassina Traore led the LBSU with 14 points.
Three Takeaways
Player of the Game: David Singleton - OH DID YOU THINK I HAD FORGOTTEN ABOUT HIM??? Singleton gets the clear PotG nod just for his versatility in this game; UCLA kept every starter at 30 minutes and under, which is nice, but with the Bruins still developing their second unit, they were in need of someone to stabilize things. Enter Singleton, who played 33 minutes and put up 14 points on 4-9 shooting, with all four makes being from distance. He was also active on the defensive end, leading the team with nine rebounds. I think you could make the case that Jaylen Clark had the better game, but Singleton did everything asked of him and then some.
Fouls and the Interior - The Pac-12 refs reared their heads during a particularly brutal stretch in the first half, blowing their whistles repeatedly and slowing the pace of the game to a crawl. While my enjoyment of basketball was hurt by this turn of events, the bigger hurt came for the interior, which suddenly found itself in foul trouble as a result. Adem Bona found himself with two fouls and an early trip to the bench; Mac Etienne found his two fouls even quicker and never left the bench. The foul trouble meant a lot more Kenneth Nwuba than you would reasonably like, and while Nwuba played foul-free basketball, it also lowered the defensive intensity. Nwuba has improved but an ideal version of UCLA would see him only get increased minutes for ideal matchups, and not having to play the most minutes to cover for fouls. It was the biggest blemish on a mostly-clean game.
Already Readjusting Views on the Pac-12 - It’s only been a week, and I’m already more confident that UCLA should win the conference handily. Oregon just got handled by UC Irvine on their home court (shoutout to my Anteaters, cementing themselves as the true Big West power yet again), while Southern Cal saw a similar result against Florida Gulf Coast on Monday. Arizona has been fine and may be the second-best team in the conference by default, but there’s a pretty sizeable gap between the very top of the conference and everyone else at this point. It also means UCLA might not get a ton of credit for winning the conference. God we can’t leave this place fast enough.
The Bruins will play their next game on Monday when they take on Norfolk State. Tip-off is scheduled for 7:00 PM PT.
Go Bruins!
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Great win! LBSU is a decent mid major and us blowing them out like this is A good sign going into the non-boring games next week in Vegas. Hopefully we can carry this momentum forward