UCLA Handles Business; Defeats Marquette, 67-56
A harrowing road trip ends with a successful victory.
The UCLA Bruins have had an eventful 24 hours.
The team tried to fly out to Milwaukee last night but ended up rerouted to Denver after a cracked windshield caused the team plane to land. Everyone was fine, but it meant the Bruins spent the night in Denver and had to take a second flight this morning, while their game against Marquette was delayed by eight hours.
In the end, it did not seem to phase the Bruins, as UCLA raced out to an early lead that they would never relinquish, ultimately defeating the Golden Eagles by a final score of 67-56.
The FiServ Forum in Milwaukee was certainly rocking tonight, but I have to imagine that UCLA’s experience in hostile environments, hard-won over the course of last March’s NCAA Tournament, helped them out here, as they quickly silenced the pro-Marquette crowd with a blend of dazzling offense and stifling defense. The Golden Eagles did not hit double-digit scoring until the 7:51 mark of the first half; by then, UCLA had scored 22 points and put up a double-digit lead that they would maintain the rest of the game, extending it out to as large as 23 at one point.
Marquette would go on a few runs at various points, but every time that happened, coach Mick Cronin would slow the game down and run a more deliberate offensive set, usually with Jaime Jaquez in isolation. Jaquez responded in kind with perhaps his best game of the season, putting up a team-high 24 points on 7-16 shooting while grabbing 11 rebounds and two assists. Tyger Campbell similarly was in his bag for this one, putting up 12 points and eight assists on the night. The Bruins won despite underwhelming performances from Johnny Juzang (12 points on 5-16 shooting) and Jules Bernard (only five points on 2-5 shooting despite 30 minutes of floor time).
UCLA ultimately won because they turned in one of their best defensive performances of the season. They say defense travels, but we’ve yet to see the Bruins turn in the kind of excellent defensive performance that they are capable of. UCLA was not amazing defensively - Marquette missed more than their fair share of open looks - but the defensive intensity was noticeably higher than it has been in recent games. Marquette was held to 33.3% shooting from the field, including an abysmal 24.2% from distance, and that was truly enough to make things fairly comfortable for the Bruins.
This is going to go down as a solid win for UCLA, even without considering all the extenuating circumstances surrounding this game. Marquette is a solid team with early wins over Illinois, Ole Miss, and West Virginia. This is a game UCLA should have won, and they managed to do it comfortably.
Let’s just hope the flight home is uneventful this time.
Jaime Jaquez led the Bruins with 24 points and 11 rebounds. Tyger Campbell led the team with eight assists. Greg Elliot led Marquette with 22 points.
Three Takeaways
Player of the Game: Jaime Jaquez - In UCLA’s previous game, Jaquez left early after taking a nasty fall and bumping his head on the floor. Getting the extended time off due to the cancellation of the Washington game seems to have done him wonders, and he played like he was making up for lost time. 24 points and 11 rebounds speak to how all over the place he was, but the bigger sign was how often Coach Cronin went to Jaime to stop any and all Marquette runs. Juzang may be the best pure shooter, and Tyger may be the guy running the offense, but Jaquez is UCLA’s best overall player, and this was a reminder that he can carry the team when needed.
Cleaning Up the Boards - UCLA has been a strong rebounding team under Coach Cronin, and this game was a good reminder of that fact. The Bruins outrebounded Marquette by a total of 48-37, but really dominated on the offensive glass, where they got 17 compared to only eight from Marquette. UCLA did not have the greatest offensive night (36.4% shooting) but when you can keep cleaning up your mistakes and take nine more shots than your opponent, then it’s going to make a world of difference.
A Bad Free Throw Night - It ultimately did not cost the Bruins, but UCLA was not great from the free-throw line, going 10-17 on the night. The Bruins already struggle to draw fouls and get to the line to begin with, but you would ideally like to see them hit the shots they do earn. In particular, Jaquez went 7-12 from the line, which was perhaps his only true blemish on the night.
The Bruins will return home for a tune-up game this Wednesday against Alabama State before turning their attention to North Carolina in the CBS Sports Classic next Saturday. Tip-off is scheduled for 8:00 PM PT.
Go Bruins!
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It was great seeing Jaime back on his game!
Anybody else have this issue, my game thread froze after one comment. Anyway my take on free throws is kind of a hangover from the travel issues. Other than that It was a stellar performance by the Bruins!