Clamp down is the right phrase to depict UCLA's second half efforts. Oregon was running wild, repeatedly knocked us off kilter in the first half. Singleton's timely baskets kept our offensive momentum going. Clark contributed when it was needed and of course, Jaime came alive in the second half. To me, he was here, there, everywhere on the court adding fuel to the fire that walloped the feisty Ducks. Above all, it was fun to communicate directly with so many bruin fans and alums during the TV broadcast. We may be in different parts of the country - I am in Pasadena, near Cal Tech - but watching the game unfold, chatting with people elsewhere live as our emotions burst through words, loud cheerful sometimes disappointing words, is an experience indeed. Except for my fingers busily tapping the keyboard, my silence was actually rather deafening. So let's go at it again, folks.
Hi, Henry, yeah we've got a good crew here. Until this year my cable didn't carry the games and I used this blog to get a sense of the game while watching the box score. Go Bruins!
Game was pretty solid. Could trouble from the bigs and free throw shooting at the end was not so great. My biggest qualm in cronins coaching style in this game is how he chooses to close out games. Maybe it was because Bailey was hurt. Maybe it’s because nwuba had fouled out and bona was in foul trouble. Maybe it’s because Jaime and Clark were exhausted… but oregon is just as tired… running the shot clock down starting at 3 minutes left is just poor basketball. They put the game from total control to playing scared basketball. Scared basketball leads to bad shots and fast break easy buckets the other way. It allows the other team to get confidence and to play hard thinking they might still have a chance… it’s a common trend with cronin and close games are even worse. Thank god ucla was up by 15 or else this could have ended up worse. Scared basketball is not good basketball
Agreed. Perhaps Cronin himself was unwinding also. Coaching on the sideline at such an intense game takes a toll in many untold ways but I am guessing why he chose " to close out games " the way he did. We have seen huge upsets happened that way.
Well said, BB. "Scared basketball" is no way to play.
I don't know how many times I've seen us take an outside shot and immediately the rest of the team runs back on defense. There is no one their to get the OR when the ball clangs. Perhaps we picked up a bad habit back when our outside shots were dropping. Their not dropping so much, recently.
Interesting comments from Jaime postgame about how it’s the team’s last chance playing together in Matthew Knight Arena.
Sounds like it’s a strong indication that he’s not coming back for his super senior year. There’s speculation that Amari, Bona, and Tyger will all come back next year, but if I’m Tyger, I’d move on. 6 years in college is a looooong time.
Could also be next years sched only has us playing Oregon at home with no trip to Eugene. Agree I think Jaime declares for NBA and it's time for Tyger to move on, too. 6 yrs is a long time.
Noooooo ...... I love Westwood too much to leave. Can I petition NCAA for post graduate
eligibility ?!? I swear I'd I play hard year after year ! LOL !!!!!! I am kiddin' you and yes, it is time to say good bye for greener pasture, wherever it may be. But we will miss him, his big infectious smile when female fans teased him about something.
Great game and great write up. Thanks, Dimitri! Henry Tse's comments about Jaime Jaquez call to mind the fan cheer about Roy Kent in Ted Lasso: He's here! He's there! He's every (insert profanity) where! It was indeed fun to enjoy the game (the highs and the lows) with this group. And as GBruin pointed out there were close to 450 comments on the game thread!
Jaime has been mobbed by fans like a celebrity everywhere on campus. The others too. They deserve it, having played together through good times and bad, knowing we can always count on them, for sure - paraphrasing the inimitable lyrics from the iconic Dionne Warwick & Company song " That's What Friends Are For ". His sister is just as nice. Kudos to the parents for an incredible job raising them.
Yes, I clicked on the link and watch the video. Thanks. The father and mother we met at Pauley were similarly nice and warm, gracious and pleasant as they did in the video. That their kid is an NCAA basketball star, will certainly go high in the spring NBA draft do not seem to alter their down to earth, rather earnest and humble attitude when fans swarmed around them after the game. If you remember Lonzo Ball and his father, you will know what I was talking about. Lonzo is a good one but somehow his dad always tried to instill in him, his siblings an untoward sense of swagger, prima donna attitude. Daddy Ball was an attention seeker. His constant reminder to the press, or anyone who approached him about his belief that his kids are better than thou talks is a huge contrast with Mr. and Mrs Jaquez.
Glad you watched the video. Such a great opportunity to meet the Jaquez family at Pauley. I always felt the YouTube video captured them in a genuine way. I do indeed remember LaVar Ball and his embracing the limelight. A stark contrast to the Jaquez family as you aptly noted.
Was out at a local concert last night and recorded the game. After starting down 8-0, we outscored the Ducks 66-40 on their floor. Very impressive. Bailey was outstanding before twisting his ankle. I hope he didn’t re-injure it seriously. I don’t think it’s a coincidence that our 2 losses were in games he was out. He does a great job cutting to the basket and pulling up for midrange jumpers. We don’t have anyone else that does that. His absence also coincided with Singleton’s shooting slump. Coincidence? UCLA doesn’t lose a lot of headscratchers against poor opponents. Look at who Arizona, SC, Gonzaga and other top teams have lost to this year. Just go back to the previous administration where we lost at home to Belmont and Liberty. It’s a bit of an oxymoron, but when UCLA is inconsistent under Cronin, they are still more consistent than other programs. Defense travels.
Do you have to mention what youmightcallit ?!? We fought AD Guerrero hard to dismiss him. One of us even cornered chancellor Gene Block at an alumni gathering on campus. to no avail. I will tell you more later what some of us did then. For now, let's enjoy Cronin basket.
I'm not going with you on Mac. I haven't seen anything useful from him yet. Perhaps more playing time will show. Yeah, he got 4 rebs, to ORs, but no points and no assists. He didn't take any shots either. The highlight for me was Jaime hitting two threes again. We needed them.
SPTRs are going to keep eagle eyes on Bona an Nwuba as they are known for their clumsiness.
All we need from Mac at this point is to do no harm. He clearly isn’t 100% physically at this point. If he can play some minutes when needed and the Bruins can “hold serve”, that’s about all we can ask of him.
No argument, ArmyBruin. I heard he was a transfer and never heard what potential he has shown. Bona and Nwuba, on the other hand, need to learn not to make stupid fouls.
I think Bona and Nwuba had some questionable callsgo against them. On Nwuba’s last foul the Duck center literally plowed right through him. Etienne played 2 years ago during Final Four run when he was 17. He has promise. He also has 3 more years.
Not a transfer. Was an early entry high school player and played some worthwhile minutes in the final four run. I thought when he came back from his ACL repair, he would be playing far better than he has shown, certainly in front of Nwuba who basically just takes up space. Dante is a tough match up for anybody--certainly a freshman like Bona. Bona just needs to stop making impulsive, silly fouls.
I think my thing is, I know what we have with Nwuba, and I’d much rather see what the player with a higher ceiling and more years can do. Etienne played fairly well last night where Nwuba especially faltered, and I just wonder when we can start to see more of him instead of just emergency situations.
I watched JJJ’s postgame interview where he was praising Nwuba’s pick setting skill. Said he set the beat picks in the league or something similar. Nwuba is physically stronger at this point. I would have liked to see more Etienne earlier in the season, as he does have the higher ceiling as you say. But, at this point in the season, Nwuba may be the better choice more often. Mac does have a bright future.
This may be off topic in light of the horrific events at Michigan State. I wanted to share this because we were all college students before. The intellectual experience, the campus fun, the camaraderie among friends, not to mention NCAA football in the fall, followed by NCAA basketball and March Madness as winter turns into spring are all once in a life time unique privileges, special gifts of youth we will always cherish. Last night, when the unthinkable calamity struck, this time at a college campus, I can almost feel those college kids' jarring pain, shock and trauma should time go backward and I was in their shoes yesterday evening. When I graduated from UCLA back then, my home state of Wisconsin offered graduate scholarship first, others followed. One of them was Michigan State too. UCLA came in dead last. So I went back home although Westwood was always on my mind. In the midst of such reverberating sadness, may the Spartans rise above it and UCLA comes in first this time.
Clamp down is the right phrase to depict UCLA's second half efforts. Oregon was running wild, repeatedly knocked us off kilter in the first half. Singleton's timely baskets kept our offensive momentum going. Clark contributed when it was needed and of course, Jaime came alive in the second half. To me, he was here, there, everywhere on the court adding fuel to the fire that walloped the feisty Ducks. Above all, it was fun to communicate directly with so many bruin fans and alums during the TV broadcast. We may be in different parts of the country - I am in Pasadena, near Cal Tech - but watching the game unfold, chatting with people elsewhere live as our emotions burst through words, loud cheerful sometimes disappointing words, is an experience indeed. Except for my fingers busily tapping the keyboard, my silence was actually rather deafening. So let's go at it again, folks.
Hi, Henry, yeah we've got a good crew here. Until this year my cable didn't carry the games and I used this blog to get a sense of the game while watching the box score. Go Bruins!
Game was pretty solid. Could trouble from the bigs and free throw shooting at the end was not so great. My biggest qualm in cronins coaching style in this game is how he chooses to close out games. Maybe it was because Bailey was hurt. Maybe it’s because nwuba had fouled out and bona was in foul trouble. Maybe it’s because Jaime and Clark were exhausted… but oregon is just as tired… running the shot clock down starting at 3 minutes left is just poor basketball. They put the game from total control to playing scared basketball. Scared basketball leads to bad shots and fast break easy buckets the other way. It allows the other team to get confidence and to play hard thinking they might still have a chance… it’s a common trend with cronin and close games are even worse. Thank god ucla was up by 15 or else this could have ended up worse. Scared basketball is not good basketball
Agreed. Perhaps Cronin himself was unwinding also. Coaching on the sideline at such an intense game takes a toll in many untold ways but I am guessing why he chose " to close out games " the way he did. We have seen huge upsets happened that way.
Well said, BB. "Scared basketball" is no way to play.
I don't know how many times I've seen us take an outside shot and immediately the rest of the team runs back on defense. There is no one their to get the OR when the ball clangs. Perhaps we picked up a bad habit back when our outside shots were dropping. Their not dropping so much, recently.
Interesting comments from Jaime postgame about how it’s the team’s last chance playing together in Matthew Knight Arena.
Sounds like it’s a strong indication that he’s not coming back for his super senior year. There’s speculation that Amari, Bona, and Tyger will all come back next year, but if I’m Tyger, I’d move on. 6 years in college is a looooong time.
Could also be next years sched only has us playing Oregon at home with no trip to Eugene. Agree I think Jaime declares for NBA and it's time for Tyger to move on, too. 6 yrs is a long time.
Noooooo ...... I love Westwood too much to leave. Can I petition NCAA for post graduate
eligibility ?!? I swear I'd I play hard year after year ! LOL !!!!!! I am kiddin' you and yes, it is time to say good bye for greener pasture, wherever it may be. But we will miss him, his big infectious smile when female fans teased him about something.
Try 11.
Great game and great write up. Thanks, Dimitri! Henry Tse's comments about Jaime Jaquez call to mind the fan cheer about Roy Kent in Ted Lasso: He's here! He's there! He's every (insert profanity) where! It was indeed fun to enjoy the game (the highs and the lows) with this group. And as GBruin pointed out there were close to 450 comments on the game thread!
Jaime has been mobbed by fans like a celebrity everywhere on campus. The others too. They deserve it, having played together through good times and bad, knowing we can always count on them, for sure - paraphrasing the inimitable lyrics from the iconic Dionne Warwick & Company song " That's What Friends Are For ". His sister is just as nice. Kudos to the parents for an incredible job raising them.
There is great YouTube video about the Jaquez family. Definitely worth a watch if you haven't seen it previously. https://youtu.be/6EC5DwWzD5g
Yes, I clicked on the link and watch the video. Thanks. The father and mother we met at Pauley were similarly nice and warm, gracious and pleasant as they did in the video. That their kid is an NCAA basketball star, will certainly go high in the spring NBA draft do not seem to alter their down to earth, rather earnest and humble attitude when fans swarmed around them after the game. If you remember Lonzo Ball and his father, you will know what I was talking about. Lonzo is a good one but somehow his dad always tried to instill in him, his siblings an untoward sense of swagger, prima donna attitude. Daddy Ball was an attention seeker. His constant reminder to the press, or anyone who approached him about his belief that his kids are better than thou talks is a huge contrast with Mr. and Mrs Jaquez.
Glad you watched the video. Such a great opportunity to meet the Jaquez family at Pauley. I always felt the YouTube video captured them in a genuine way. I do indeed remember LaVar Ball and his embracing the limelight. A stark contrast to the Jaquez family as you aptly noted.
Was out at a local concert last night and recorded the game. After starting down 8-0, we outscored the Ducks 66-40 on their floor. Very impressive. Bailey was outstanding before twisting his ankle. I hope he didn’t re-injure it seriously. I don’t think it’s a coincidence that our 2 losses were in games he was out. He does a great job cutting to the basket and pulling up for midrange jumpers. We don’t have anyone else that does that. His absence also coincided with Singleton’s shooting slump. Coincidence? UCLA doesn’t lose a lot of headscratchers against poor opponents. Look at who Arizona, SC, Gonzaga and other top teams have lost to this year. Just go back to the previous administration where we lost at home to Belmont and Liberty. It’s a bit of an oxymoron, but when UCLA is inconsistent under Cronin, they are still more consistent than other programs. Defense travels.
Do you have to mention what youmightcallit ?!? We fought AD Guerrero hard to dismiss him. One of us even cornered chancellor Gene Block at an alumni gathering on campus. to no avail. I will tell you more later what some of us did then. For now, let's enjoy Cronin basket.
I'm not going with you on Mac. I haven't seen anything useful from him yet. Perhaps more playing time will show. Yeah, he got 4 rebs, to ORs, but no points and no assists. He didn't take any shots either. The highlight for me was Jaime hitting two threes again. We needed them.
SPTRs are going to keep eagle eyes on Bona an Nwuba as they are known for their clumsiness.
All we need from Mac at this point is to do no harm. He clearly isn’t 100% physically at this point. If he can play some minutes when needed and the Bruins can “hold serve”, that’s about all we can ask of him.
No argument, ArmyBruin. I heard he was a transfer and never heard what potential he has shown. Bona and Nwuba, on the other hand, need to learn not to make stupid fouls.
I think Bona and Nwuba had some questionable callsgo against them. On Nwuba’s last foul the Duck center literally plowed right through him. Etienne played 2 years ago during Final Four run when he was 17. He has promise. He also has 3 more years.
Agree on those calls. Thanks for the fill-in on Mac.
Not a transfer. Was an early entry high school player and played some worthwhile minutes in the final four run. I thought when he came back from his ACL repair, he would be playing far better than he has shown, certainly in front of Nwuba who basically just takes up space. Dante is a tough match up for anybody--certainly a freshman like Bona. Bona just needs to stop making impulsive, silly fouls.
I think my thing is, I know what we have with Nwuba, and I’d much rather see what the player with a higher ceiling and more years can do. Etienne played fairly well last night where Nwuba especially faltered, and I just wonder when we can start to see more of him instead of just emergency situations.
I watched JJJ’s postgame interview where he was praising Nwuba’s pick setting skill. Said he set the beat picks in the league or something similar. Nwuba is physically stronger at this point. I would have liked to see more Etienne earlier in the season, as he does have the higher ceiling as you say. But, at this point in the season, Nwuba may be the better choice more often. Mac does have a bright future.
This may be off topic in light of the horrific events at Michigan State. I wanted to share this because we were all college students before. The intellectual experience, the campus fun, the camaraderie among friends, not to mention NCAA football in the fall, followed by NCAA basketball and March Madness as winter turns into spring are all once in a life time unique privileges, special gifts of youth we will always cherish. Last night, when the unthinkable calamity struck, this time at a college campus, I can almost feel those college kids' jarring pain, shock and trauma should time go backward and I was in their shoes yesterday evening. When I graduated from UCLA back then, my home state of Wisconsin offered graduate scholarship first, others followed. One of them was Michigan State too. UCLA came in dead last. So I went back home although Westwood was always on my mind. In the midst of such reverberating sadness, may the Spartans rise above it and UCLA comes in first this time.