25 Comments

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.

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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

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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.

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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!

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Feb 12, 2023·edited Feb 12, 2023

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.

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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.

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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.

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