UCLA Completes the Desert Sweep, Defeats Arizona, 81-76
The Bruins are showing the resilience that carried them through last season.
When Chris Smith went out for the season with a knee injury, there was an understandable pall that was cast over the rest of the season. UCLA had looked consistent with Smith in the lineup, and the loss of someone who has the capability of being their best player was not seen as a good sign for their prospects in the conference.
So of course, the Bruins went out and showed they were still going to be a threat to win the conference anyway, heading to the state of Arizona and coming away with two straight victories, including tonight’s 81-76 win over the Arizona Wildcats that moved UCLA to 5-0 in conference play.
UCLA won this game with their now-trademark blend of grinding defense and timely scoring. The Bruins held Arizona to 43.1% shooting in the game, already a solid number, but clearly picked up the intensity in the second half when they held the Wildcats to 35.3% shooting. The Bruins were surprisingly solid at defending the three, and did a great job of defending without fouling, ending the game with only 17 fouls. UCLA’s defense has been a bit suspect at times, especially in second halves when opponents have shown the ability to adjust, so it was a great sign to see the Bruins reverse that trend in this game.
On the scoring front, UCLA did not have its usual flowing offense (only six assists, which is well below the 15.8 they have averaged this year) but still managed to find some points thanks to excellent individual games from a variety of players. Johnny Juzang had one of his best games as a Bruin, scoring 16 points on 5-10 shooting and finding some range from distance, going 3-4 from three. Jaime Jaquez had a nice bounce-back game, putting in 13 points on 4-9 shooting. Nine of the 10 Bruins who saw the court in this game scored points, a great example of how balanced the UCLA attack was.
However, the game ball clearly goes to Tyger Campbell in this one. Just a few days after one of the worst outings of his UCLA career, Campbell turned around and had one of the best outings of his career, tying his career-high with 22 points on a hyper-efficient 7-10 from the field. Campbell did a great job of getting to his spot throughout the game, never forcing things offensively en route to a 80% true shooting percentage. Campbell’s assist total of two was well below his usual output, but he also had zero turnovers, so it’s hard to fault him too much.
If there was a downside to this game, it’s that UCLA had some issues on the interior. Arizona ultimately won the rebounding battle 33-32, but the spread was much larger at various points in this game. More importantly, Jalen Hill and Cody Riley found themselves in foul trouble early and often in this one. It required Kenneth Nwuba to play meaningful minutes for the first time since the opening game against San Diego State, and Nwuba rose to the challenge. He did not score, but he looked playable on the defensive end, which is all the Bruins needed from him. Nwuba’s solid play in this game opens up some new options with the lineup that should help alleviate some minutes on the interior.
In general, Mick Cronin showed off a more balanced rotation. Nine of the ten Bruins that played in this game saw at least 10 minutes, and the lone exception in Nwuba still saw nine minutes. Cronin showed confidence in players like Jaylen Clark, who was repeatedly subbed in late in the game for his defense, and Jake Kyman, who was not a huge force on the offensive end but played solid defense that allowed him to remain a threat on the floor for an extended time. With Chris Smith out for the season, Cronin is going to need to start showing more faith in the players on his roster, and it’s a great sign that the players are rising to the occassion.
This was an important win for the Bruins. At 5-0, UCLA is sitting alone atop the conference. More importantly, the Bruins were able to come away with a sweep on one of the toughest road trips the conference can offer. These are wins that the Bruins can bank for later, and will help them remain in the conference title hunt as the season progresses.
But perhaps more importantly, this was UCLA showcasing exactly why they were selected by the media to win the conference, as their solid defense and efficient offense was on full display. When UCLA plays to their capabilities, they are hard to stop.
Tyger Campbell led the Bruins with 22 points and two assists. Jaime Jaquez led the team with nine assists. James Akinjo led the Wildcats with 25 points.
Three Takeaways
Player of the Game: Tyger Campbell - Easy call here. Campbell seems to love playing in Tuscon; last year he outplayed Nico Mannion, and this year he had an exceptional bounce-back game.
Area of Concern: Interior Depth (kinda) - This was the first time that we’ve seen both Cody Riley and Jalen Hill get into foul trouble, as the Bruins have generally been lucky and had only one of the two have issues. In this one, both Riley and Hill picked up two fouls early, forcing Coach Cronin to turn to Kenneth Nwuba for meaningful minutes. Nwuba performed admirably, but this still remains a concern going forward.
A Balanced Rotation - I’ve mentioned that UCLA is going to need to spread minutes out a bit more, just to help guys like Jaime Jaquez get through the season. So it was great to see Mick Cronin utilize the entirety of his bench in this one, and great to see that bench respond with solid play.
UCLA now returns home, where they will take on Washington State next Thursday.
Go Bruins!
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This team is really resilient, and that's a credit to the solid depth and Cronin having everyone prepared. On Thursday, when Tyger and Juzang were off, Riley was dominant and Singleton stepped up nicely and it was enough. Tonight, Tyger and Juzang bounced back strong and overcame the deficits in the middle. And both games happened without arguably our best player in Smith.
It will be rare that we'll have a game with, simultaneously, Tyger off, Juzang off, the bigs off, Jaquez off, Bernard off, and Singleton and Kyman off. So it's nice to believe going forward we should have at least a couple solid contributors somewhere in the lineup and that Cronin will find them when needed. Plus, most of those guys can certainly contribute on D if the offense isn't flowing through them on a particular night.
One other key point that Walton made in the broadcast (yes, there was something both interesting and pertinent) and Dimitri ht on it, too...UCLA leads the conference in committing the least number of fouls. Considering the effect of the SPTRs, that's a big deal. We shot twice the number of free throws that the standard (rofl) did and that netted us a 15 point advantage from the charity stripe. If we drain our FTs at 80+% like tonight (27/32 vs 12/16), that's going to chip in for a ton of offense.
Best headline of the season right there, Dimitri.
Go Bruins!
Jaime had nine rebs.