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.
I said Arizona was going to be in trouble after losing to USC. LMAO!
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.
Thank you, Mick Cronin. Thank you for your life as you have given us ours. UCLA Basketball is back!