UCLA's David Singleton Becomes "Tripleton" as Bruins Destroy Huskies, 76-50
He hit six of eight treys and scored a career-high 22.
Unlike Thursday night’s start against Washington State which saw the Bruins score the first nine points, UCLA gave Washington a full five-minute head start tonight and they still managed to crush the Huskies by 26 points as the Bruins didn’t get on the board until there was 14:48 left in the first half. Despite letting Washington score the first six points of the game and the fact that the team was missing Johnny Juzang and Cody Riley for the entire game, the Bruins managed a very convincing win.
UCLA was also without Tyger Campbell for about half the game. That’s because Campbell appeared to hurt his shoulder on the first play of the game, but he returned until being removed for good with about ten minutes to go in the game.
After spotting the Huskies the first six points in the first five minutes, the Bruins came roaring right back to tie in a minute and a half.
The Huskies weren’t quite done yet, though. Terrell Brown made a pair of free throws following a foul by Jules Bernard to give Washington an 8-6 lead.
UCLA responded with a three from David Singleton, his first of six, and the Bruins led 9-8.
From there, the Bruins just kept building on their lead. With 2:27 left in the half, Campbell hit a three to stretch UCLA’s lead into double-digits, 33-21, and with just over a minute to go, Jaylen Clark had pushed it to 14 points. But Brown was able to make the final shot of the first half to trim the Bruins’ lead to 12 at the break, 37-25.
The first three-plus minutes of the second half saw UCLA increase their lead to 20 points, 46-26. Frequently, this is a point where a losing team may make a run to get back into a game.
That wasn’t happening tonight.
In fact, UCLA kept pounding the Huskies and the Bruins were soon up by 30 points, 58-28, with 12:27 to go. That’s when a three from Campbell and a jumper from Jake Kyman put UCLA ahead by 35, 63-28, with 11:41 left.
And that still wasn’t UCLA’s biggest lead of the game.
At the 10-minute media timeout, Coach Cronin opted for a mass substitution. Campbell, Jaime Jaquez, Jr., Peyton Watson and Kenneth Nwuba came out and Jaylen Clark, Jules Bernard, Myles Johnson, and Singleton all re-entered the game. Campbell and Jaquez were done for the night, but the Bruins weren’t.
With 7:12 left, Kyman hit another UCLA three and the Bruins now had what would be their biggest lead of the game at 37 points, 72-35.
Just how good was UCLA tonight? Well, let’s just say that Washington wasn’t even the second best team on the floor tonight. UCLA’s bench, with 28 points from five guys who averaged just 15.4 minutes tonight, was.
Washington finally managed to cut into UCLA’s lead in the final seven minutes. That’s when the Huskies were able to score 15 of their 50 points which cut the Bruins lead by 11 to just 26 points and a final score of 76-50.
Even though Singleton had a career-high 22 points tonight, he still didn’t lead UCLA in points. That honor went to Clark, who led the Bruins with 25. Myles Johnson continued being a beast on the boards with 13 rebounds.
The Bruins will look to maintain the same intensity on Monday night when UCLA hosts Arizona State for a make-up game on President’s Day at 6 pm PT.
Go Bruins!!!
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A decisive victory. Hope they crush ASU as well.
Games like this and against Washington State get you thinking. Both games were dominated by great flowing offense and strong defense. Sure, Washington State and Washington are by no means at the caliber of Arizona and USC, but would the original starters been able to dominate these last two games like we've seen the "bench" players the last few days?
My takeaways (these are just opinions, plse provide constructive criticism)
1. Miles should be starting over Riley. I think in the last 3 or 4 games, Miles has shown a greater defensive and offensive rebounding presence than Riley has all season. Riley has an alright jump shot and a great left hand, but struggles with matchups (given his size more of a PF) and rebounding. What we need rn is defense, more specifically guys that can rebound well and be active/energetic. Riley just doesn't bring it like Miles does for me, and Miles has shown what kind of boost he can provide when he starts these last two games.
2. Jaylen Clark should be played more than Bernard. Sure, Bernard is a veteran but something is definitely off with his game. He takes wild shots, can't handle the ball well, and plays suspicious defense. While Clark seems much more composed, is the most active defensive player, and is a matchup problem for most teams. Let Bernard prove himself. Let him earn those minutes, because I think he may be getting complacent with them.
These are my two main takeaways.
Just a final point: I feel like Watson may still be injured. Man, he just has unlimited potential but UCLA has so much depth its tough to get minutes, especially when hes turning the ball over so much on offense. I believe in his future and want to see him exceed, so I hope he starts feeling better physically and is able to start dominating on defense again like he did against Arizona at home.
Go bruins!