Thursday, March 28

Men’s basketball falls to Washington State, dropping 3 of last 4 games


Redshirt sophomore guard Tyger Campbell was one of two Bruins to crack double digits in scoring as UCLA men’s basketball dropped its third game in four tries. (David Rimer/Daily Bruin staff)


Men’s basketball


UCLA73
Washington State81

This post was updated Feb. 11 at 11:57 p.m.

The Bruins trailed by as many as 23 points in the second half Thursday night.

The game was getting out of hand, Cougar guard Isaac Bonton was putting up points in bunches and coach Mick Cronin was giving sophomore guard/forward Jaime Jaquez Jr. an earful on the bench.

“We weren’t playing smart,” Cronin said. “I don’t believe in saying, ‘There was no energy, the guys looked like they didn’t have any life,’ – I disagree with that. Our problems defensively are the lack of discipline that I have to fix.”

Instead of getting blown out, however, the Bruins flipped the script into a big run down the stretch – it just wasn’t enough to win the game.

“We just waited to turn it on until it was too late,” said redshirt sophomore guard Tyger Campbell.

UCLA men’s basketball (13-5, 9-3 Pac-12) lost 81-73 to Washington State (12-8, 5-8) in Pullman, a reverse result of the Bruins’ 30-point home victory over the Cougars on Jan. 14. UCLA has now dropped three of its last four games after starting conference play 8-0,  and it allowed more than 77 points for the first time in a nonovertime game this year.

“You’d have to have multiple NBA players to be able to go on the road and give up 81 and win,” Cronin said. “This isn’t rocket science.”

The Bruins had a handful of chances to make the game interesting in the final minutes, forcing five turnovers in the final 5:12 and hitting six field goals in that span compared to the Cougars’ two. Both Jaquez and sophomore guard Johnny Juzang missed 3-pointers inside the last two minutes that would have made it a two-possession game, and UCLA never got within six points in the final 22 minutes.

While he didn’t hit a field goal in the final 11 minutes of the game, Bonton’s scoring put the Bruins in a double-digit hole to begin with. The Cougar rattled off 10 points in a five-minute span early in the second half, putting his team up 62-39.

Cronin spent a big chunk of his weekly Tuesday press conference praising Bonton and his shot-making ability. Whether it was high bounces off the rim on 3s or scoop layups that kissed off the very top of the glass, Bonton’s play met Cronin’s praises Thursday, but Cronin said the more acrobatic shots weren’t the ones that sunk his team.

“Those (circus shots) don’t beat us,” Cronin said. “It’s when we just stand there and let him shoot wide-open 3s with dead hands in our face like we don’t know he’s going to shoot it and make it – those are the ones that bother me.”

The Cougar guard finished with 26 points Thursday night on 8-of-18 shooting after putting up 23 points against the Bruins in January.

Bonton hit four of Washington State’s 13 3-pointers Thursday, compared to the five that UCLA hit as a team. The Bruins outscored the Cougars in the paint 34-18 on the night – just 22% of Washington State’s points came from in the paint, the fewest by a UCLA opponent this season – but the perimeter play set the teams apart on the final scoreboard.

The Cougars found ways to even things up down low, out-rebounding the Bruins 38-30. It marked the second game in a row in which UCLA has lost the rebounding battle, the first time that has occurred all season.

The Bruins trailed by double digits for over half of the game and only had two players score more than seven points. Campbell scored 13 of UCLA’s first 25 points but only managed four points the rest of the game, while Juzang scored 25 points on an inefficient 39% clip from the field.

UCLA will continue its road trip with a matchup against Washington on Saturday. Juzang said the Bruins will need to make major changes defensively before they tip off against the Huskies, more so mental ones than physical ones. 

“We have to come with a greater focus … and just more discipline in everything in these next, whatever, 36 hours or 40 hours,” Juzang said. “Obviously, we’ve lost three out of four, so whatever it has been isn’t working.”

Alumnus

Connon joined the Bruin as a freshman in 2017 and contributed until he graduated in 2021. He was the Sports editor for the 2019-2020 academic year, an assistant Sports editor for the 2018-2019 academic year and spent time on the football, men's basketball, women's basketball, baseball, men's soccer, cross country, men's golf and women's golf beats, while also contributing movie reviews for Arts & Entertainment.


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