Thursday, March 28

Men’s basketball nabs victory over Long Beach State after back-and-forth 1st half


Senior guard Jules Bernard maneuvers past a defender in No. 2 UCLA men’s basketball’s win over Long Beach State on Monday night. Bernard finished as the Bruins’ second-leading scorer with 22 points. (Jeremy Chen/Daily Bruin staff)


Men’s basketball


Long Beach State79
No. 2 UCLA100

This post was updated Nov. 15 at 11:33 p.m.

Basketball is typically played in a five-on-five variety, with each team playing five players at a time.

But Monday night, it looked like the Bruins were playing five-on-two.

No. 2 UCLA men’s basketball (3-0) defeated Long Beach State (1-1) by a score of 100-79 despite Beach guards Joel Murray and Colin Slater combining for 57 points and over 75% shooting from the field. Without the guard duo, the visiting team had only 22 points and shot 9-of-25.

“When you give up 57 points to two players, that’s obviously unacceptable,” said senior guard Jules Bernard. “Especially for us. Our standard for defense is set at a high bar. There’s definitely a lot to work on.” 

In the first half, Murray and Slater combined for 37 of the Beach’s 45 points. During a span of just over two and a half minutes, Slater went on a 12-0 solo run to put his team up 26-23 with less than eight minutes to go in the first half. Slater finished the first period without missing a shot, as the guard put up 17 points on seven shot attempts.

Long Beach State guard Colin Slater shoots over junior guard/forward Jaime Jaquez Jr.’s outstretched arm. Slater finished the game with 27 points – the second most of anyone on either team. (Jeremy Chen/Daily Bruin staff)

Bernard added that allowing Murray and Slater to find an early rhythm put the team at a disadvantage when defending the pair.

“When you let them get going early, and they have their juices flowing, and you let the water start flowing, they are just going to keep hitting shots,” Bernard said. “We let them get going way too early.”

But in a back-and-forth first half, Murray and Slater weren’t the only players to show off their shooting ability to start the game. 

Junior guard Johnny Juzang scored the Bruins’ first seven points of the contest, all on jumpers. After draining a 3 from a foot beyond the left-wing arc, Juzang broke down his man off the dribble on two consecutive possessions, creating enough space to knock down a pair of mid-range pull-up jumpers. 

On the opening play after the first media timeout, the reigning Pac-12 Player of the Week added one more jumper to his tally, hitting another deep 3-pointer to give him 10 of UCLA’s first 12 points. Juzang would go on to finish with a team-high 16 points in the opening 20 minutes and ended the game as the Bruins’ leading scorer.

Despite scoring 25 for the second consecutive game, Juzang said he wasn’t pleased with how he played.

“We know the level that we’re capable of playing at, so just winning the game doesn’t always satisfy us,” Juzang said. “It’s how you performed, how you won the game or lost the game or whatever. But you know when you made too many mistakes.”

As a team, the Beach shot 69% from the field in the opening period behind a 16-of-19 showing from Slater and Murray. 

Coach Mick Cronin said UCLA’s poor defensive showing came down to a lack of togetherness on that end of the floor, calling his team’s defense “horrendous.”

“If I had a pair of sneakers, I think I could score on some of our guys tonight,” Cronin said. “And I turned 50 this summer.”

In the first half, the Bruins connected on 18 of their 40 first-half shot attempts in comparison to the Beach’s 20-of-29 first-half showing.

However, UCLA started the second period by making five of its first six shots – with three of the makes coming from Juzang – to open the frame on an 11-2 run.

The Beach kept pace behind more scoring from Murray and Slater, coming within eight after the Bruins’ initial second-half run. But even with the duo combining for 11 of Long Beach State’s first 13 points in the final period, UCLA extended its lead to 16 midway through the second half.

UCLA allowed 34 points to Long Beach State in the second half compared to 45 in the first. The Bruins also held the Beach to 12-of-26 shooting in the final frame – a 22.8 percentage point decrease from the first half. 

Even still, Cronin said that nothing about his team’s defensive performance was positive.

“​​Right now, defensively, I don’t like one thing we’re doing on the ball or off the ball or talking in transition,” Cronin said. 

After putting up 12 in the first half, Bernard went for double-digits again in the second half, scoring 10 points on a perfect 4-of-4 from the field and giving him UCLA’s second-highest point tally at 22. Bernard and the Bruins went on to outscore the Beach 11-4 in the final five minutes, giving them the deciding 21-point advantage.

“Right now, I don’t need some contribution. I need some leadership, some accountability,” Cronin said. “To me, that game shouldn’t have even come down the way it came down.”

Sports senior staff

Christon is currently a Sports senior staff writer. He was previously the Sports editor on the men's basketball and football beats and the assistant Sports editor on the women's basketball, softball, men's tennis and women's tennis beats. Christon was previously a contributor on the women's basketball and softball beats.


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