Streaking Bruins get shot to avenge blowout by Utah
UCLA basketball coach Mick Cronin does not believe the way Thursday's 64-60 victory at home against Colorado unfolded will carry over to today's game against Utah at Pauley Pavilion.
“I would love for it to translate, but it won't. If you tell me we're going to hold Utah to 60, I'll take it,” Cronin said. “But you have to go play Sunday. But everything is a learning experience.”
The first time UCLA played Utah this season, the result was a 90-46 loss in Salt Lake City on Jan. 11, the team's worst and only double-digit defeat this season. Sophomore point guard Dylan Andrews led the Bruins with nine points. The team's most imposing interior presence, sophomore forward Adem Bona, only mustered four points and two rebounds in 18 minutes.
However, since that drubbing, UCLA has won eight of nine games, including the team's current and season-long six-game winning streak.
Meanwhile, freshman guard Sebastian Mack, the team's leading scorer at 13.5
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points per game, and Andrews, said they want to stay locked into the Bruins' current style of play against Utah.
“We're going to take it step by step, going to practice, work our kinks out and go from there,” said.Mack
“Keep letting the momentum carry us,” Andrews added.
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Records: UCLA 14-11, 9-5Pac-12;
Utah 15-10, 6-8
UCLA's latest result: Sebastian Mack scored a game-high 19points in UCLA's 6460win at home against Colorado on Thursday. Adem Bona had 14points and seven rebounds. Dylan Andrews added 13points and four rebounds. UCLA gave up a 14-point lead in the second half. However, a combination of timely offense and defense down the stretch earned the victory, which moved the Bruins into third place in the Pac-12with three weeks left in the regular season. Utah's latest result: The Utes are coming off a 68-64 loss at USC on Thursday night. Senior point guard Deivon Smith filled up the stat sheet with 19 points, nine rebounds and seven assists but senior center Branden Carlson, who scored 15 points, was the only other Utah player in double figures as the team shot 36.7% (22 of 60) from the field, including 19% (4of 21) from 3-point range.
Matchup to watch: UCLA's Andrews against Utah's Smith. In just 21minutes in Utah's 90-46blowout win against the Bruins on Jan. 11, Smith recorded a double-double with 11points and 11assists. However, since then Andrews has emerged as UCLA's top perimeter defender, holding dynamic guards like Colorado's KJ Simpson, USC's Boogie Ellis and Oregon's Jackson Shelstad, well below their season averages and disrupting the flow of those aforementioned teams' offenses.
UCLA trends to watch: The Bruins are averaging 69 points per game on their current six-game winning streak, slightly above the team's season average of 66.1 points. Meanwhile, more than 70% of the team's scoring output has come from just four players, Mack (13.5), Bona (12.3), Andrews (11.3) and junior guard Lazar Stefanovic (10.8), who transferred from Utah ahead of the 2023-24 season.