Sizing up his undersized opponent, UCLA coach Mick Cronin went with a small beginning lineup in his last preseason tuneup Wednesday evening.
Taking part in alongside guards Dylan Andrews, Skyy Clark and Kobe Johnson had been forwards Eric Dailey Jr. and Tyler Bilodeau. At 6 ft 9, Bilodeau was the tallest Bruin on the courtroom.
However the switch from Oregon State was an enormous downside to defend from begin to end throughout No. 22 UCLA’s 100-64 exhibition victory over Cal State Los Angeles at Pauley Pavilion.
Bilodeau scored the sport’s first factors on a putback of his personal miss and by no means slowed down on the way in which to 24 factors on nine-for-11 capturing in solely 20 minutes. By the midpoint of the primary half, he had scored amid a triple workforce within the paint, pump-faked a defender out of the way in which earlier than burying an open jumper and added a fadeaway jumper within the lane.
“As you can see,” Cronin deadpanned, “Tyler Bilodeau can score.”
So can Cronin’s workforce in a welcome departure from final season, when the Bruins usually struggled to crack 60 factors on the way in which to a shedding report.
These Bruins appeared dominant, albeit in opposition to an NCAA Division II opponent. They outscored the Golden Eagles, 60-12, within the paint and scored 22 factors off 16 turnovers. UCLA additionally made 9 of 17 three-pointers (52.9%) after going one recreation final season with out making one shot from past the arc for the primary time since 2000.
“Most of our shots were great, great shots,” Cronin stated.
Three different transfers joined Bilodeau in making Bruins basketball enjoyable once more.
Clark, who spent final season at Louisville, made seven of eight pictures whereas scoring 17 factors to go along with two assists and no turnovers. Johnson (USC) was robust throughout the board with 11 assists, eight factors, six rebounds and 5 steals. Dailey (Oklahoma State) appeared like somebody who is likely to be exhausting to maintain off the courtroom with 11 factors, seven rebounds, 4 assists and two steals.
“It was a very diverse group,” Clark stated. “We’ve got a lot of guys who can do a lot of things.”
That features sophomore middle Aday Mara, who tallied eight factors on 4 dunks — three off lobs — and grabbed 5 rebounds in simply seven minutes whereas persevering with to spherical into kind from a foot harm.
Guard Jaden Lazo made eight of 13 three-pointers to steer Cal State L.A. with 24 factors. Cronin stated he favored that the Golden Eagles offered a terrific take a look at earlier than the season opener in opposition to Rider on Monday due to their relentless reducing and transferring.
Along with his workforce main by as many as 42 factors, Cronin was in a position to get 16 gamers into the sport. However it’s clear there might not be important roles for greater than a handful of those that participated. Cronin stated he would have discussions along with his gamers about redshirting earlier than the opener; based mostly on their utilization Wednesday, candidates embody sophomore forwards Brandon Williams and Devin Williams (no relation) and freshman guard Eric Freeny.
“I always leave that up to the player,” Cronin stated. “But in the era of getting paid, if I was a young guy battling for minutes, I’d redshirt. I can get paid for five years instead of four before I gotta get a job. Pretty good deal, right?”
Cronin stated he anticipated utilizing a number of beginning lineups , intimating that they might be based mostly on matchups. The one he unveiled Wednesday confirmed the potential to make Cronin’s bid to rebound from final season so much simpler.
“Hey, look, it’s hard to win when you can’t score,” Cronin stated. “You can’t win without defense, toughness and winners on your team, but man, you can’t coach that ball in the basket.”
