UCLA has a solution for certainly one of its greatest issues taking on more room than anybody else on the bench.
He stands 7 toes 3, wears size-18 footwear and has a wingspan rivaling that of some regional jets.
His identify is Aday Mara, and he’s most likely going to must play considerably extra minutes for the Bruins to get the place they wish to go these subsequent two months, not to mention March.
Throughout his 11 minutes towards Nebraska on Saturday, the sophomore middle made each of his photographs, blocked two photographs, snagged a steal and threw an ideal cross to Tyler Bilodeau for a dunk. Not proven within the field rating have been the photographs that Mara altered or prevented from being taken, to not point out his supersized screens and the improved spacing for the offense every time he was within the sport.
Mara performed almost the entire sport’s remaining eight and a half minutes. It was no coincidence that in that stretch the No. 15 Bruins almost worn out a 12-point deficit earlier than falling to the Cornhuskers, 66-58, at Pinnacle Financial institution Enviornment.
UCLA coach Mick Cronin, who has acknowledged needing to play Mara extra for a minimum of a month, stated the large man’s minutes have been restricted Saturday due to depth points. Eric Dailey Jr. didn’t play due to an ongoing problem with a facial damage and William Kyle III was out after present process a latest undisclosed medical process.
These absences left Mara and Bilodeau because the crew’s solely remaining huge males. The Bruins have been at their greatest when each have been on the courtroom collectively, a lineup that Cronin stated he want to have used extra.
“It’s hard because you play them a lot together and they get tired at the same time, you’ve got nobody to put in,” Cronin stated. “You’re playing Kobe [Johnson] at center, so Aday continues to improve. I’d love to play him a lot more and it’s coming.”
It might’t come quickly sufficient given Mara’s potential to remodel his crew’s trajectory. Listed below are 5 takeaways from UCLA’s first loss in Huge Ten play:
Extra Mara, please
Enjoying Mara extra minutes won’t be non-obligatory within the Bruins’ subsequent sport.
Michigan includes a pair of 7-foot starters in Danny Wolf and Vladislav Goldin, who would require UCLA to counter with dimension or danger getting mauled within the frontcourt.
Cronin has stated he was hopeful that Dailey and Kyle might return for the sport towards the Wolverines, giving him the choice to play Mara excess of his season common of 9.8 minutes per sport. Their return can even permit Cronin to optimize his lineups.
Enjoying Mara alongside Bilodeau has the additional benefit of permitting the latter to spend extra time at his pure place, stopping the 6-foot-9 ahead from carrying down as a result of he has to exert a lot vitality defending greater counterparts.
“I like playing with Aday,” Bilodeau stated. “He’s a great passer, great inside, really long and can help a lot on defense around the rim, so it’s awesome.”
Who’s the purpose?
Dylan Andrews’ prolonged stoop has left Cronin with one other huge resolution.
Does he proceed to let Andrews attempt to play his approach again into kind or let his level guard come off the bench to offer one other playmaker a bigger function?
Skyy Clark has achieved a greater job of working the offense in latest weeks however suffered a number of photographs to the shoulder in the course of the sport towards the Cornhuskers. If Clark is offered towards the Wolverines, he could possibly be the first level guard whereas Andrews performs fewer minutes as a defensive specialist who takes solely a handful of photographs whereas making an attempt to rebuild his confidence.
Over his final three video games, Andrews has extra turnovers than assists whereas averaging 1.3 factors.
“Dylan Andrews,” Cronin stated, “got to play way better.”
Line them up
Transferring Andrews to the bench would give Cronin some fascinating choices for his beginning lineup, assuming everybody was accessible.
One thought could be to go along with Clark, Johnson, Dailey, Bilodeau and Mara. That lineup leaves loads of high quality replacements whereas offering Cronin with the flexibleness to play Bilodeau some on the 5 spot in order that Mara and Kyle don’t want to mix for 40 minutes.
After assessing which lineups are working greatest, Cronin might go along with a mixture of reserves and starters to shut video games. The Bruins’ depth has stored each participant fairly recent, nobody averaging greater than Bilodeau’s 27.3 minutes per sport.
Boosters wanted
Reserves Dominick Harris and Trent Perry couldn’t present a wanted enhance to their shorthanded crew Saturday, combining to go scoreless with three turnovers.
They’ll solely hope their coach’s belief in them continues when the Bruins get again to full energy.
His 5 high quality minutes towards Gonzaga however, Perry has struggled for the reason that begin of December. He’s regarded rattled in spot minutes towards high quality groups whereas additionally routinely getting crushed on protection, although it’s necessary to recollect he’s only a freshman going by all this for the primary time.
Harris is a redshirt senior who has not been capable of finding any form of rhythm. After rating No. 3 within the nation final season by making 44.8% of his three-pointers at Loyola Marymount, Harris has made simply two of 18 photographs (11.1%) from lengthy vary in his first season with the Bruins.
Dwelling cooking?
Many UCLA followers obtained a robocall from Cronin final week, imploring them to return to the Michigan sport at Pauley Pavilion to assist the crew.
The Bruins want the attendance enhance given they’re averaging simply 4,830 followers for residence video games. Solely USC, averaging 4,163, has had smaller residence crowds amongst Huge Ten groups.
If UCLA desires to contend for a convention title throughout its first Huge Ten season, it’s going to want to win almost each residence sport after studying simply how onerous it’s to win on the highway.
