SAN DIEGO — The clapping began rhythmically, with appreciable vigor.
It’s a practice inside Viejas Area. Followers clap till San Diego State scores its first factors, one thing that ought to take — at most — a few possessions.
Greater than seven minutes into No. 12 UCLA’s exhibition sport towards the Aztecs on Friday evening, these followers had been nonetheless clapping … with so little oomph that the gesture was barely audible.
They clapped by way of one turnover after one other, by way of unhealthy passes and a touring violation and a participant stepping out of bounds and a few sloppy ballhandling within the backcourt. Lower than 5 minutes into the sport, the Bruins had compelled seven turnovers. They scored the sport’s first 17 factors.
By the point San Diego State’s Sean Newman Jr. sank a three-pointer, lastly giving these weary followers’ fingers a break, 7 minutes 41 seconds had elapsed and UCLA had made its personal level.
These Bruins may be fairly good defensively.
“We just know us guarding,” UCLA level guard Donovan Dent stated afterward, “is going to get us everywhere we want to go.”
Predictably, San Diego State made a number of runs, ultimately closing to inside three factors within the second half, however UCLA’s early lockdown protection and a few late offensive execution sparked a 67-60 victory that exposed a variety of preseason positives.
“I didn’t tell our team, but I was happy they made the run at us,” Bruins coach Mick Cronin stated. “I wanted to see how Donnie, Skyy [Clark] and the guys were going to react and I purposely didn’t call a timeout. You can do that when you have maybe the best two guards in the country.”
UCLA guard Skyy Clark dribbles throughout a preseason win over San Diego State on Friday.
(Jan Kim Lim / UCLA Athletics)
UCLA’s backcourt earned that reward on an evening that Dent tallied 18 factors, three assists and three steals alongside Clark’s 13 factors, 4 rebounds and two assists regardless of the latter participant being restricted to 21 minutes due to cramping. The duo mixed to make 12 of 12 free throws.
“You want a key to making free throws?” Cronin stated. “Have the right guy shooting.”
Frequently attacking as a substitute of simply making an attempt to sit down on their lead, the Bruins benefited from a Dent driving layup in visitors and a Jamar Brown three-pointer after teammate Tyler Bilodeau made an additional move, giving UCLA a 65-54 lead with 3:20 left and guaranteeing a contented bus trip dwelling.
Pulling away on an evening that Bilodeau (seven factors) made solely three of 10 photographs and ahead Eric Dailey Jr. sat out whereas persevering with to spherical into type from a minor knee harm made the Bruins’ displaying all of the extra spectacular. UCLA additionally didn’t get a lot manufacturing from facilities Xavier Booker and Steven Jamerson II, who mixed for seven rebounds.
“We’ve got to get 12-plus rebounds out of the five spot per game,” Cronin stated.
The pondering in enjoying this sport was that San Diego State would offer a measure of the place the Bruins stood as of mid-October, a complete season forward and a lot work to do.
“I wanted the toughest game,” Cronin stated, “we could get without getting on an airplane.”
The selection of the opponent was intentional. Recognized for inflicting complications, notably in making an attempt to run an offense, the Aztecs could make the scoring of a single basket a slog.
However it was the Bruins who had been doing many of the mucking up. They compelled 21 turnovers — 14 within the first half — and held San Diego State to 42.6% taking pictures, together with 21.7% from lengthy vary. UCLA additionally restricted the Aztecs to only 4 factors within the paint within the first half earlier than the Aztecs discovered significantly extra success inside later within the sport.
“I told them at halftime,” Cronin stated of his gamers, “if we keep giving up four points in the paint per half, we will win the national title.”
In maybe his most spectacular sequence as a Bruin, Clark adopted a driving layup within the first half with a steal earlier than sidestepping a defender for a three-pointer. After Clark got here up with one other steal, he adopted Brown’s missed layup with a putback dunk.
“I don’t know where that came from,” Clark stated with fun, crediting offseason conditioning work.
San Diego State was additionally shorthanded, enjoying with out heart Magoon Gwath due to an unspecified harm. Brown, beginning instead of Dailey, scored 9 factors to go together with three steals.
His crew having proven appreciable resolve, Cronin was clearly happy with the early returns on his newest roster makeover.
“We got everything we wanted out of it,” Cronin stated. “To come here and win with Tyler Bilodeau making three baskets, like, we’d have had no chance last year. No chance. So we’re a different team, honestly.”
