UCLA Basketball: 4-Star Freshman Gearing Up For Pac-12 Play

Let's just shake off the Bruins' non-conference record.

UCLA men's basketball starting point guard Sebastian Mack is trying to put the club's patchy start behind him as the Bruins prepare for their final season of Pac-12 inter-conference play.

Mack, a 6'3" talent out of Chicago, is leading the team in scoring (15.2 points on .389/.269/.795 shooting splits), while also averaging 4.5 rebounds, two steals and 1.6 assists.

The club has a break before its first Pac-12 matchup, a Thursday bout against Oregon State. The Bruins currently rank 11th in the conference. Mack reflected on the necessity of a break for the club in recent postgame comments after a 69-60 defeat against the Maryland Terrapins dropped the team to a 5-6 record, per UCLA Communications. 

"I feel like at the rate that we are going, [a break] is needed," Mack said. "We also have to keep getting our work in, talk to each other as a team, even though we are from different areas of the world. I feel like we are still going to talk to each other and try to fix this thing, make a quick impact on turning this around."

The team's non-conference play has been ominously poor, which Mack acknowledged. Head coach Mick Cronin also has been frustrated by the club's non-conference run.

"It teaches us that we need to come out swinging first. We can't take a backseat to things. We get hit first, and we have to show some toughness about not letting that happen anymore. "