Bruins Senior Guard Sounds Off on Season-High Performance

The UCLA Bruins earned a bounce-back win on Monday night behind a stellar performance from senior guard Lazar Stefanovic. He spoke after the game on his team's effort and the improvements that have been made in just one game.

Mar 13, 2024; Las Vegas, NV, USA; UCLA Bruins coach Mick Cronin (left) talks with guard Lazar Stefanovic (10) against the Oregon State Beavers in the second half at T-Mobile Arena. Mandatory Credit: Kirby Lee-Imagn Images / Kirby Lee-Imagn Images

The UCLA Bruins were led by senior guard Lazar Stefanovic in Monday night's win over Boston University at home, 71-40. After the game, the former transfer spoke on his team's performance and staying extremely humble after his best game of the season.

Stefanovic is in his second season with the Bruins, transferred over from the University of Utah at the end of the 2022-'23 season. Earning a season-high, the Serbian native cashed in three out of five 3-point shots, finishing with 13 points to lead the team alongside forward Eric Dailey Jr. who had 13 as well.

As a team, the Bruins were able to force 28 turnovers for a total of 36 points. Head coach Mick Cronin spoke about the team's effort in his postgame presser and Stefanovic doubled down, mentioning the amount of steals and dives they had to corral loose balls.

"It was our emphasis to put more pressure on them, to press and try to get steals," Stefanovic said. "So, that was our game plan for this game, and we did a great job with it. Guys give their 100%, it was a great effort. Everybody was diving on the floor, and we got a lot of balls like that. We just went down and laid it in, so it was part of the game plan today."

With so many turnovers, the offense was playing mostly in transition, scoring easy buckets on the run. The half-court offense wasn't so smooth, even against a Boston team that defended relatively well for their talent and size.

The Bruins shot 22.7% from three-point range and just 40% overall from the field. Stefanovic was asked if he felt that the half-court offense was disjointed at all after a few games of being less than impressive in that category.

"I wouldn't say disjointed, I think it's a lot of new guys on the team, and we're still learning how to play with each other," Stefanovic said. "We're getting better at it, but all the mistakes we make offensively in the half court, it's all controllable stuff. It's all things that we can fix and we can learn from. We're going to get back, we're going to work on it, we're going to get better at it. As time goes by, we're going to be better and better in that area, too."

The Bruins have another chance to improve in those areas while seeking back-to-back victories when they host Lehigh (0-2) this coming Friday night at Pauley Pavilion. Expect Stefanovic to get his fair share of shots from all ranges in hopes of another impressive performance.

Ensure you follow on X (Twitter) @UCLAInsideronSI and @tcav30 and never miss another breaking news story again.

Please let us know your thoughts when you like our Facebook page WHEN YOU CLICK RIGHT HERE