Bruins Transfer Guard Shines in Season-High Performance

The UCLA Bruins received a season-high performance from one of their transfer stars on Friday night in a win over Lehigh at home. Sophomore guard Eric Dailey Jr. spoke on the team win and a few other role players that made an impact in the win.

Nov 15, 2024; Los Angeles, California, USA; UCLA Bruins guard Eric Dailey Jr. (3) shoots the ball against Lehigh Mountain Hawks forward Hank Alvey (35) in the first half at Pauley Pavilion presented by Wescom. Mandatory Credit: Kirby Lee-Imagn Images / Kirby Lee-Imagn Images

The UCLA Bruins (3-1) played one of their best games of the season on Friday night, manhandling the Lehigh Hawks, 85-45, for their third win of the year. Sophomore transfer guard Eric Dailey Jr. led all scorers, finishing with his highest point total in a Bruins jersey.

Along with a season-high scoring, Dailey notched his first double-double as a Bruin with 10 rebounds. The Bruins have made rebounding on both ends a major point of emphasis following their struggles in that category last week against New Mexico.

Dailey mentioned a certain player's highlight tape that he was sent via text message to review and bring that same energy into practice the next day. Seemingly, it worked to perfection against the Hawks.

"Right after that game, I got a text with Dennis Rodman's highlights of rebounding," Dailey said. "I watched that, then back in practice, they were teaching us techniques to get around our defender to get to the glass and I just put all that together. We practiced it, we drilled it all week, and just came out here and just been more aggressive to the glass without fouling."

The Bruins had another strong defensive performance, holding the Hawks to just 45 points and forcing 11 turnovers. The style of play that head coach Mick Cronin has introduced to this team plays at a fast pace and forces the team to move the ball quickly and accurately.

"Defensively, we just do what we do every night," Dailey said. "Just try to play aggressive, speed teams up, make them play at a faster pace so they can fumble with the ball, and we can trap and be all over the place defensively. That kind of has been working for us, just building our reputation as a defensive team and we just got to keep building on that as we go along."

It was not a good shooting day for the Bruins beyond the arc. Just 3-13 from three-point range, the Bruins did not take or make many triples. Dailey had confidence that the shooting woes would end and mentioned one of his teammates who hit their first three of the season.

"As you see, we kind of [are] struggling shooting threes a little bit, but we're going to eventually make all those threes," Dailey said. "We just got to keep shooting as a team and Dom [Sr. guard Dominick Harris] hit the three, that was big. I bet his confidence is up and he's going to keep making threes as we go along the season."

Dailey continued to give praise to his teammates that helped lead them to a win as fellow sophomore guard Sebastian Mack finished with double-digit points for the second-straight game. He had 10 buckets on 4-6 shooting from the field. His role and production continue to grow every game.

"'Bas' [Sebastian Mack] got a lot of energy on and off the court, and that's good for us, we need somebody to come in like that and be the microwave almost," Dailey said. "He gets straight to it, guards his man, plays with a lot of energy and it's fun playing with 'Bas' on the court as well. So, just having him, he had a big role last year and everybody's wondering about his playing time and stuff. I know a lot of people talk about it, but as a team, we just want to win and I feel like 'Bas' is one of those people that's just doing anything to win for us. We had a good night as well tonight, so we [are] just going to keep it up."

Dailey spent his freshman season at Oklahoma State where he averaged 9.3 points and 4.8 rebounds per game in 32 games played. So far this season, he is exceeding both of those totals with 11 points per game and 6.5 rebounds.

He has taken immense strides in one short season and has been a major asset for the Bruins in multiple facets of the game. Watching him step into a significant role this year will be a huge help for this veteran Bruins team.

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