UCLA Needs Junior Guard to Step Up

The UCLA Bruins are well into Big Ten play and will need every bit of help they can get from Dylan Andrews.

Dec 21, 2024; New York, NY, USA; UCLA Bruins guard Dylan Andrews (2) drives to the basket while being defended by North Carolina Tar Heels guard Drake Powell (9) during the first half at Madison Square Garden. Mandatory Credit: John Jones-Imagn Images / John Jones-Imagn Images

The UCLA Bruins can no longer say they are undefeated in Big Ten Conference play after falling to the Nebraska Cornhuskers on Saturday. Going forward, it only gets more competitive, and the Bruins will need third-year guard Dylan Andrews to step up before it is too late to catch up.

Andrews has been with UCLA for all three of his collegiate seasons, showing improvements over each year he has played. A strong player on the court, Andrews dictates whether or not the Bruins stay in the game or if they fall behind.

On the season, Andrews has averaged 7.6 points per game, 2.7 assists, 1.6 rebounds and typically plays 24 minutes for Coach Mick Cronin. Starting in 11 of the 12 games played, Andrews has been a kick-starter for the Bruins when they needed him most.

Yet lately, Andrews has seemed to hit a cold spell, and at the wrong time. In his last three games, averaging 22.5 minutes, Andrews has scored four points for UCLA, four assists, eight rebounds and four personal fouls. Andrews has also missed his last nine 3-point shot attempts.

Andrews has averaged around a 30% success rate as a 3-point shooter for UCLA over the years, but missing nine straight is unlike him. In the game against Nebraska, Andrews played 19 minutes and only made one field goal before being put on the bench. Cronin was not pleased with how certain Bruins performed given Eric Dailey Jr.'s absence.

“Dylan Andrews has got to play way better," Cronin said in his postgame presser. "Dominick Harris and Trent Perry got opportunities today – they played a combined 17 minutes, neither one of them scored. I told them that they would get opportunities with Eric out, but in 17 minutes, they couldn’t get a basket. It didn’t help that Skyy took a couple shots in his shoulder and couldn’t be effective in the second half.”

It is one thing for a player to understand they are struggling, but when his head coach points out that improvement is needed, Andrews will take that to heart. But for Andrews, UCLA did not play its best basketball on the court in a hostile environment.

Once the competition heads back to UCLA, the Bruins should flourish under home court advantage, and hopefully then Andrews will drop his typical numbers that UCLA faithful are used to seeing.

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