UCLA Basketball: Adem Bona Gets Incredibly Candid About Saturday Loss To USC

UCLA dropped a big game to their cross-town rivals over the weekend.

The UCLA Bruins men's basketball team dropped a big game over the weekend to their cross-town rival USC Trojans. USC came into Pauley Pavilion to hand the Bruins the loss, making it twice as difficult. 

The Bruins's lack of consistency caught up to them on Saturday, allowing USC to beat them at their own game. UCLA didn't come prepared, and it ended up costing them.

Star Adem Bona spoke freely after the game about the lack of preparation from the team. He mentioned a bad week in practice as one of the reasons why they lost to the Trojans.

“We were kind of slow, a little bit, in practice. Obviously, we didn’t give our best in practice, and that’s why coach said that.”



Per Adem Bona via UCLA Communications

Being a young team, the Bruins are susceptible to a lack of effort at different times. But in a rivalry game like this, it hurts even more.

“I would say to not race, it’s the whole year. We’ve still got a couple of games to go, we still have the tournament. We just have to stay focused and see the season through, because we definitely do have a chance, and I don’t think we’re going to stop until our last breath. We’ve got to keep fighting.”

Per Adem Bona via UCLA Communications

Bona also mentioned that he was moving slowly in the second half due to foul trouble. It was about as honest as you could imagine from a player of his magnitude.

“Early on, I got my third foul, which sent me to the bench. I should have known better, that I need to stay in the game, to the end of the game. Also, we kind of came out flat. We weren’t making any shots in the second half, we missed our first five shots. We just came out flat and with no energy.”



Per Adem Bona via UCLA Communications

Bona was caught up in the emotions of the game, but he wasn't wrong. The Bruins have been up and down all season long, and there isn't much time left in the year.

All they can do now is take this game, learn from it and move on to the next contest.