UCLA Basketball: Bruin With Unique Utah Relationship Reflects On Dismal Defeat

He should know.

Your UCLA Bruins suffered their worst loss of the season, and their second-worst defeat in school history, in falling 90-44 to the Utah Utes on Thursday at the Jon M. Huntsman Center.

Bruins junior swingman Lazar Stefanovic knows both programs pretty intimately, having transferred to Westwood after spending his first two seasons in Utah.

Per UCLA Communications, the 6'7" wing spoke fondly postgame about his tenure with the Utes.

“It’s a nice place. I love this place. I played here for two years," Stefanovic notes. "The first place I went to after I left my family and home. I have a special emotion for this place. I didn’t pay too much attention to other stuff in the gym.”

Ben Bolch of The Los Angeles Times writes that students taunted Stefanovic with cries of "You let the whole team down!" when Stefanovic bungled a charity stripe attempt halfway through the game's miserable second half.

Across 33 minutes, Stefanovic scored eight points on 3-of-10 field goal shooting, while chipping in three rebounds, one assist and two steals. Across 16 contests this season, Stefanovic is averaging 9.1 points on .327/.290/.829 shooting splits, 5.4 rebounds, and 1.6 assists.

Stefanovic and the rest of his current team, losers of eight of their last nine contests, will have their next shot at redemption this afternoon, when they'll square off against the Washington Huskies.