UCLA Basketball: Bruins Explain Strategy For Beating Stanford On The Road

UCLA has now won six of their last seven games overall.

The UCLA Bruins men's basketball team has been on a roll lately. After taking down the Stanford Cardinal by a score of 82-74, UCLA has now won six of their last seven games.

They have done so by being led by their strong defensive efforts, leading to a change in the narrative of the year. Early in the season, the Bruins struggled to find any consistency, which led to much frustration among the team.

But they have come together of late to really turn everything around. It's never easy to win a game on the road, especially in conference play. But the Bruins found a way to keep the good times going against Stanford.

After the game, UCLA head coach Mick Cronin expressed how his team was able to go on the road into a tough environment to get the win.

“You have to find them early. Jerod Haase has done a good job with this particular Stanford team, they run the transition. They spread out. They just have so many shooters. We tried to stay attached to the Jones, we call them the Jones brothers, and try to stay attached to those guys. Try to be as accurate as we can with our hands, so they can't throw the ball quickly to the shooter – at least, that is what we tried to do.”

Per Mick Cronin via UCLA Communications

The Bruins did a good job slowing the Cardinal down, and they let their defense dictate this game. They know the strengths that they have, and they used it to their advantage. 

We knew one of their strengths is making triples, they have two great shooters in Michael Jones and Spencer Jones. We know if we take their shot away and make them do something else to make them go to the second option we will be successful. We stuck with our philosophy, getting the ball in and out, made some open threes, and whipped the ball around. We knew what to take away from them and move the ball in and out and get shots. The game plan worked out today.”

Per Adem Bona via UCLA Communications

If the Bruins can keep this level of play up, they will be a tough out when the NCAA Tournament starts. Cronin has his guys fighting on a nightly basis, and it has been great to watch play out.