UCLA Basketball: Gonzaga Squeaks By Bruins At Maui Invitational

UCLA fell just short once again...

Once again when the final buzzer sounded, the UCLA Bruins had fallen short of taking down the Gonzaga Bulldogs. Gonzaga has been the Achilles Heal for the Bruins over the last few years, and they couldn’t get over the hump again this year.

The team cut the Gonzaga lead to just three with a minute left to play, but the Bulldogs took over from there. UCLA fell by a score of 69-65, but the close game showed that the team isn’t that far off from being very strong.

Head coach Mick Cronin gave his thoughts on the matchup, and he knows that they still have some things to work on going forward.

"I thought the first eight minutes, our intensity wasn't what it needed to be," said Mick Cronin, The Michael Price UCLA Men's Head Basketball Coach. "From there, we started competing a lot harder and gave ourselves a chance. I take my hat off to [Anton] Watson, he was 3-for-3 [from three] and 14-of-15 from the field. He was dominant, carried his team to victory. But I did think there were a lot of positives.”

Per Mick Cronin via UCLABruins.com

The Bruins did what they could to stay in the game, and they had chances to take control. But they couldn't make the big play once again to get over the hump.

We have a lot to fix, but I liked the way our guys never gave up despite the fact that we didn't make a lot of shots and Watson was having a career night."

Per Mick Cronin via UCLABruins.com

UCLA can now move forward knowing lessons to take from this game. They want to make sure that if ever in the same situation, they execute next time around, and that will be their motivation going forward.

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