UCLA Basketball Highlights: Bruins Blow Big Lead, Fall To Marquette At Maui Invitational
A career high scoring night for freshman guard Sebastian Mack wasn't enough to help your UCLA Bruins pull off what had looked like a possible surprise upset victory over the No. 4-ranked Marquette University Golden Eagles in a late Maui Invitational quarterfinals bout.
The two standouts of the night for the Bruins, Mack and center/power forward Adem Bona, set the stage for UCLA early, prioritizing interior play to help the club keep pace with the favored Golden Eagles.
The 6'10" Bona used his size, strength and length, while the 6'2" Mack relied on speed and tactical stagger steps.
Bona's verticality, even while just leaping from a standing position beneath the rack, was impressive:
The Bruins led at the break, 35-30.
It sure looked like it'd be smooth sailing for your UCLA Bruins when a Sebastian Mack lay-in, as the icing on the cake of a 10-0 run, put the Bruins up 45-33 with 14:56 remaining.
Unfortunately, Shaka Smart and co. had other plans.
The momentum swung heavily in favor of Marquette in the second half. This appeared to happen as a result of two key factors: the Golden Eagles began to pivot away from featuring starting guard Tyler Kolek, struggling through a brutal shooting night as he bore the brunt of UCLA's defensive attack.; and starting Bruins point guard Dylan Andrews had to temporarily head to the sidelines to wear massive bags of ice on his back and knees.
Andrews did return and resume his efficient shooting night, but he struggled through some sloppy fouls.
UCLA weathered the storm, however, and kept things close even though their double-digit lead had evaporated. Adem Bona looked absolutely dominant in the post at times.
The 6'10" sophomore was occasionally too powerful for his own good, as frequent foul trouble compelled Cronin to lean more on sixth-year senior Kenneth Nwuba than he may have preferred.
After Bona was subbed out for Nwuba following his fourth foul call, at the 6:16 mark, Marquette went on a quick 5-0 run to create a little separation again, going up 64-59. Aggressive interior play from Mack helped keep things close.
Marquette missed five straight free throw attempts at one point (they would go on to make just 55.6% of their 18 foul tries on the night), which certainly helped keep UCLA close late at the three-minute mark, when Bona was reinserted into the game.
6'11" Marquette power forward Oso Ighodaro enjoyed a stellar two-way night for his Golden Eagles, and proved to be a perennial pest for the Bruins. He scored nine of his 14 points in the half. He seemed to acquire a fan in a court side Dwyane Wade, who along with Jimmy Butler is perhaps the program's most famous alum:
The two clubs traded buckets down the stretch. Bona bodied up Ighodaro down low for a quick layup to give the Bruins a one-point lead, 69-68, with 53 seconds remaining. Reserve guard Sean Jones hit a huge triple when UCLA defenders left him wide open (to be fair, he had only made a single three-pointer prior to this shot), and subsequently intercepted an errant Bruins pass on the other end.
Marquette remained up 71-69 when the Bruins tried to cook up a clutch victory with 21 seconds remaining in regulation. But they may have taken too much time to get up a shot. First, junior transfer starting wing Lazar Stefanovic attempted a game-winning three at the top of the arc that clanked off the rim, Mack collected the rebound and zig-zagged inside for a desperate, game-tying layup buzzer-beater try that fell short. Feeling the weight of the loss, he dropped to the floor and sat for a minute, head hanging.
In 34 minutes, Mack finished with 25 points on 6-of-14 shooting from the floor and 13-of-13 shooting from the charity stripe, six rebounds, two dimes, and two steals. Bona notched 13 points while shooting 5-of-8 from the field and 3-of-5 from the foul line. He also pulled down three boards and rejected two shots. One other Bruin, Stefanovic, scored in double figures, with 11 points on 4-of-8 shooting.
Forward David Joplin (19 points) and Ighodaro led the way for the opposition.
Though UCLA enjoyed a more consistent three-point percentage than the Golden Eagles (38.5% as opposed to 32.4%), a massive disparity in takes favoring Marquette (34-13) speaks to Mick Cronin's interesting shot profile gamble. Cronin clearly hoped that an emphasis on efficient paint scoring (and, hopefully, free throws) would offset a barrage of treys. And, heck, were it not for maybe a bungled Mack take, maybe it would have worked. The loss drops UCLA to 3-1 on the year.
One more questionable coaching choice, at least to me, was the demotion of freshman center Aday Mara, a jumbo-sized, 7'3" five-star prospect out of Spain projected to be a lottery pick in next year's draft. Mara barely saw the floor, playing a scant six minutes and attempting one field goal, which he missed.
UCLA's second-most touted freshman is not Mack. It's Berke Buyuktuncel, who finally cleared the NCAA eligibility red tape that had held him out of the Bruins' season until tonight. The 6'9" forward started instantly, but he had a fairly quiet debut. In 27 minutes, he missed all seven of his field goal tries and notched four fouls. He also logged four rebounds, two assists and a block. His size and physicality ultimately still made him an interesting piece, and his conditioning is probably not where it will be once he gets more acclimated to his new teammates in game situations.
Obviously, the biggest issue tonight was the Bruins' second-half defense, which enabled that run without major strategic or personnel changes. All told, UCLA let Marquette convert 54.2% of its field goals in the period, per Ben Bolch of The Los Angeles Times.
Marquette now advances to the semifinals, when it will face off against the Kansas Jayhawks on Tuesday night at 10:30 p.m. on ESPN.
Now demoted to the also-ran bracket of the ongoing Maui Invitational, UCLA will now suit up against Chaminade tomorrow afternoon.
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