UCLA Basketball: How Little-Utilized Bruins Bigs Gave Team Big Boost Vs USC

They caught the attentttion of, well, pretty much everybody.

During your UCLA Bruins' surprise 65-50 road victory over the hosting USC Trojans on Saturday night, a pair of under-utilized freshman Bruins role playing big men stepped up big time, much to the delight of several more central Bruins mainstays, per UCLA Communications.

“To be honest with you, I thought – although they didn’t play that much – Aday [Mara] and Devin [Williams] really changed they rhythm of the game. They got in there," head coach Mick Cronin said. "Devin got a couple putbacks. Aday as well. They do some things with their zone where they go man, so it takes a while to get comfortable with that. Then they do it late in the possession. I used to do it. It’s hard when you got [inaudible] in the high post and they go man late. I really thought those two did a really good job. Our guys got a little more comfortable. Dylan [Andrews] has been struggling, but today, offensively, he gave us a massive lift.”

“I think Devin – he hasn’t played a lot. Berke [Buyuktuncel] got hurt early in the week, so he knew he was going to play," he continued. "I told him don’t hesitate. Shoot the ball when you’re open. That’s been the theme we’ve been really working hard on. And Aday did the same thing. I was concerned, obviously, playing Aday with them putting him in a lot of pick-and-rolls with Boogie Ellis. After the first two shots [Ellis] made, I thought it was going to be a long day. I was thinking about getting home. He made two 37-footers. He looked like Damian Lillard on the first two shots. We tried to eliminate his touches and deny him.”

Junior swingman Lazar Stefanovic applauded the players' confidence after the game.

“Aday got a big rebound," Stefanovic revealed. "Devin, I think, tipped one. … It helped us a lot. It gave a good energy to the team and switched things around and we made our run. So, you’re right about that. That was a big run for us.”

Sophomore center/power forward Adem Bona also seemed to feel his club's active younger players as a key turning point.

"Our [freshmen] started to go," Bona said. "Aday. Devin had the big block and went down and got points. … Thanks to the freshmen that started the run. We kept on pushing from there. Obviously, it was an amazing game. Everyone was 100 percent locked in today. It was amazing to see.”