UCLA Basketball: Relentless New Bruin's Ironman Energy Impressing Colleagues

One new Bruin is impressing his teammates.

UCLA basketball guard Lazar Stefanovic has impressed his teammates lately, including center Adem Bona. 

Part of the reason Stefanovic has garnered the attention of his team is his strict diet and workout regimen. Stefanovic's habits of eating healthy and working out for long hours have especially helped him improve over the last few weeks as a player, and are inspiring teammates like Bona in the process, per Ben Bolch of The Los Angeles Times.

“There’s some things he does that I want to mimic,” Bona said. “I’m super competitive and I see him doing something, I’m like, ‘I want to do that, too.’ So I see him stretch, I want to stretch, too. I see him stay on the court for, like, 20 more minutes after [practice], I want to stay on the court, too, for 20 minutes. So I think it’s kind of contagious, like it’s passing down the whole team.”

This improvement led the Utah junior transfer to a huge double-double game in UCLA's 71-63 win over Oregon, where Stefanovic put up 15 points and 10 rebounds. 

This isn't just a one-game outlier for Stefanovic either. Stefanovic has now put up at least 15 points in six of UCLA's last seven games, during which the Bruins have gone 6-1.

Overall, Stefanovic is averaging 11 points, 5.9 rebounds, and 1.6 assists per game this season. 

Clearly, this habit is working for both Stefanovic and the Bruins, who are riding a three-game winning streak ahead of road matchups versus Stanford and Cal this week.