UCLA Basketball: Reserve Freshman Continues To Show Promise Vs ASU

Could he sneak into a starting role?

Your insanely young UCLA Bruins continued to inch back towards a .500 record, and with it NCAA-wide respectability, by notching a surprise come-from-behind 68-66 win over the Arizona State Sun Devils on Wednesday.

One surprisingly critical piece in the the Bruins' effort was ascendant freshman guard Brandon Williams.

Across just 19 bench minutes, Williams scored 13 points on a hyper-efficient 5-of-6 shooting from the floor (1-of-2 from long range) and 2-of-3 shooting from the charity stripe, along with five rebounds.

Per UCLA Communications, Williams earned heaps of praise from Bruins head coach Mick Cronin, sophomore power forward Adem Bona, and freshman starting guard Sebastian Mack.

“One thing about it is toughness, you can try to put it in people," Cronin said. "When I recruited [now-NBA two-way player] Jaylen Clark, it wasn’t for his skill. It was for his heart. Same thing with Brandon Williams. You got to recruit a guy that is naturally a tough dude. It’s just who he is. He tough rebounds. He’s not afraid. Guy has made one three all year [entering the game]. We can’t score, the guy has made one three all year, he shoots it in like he’s Steph Curry. He’s just a tough dude. The guy turned 18 about 60 days ago. I just think he's a tough dude. Great kid.”

“Amazing," Bona raved of his new teammate. "I love the kid. He plays really hard. He’s one of the hardest workers on the team. To be able to see him do work day-to-day. He had some big-time rebounds today. He had big time shots. He had to take care of the ball in critical situations today.”

"We always talk about it," Mack revealed. "That’s always my roommate, so we talk about whenever our name is called, we’ll be in there ready to go.”

Mack, who was benched in favor of sophomore guard Will McClendon during the game's second half, seems like the most vulnerable backcourt starter to yours truly. Should Williams continue to frankly outperform him off the bench, could he sneak in as a starter replacement down the season's home stretch?