UCLA Men's Basketball Uses 3-Pointers to Blow Out Norfolk State

Jaylen Clark had another big night, leading the Bruins with 19 points, nine rebounds and five 3-pointers in the one-sided victory.

The Bruins welcomed the kings of the MEAC to the West Coast with a dominant performance on both ends of the floor.

No. 8 UCLA men's basketball (3-0) closed its season-opening homestand with an 86-56 victory over Norfolk State (2-2) on Monday night. The Bruins never trailed, and they used a barrage of 3-pointers early on to vault them to another win.

Guard Jaylen Clark came through with another elite scoring performance, leading UCLA in points for the third-straight game with 19. A good chunk of those came off of triples, as he shot 5-of-8 from beyond the arc to double his previous career highs in 3-point attempts and makes.

The Bruins started 8-of-15 from 3 and ended the night 11-of-25, picking up contributions from guard/forward Jaime Jaquez, guard Tyger Campbell, guard David Singleton and guard Amari Bailey on top of Clark's leading efforts. The entire starting five scored in double figures. and Singleton chipped in 11 off the bench as well.

The Spartans, meanwhile, settled for midrange jumpers, and actually hit a good number of them to keep pace for much of the first half before falling off down the stretch.

The opening five minutes of the contest were a constant back-and-forth, with UCLA unable to create separation on the scoreboard. Shot-blocking freshman center Adem Bona actually got posterized by guard Christian Ings on the fast break, and Norfolk State cut it to a one-point game ahead of the first media timeout.

Then Jaquez gave the Bruins their first 3-pointer of the night, and it was all Bruins from there.

Clark hit his first of five triples, and Bailey sank one three minutes later. Singleton wisely drew a foul on a 3-pointer and knocked down a three free throws. Clark drilled another long ball to get UCLA's lead to double digits, and after Norfolk State got it down to nine again, Singleton got one to fall.

As the first half wound down, Clark and Campbell hit 3-pointers to give their team a 46-33 lead heading into the locker room.

Clark opened the second half with a second-chance 3-pointer, and both teams tried to recreate that by bombing away shot after shot from beyond the arc. There were four consecutive 3-pointers attempted between the two sides, but none went down.

The Bruins finally got things going again when Campbell sparked a fast break with a steal and Bailey sent a scoop pass to Jaquez for the transition bucket. Jaquez came down and drilled a fadeaway jumper on the very next possession, and UCLA had built its lead up to 20.

That spiraled into a 23-4 run for the Bruins to open the second half, featuring another 3-pointer by Clark, powerful slam dunks by Bailey and Bona and a pretty up-and-under scoop layup by Singleton.

UCLA was up by 30 points, give or take a few, for the rest of the night, leading coach Mick Cronin to sub in fan-favorite walk-on guard Russell Stong with over six minutes left on the clock. Singleton and guard/forward Abramo Canka continued to sink 3-pointers even with the game decided, and Stong got on the board with a pair of late free throws.

On the other end of the floor, the Bruins held the Spartans to 40.7% shooting in the second half and forced 10 straight misses from 3 to end the night. Norfolk State, which entered Monday averaging 88.7 points per game and having recently scored 70 points against No. 5 Baylor, failed to break 60 points for just the second time in their last 22 games dating back to last season.

UCLA's next game is scheduled for Friday against No. 19 Illinois in Las Vegas. Depending on the result of that game, the Bruins will play either No. 5 Baylor or No. 16 Virginia on Sunday to round out the Continental Tire Main Event at T-Mobile Arena.

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