UCLA Men's Basketball Uses Big Second Half Run to Stomp Washington

A one-sided first half became in a bon a fide blowout in a matter of minutes when the Bruins led David Singleton and Jaylen Clark to a 26-3 run.

The Bruins were already running away with it towards the end of the first half, but an unprecedented run to open the second helped them bury the Huskies.

And they did it all with two of their biggest names out of the lineup.

No. 13 UCLA men's basketball (19-5, 11-4 Pac-12) was without guard Johnny Juzang and forward Cody Riley for its game against Washington (13-11, 8-7), two of its leading scorers and standouts from last year's March Madness run. On top of that, guard/forward Jaime Jaquez Jr. was a non-factor yet again, continuing to play through ankle injuries, and guard Tyger Campbell had an injury scare of his own in the opening minute.

"I can't get a guy from his apartment to Mo Ostin without falling off a scooter," said coach Mick Cronin. "Tyler Lesher's done a great job as our trainer, but he's the grim reaper. Every time he comes near me, it's bad news."

In their place, guards Jaylen Clark and David Singleton exploded and led the Bruins to a 76-50 victory.

The two combined for 24 points in the first half, then 19 in the second when they powered a 26-3 run after the break to tear the game wide open. Both wings notched new career highs, with Clark putting up 25 and Singleton scoring 22.

"I feel like our team is always mostly prepared," Clark said. "If you look at our practices, it’s really competitive – one through 12. We all can really hoop."

It was the first time a pair of Bruins broke 20 since Nov. 15 against Long Beach State, which was exactly what their team needed with so many other players missing or struggling.

It took over five minutes for the Bruins to score, missing their first eight shots and five 3-pointers of the game, but the fact that they held the Huskies to just six points in that span made it a quick and simple comeback. UCLA scored on three straight possessions to tie it up at 6-6, and it could have been four straight if not for guard Jules Bernard missing a fast break dunk.

Singleton broke Washington's zone by hitting a couple of 3-pointers, then center Myles Johnson got a putback slam and free throw to put the Bruins up by five. On UCLA's next possession, another offensive rebound by Johnson – his fifth of the half – led to a third triple by Singleton in a four-minute stretch, and the Bruins were up 20-14.

Bernard, Campbell and others continued to miss layups – UCLA started 2-of-7 on layups – but that didn't hurt them in the slightest. Campbell didn't score until he got a lucky bounce on a 3-pointer as the shot clock with 2:27 to go in the half, and the Bruins didn't get a single point out of Jaquez before the break.

Despite all of that, UCLA led 37-25 at the half, powered by Singleton's 14 points and Clark's 10. Washington, meanwhile, was shooting just 35.7% without a single 3-pointer, and Pac-12 leading scorer Terrell Brown Jr. was shooting 3-of-11.

A putback layup by Jaquez, a 3-pointer by Clark, an elbow fadeaway by Jaquez, an and-1 by Clark and a post layup by Johnson helped the Bruins get off to an 11-1 run to start the half, which grew to a 17-1 run when Singleton hit back-to-back 3-pointers. Singleton's first triple of the half, which came from nearly 30 feet away, helped him surpass his previous career high, on top of adding an exclamation point to the big run.

"What was going through my head? Just keep shooting," Singleton said. "Just keeping making the right play. I knew if I didn't force it, the shots would still come."

Campbell got another 3 to fall and guard/forward Jake Kyman hit a layup to make it a 26-3 start for UCLA in the second half. Three straight buckets by Washington forced Cronin to burn a timeout, then the Bruins came right back out with a 9-0 run capped off by another Kyman triple to make it a 37-point game.

While UCLA didn't quite keep up that deficit for the final seven minutes, they still kept kicking beating down until the final moments of garbage time.

The only other Bruin to get past six points, besides Clark and Singleton, was Johnson, who put up seven. What stood out more on his part, though, were his 13 rebounds and team-high plus-40 plus-minus.

Thanks to that all-around performance, Cronin actually had Johnson take the technical free throws when Washington coach Mike Hopkins drew a whistle late in the game. Johnson – a 40.1% career free throw shooter – hit them both.

"You rebound like that, you play like that, you get to shoot the free throws," Cronin said. "He puts more time in on his free throws with coach Lewis than anybody, so he earned it."

UCLA will return to Pauley Pavilion for its third home game in five days when it hosts Arizona State on Monday, looking to avenge their loss to the Sun Devils earlier in the month.

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