Mara candidate Contrained the ball in the painting while the seconds took place towards zero. The giant of the 7 -foot 3 -inch Bruin bench fought against four Trojan horses that surround him and lifted a shot a few meters from the basket.
Mara converted the basket, generated a fault and launched the frank. The second year student pumped his arm from top to bottom. One. Two. Three. The three-point game to finish the first half allowed the almost closed crowds of Pauley Pavilion to breathe while the Bruins got into the 12-point locker room.
The UCLA controlled its destiny on Saturday evening – and Mara, as well as the rest of the Bruins, played like that. The Illinois defeated purdue on Friday. Penn State upset the Wisconsin. Maryland has managed the northwest. The quadruple combination to obtain a double bye in the quarter-finals of the male basketball tournament from Big Ten was up to the UCLA to finish.
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And the Bruins did it, with little resistance. Contrary to UCLA’s trip to Galen Center A little over a month ago, Mick Cronin coachThe squad abandoned back and forth basketball, using a 14-2 race in the first seven minutes and a second half of 51 points to finish the regular season with a 90-63 victory.
“I thought we had played with a tremendous conviction to our match plan,” said Cronin. “Defensively, we made things difficult for them, extremely difficult.”
The UCLA 27 -point victory was its biggest USC Since 2017. The Trojan horses, which had 20 reversals and drew 43% on the field, have finished less than 0,500 for a second consecutive season. Wesley Yates III led USC with 21 points.
Eric Dailey Jr.whose sly smiles and buffoonemeries loaded the crowd whenever he was shown on the videoconceau, marked a 25 -point career summit. He collected 14 points in the second half, leading an attacking effort that helped the Bruins (22-9, 13-7 Big Ten) to take a 36-point lead at a given time.
“This is the basketball that we know we can play,” said Dailey. “We have to continue playing this basketball brand once the tournament at the start, entering March Madness, and we are going to go very far.”
Cronin had a lot of praise for his players after the match. He underlined the junior guard Skyy ClarkThe 13 deviations and its 17 points out of seven for 10 shots as a factor in victory. He also preached Dailey’s defensive growth – the second guard had three interceptions and locked Yates in the second period.
“Credit to our guys, they were great,” said Cronin. “Our front line was extremely productive.”
With Mara and the front junior Tyler Bilodeau – which scored 14 and 12 points, respectively- the Bruins intimidated the horses of Trojan (15-16, 7-13) inside for 42 points in the paint. The UCLA pulled above 60% of the land in the two halves, while five Bruins finished two figures.
“There are nights UCLA fight in offense for stretching of matches”, ” USC coach Eric Musselman said. “Well, they haven’t read at all.
Musselman said that his players “did not understand rivalry” and treated the game as “any normal game”. The Bruins, however, said that the atmosphere of the rivalry games contributed to fuel their score push in the second half.
“We know it’s a big game,” said Clark. “We knew that if we won – we knew that the one who won would also get a double goodbye, and it is also the senior evening. Thus, the combination of double bye, the game of rivalry, the fans, seemed all together – I think that the energy has nourished us all along. »»
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The USC will play on Wednesday in the first round of the Big Ten tournament. The UCLA will play in the quarterfinals on Friday.
Cronin said he was going to give his team the next two days off.
“You have to make sure that these guys are fresh when the big dance begins,” he said. “Here, guy, they will not not have a banner if you win the Big Ten tournament.”
This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times.
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