Despite battling a virus that had kept many players out of practice, and also kept their head coach out of practice, the UCLA Bruins men’s basketball team easily defeated the Penn State Nittany Lions, 78-54. The victory was the seventh consecutive in the Big Ten conference for the streaking Bruins.
The game was played last Saturday afternoon, February 8, at Pauley Pavilion in Westwood before a crowd of 9,156 fans. The victory improved the Bruins record for the season to 18-6 and 9-4 in the Big Ten. Penn State falls to 13-11 for the season and 3-10 in the Big Ten. The Bruins had four players miss practice due to the virus. Guard Skyy Clark, forward Tyler Bilodeau, center Aday Mara, and center William Kyle III but all four played against Penn State but were limited.
The Bruins started off slowly and trailed 16-14 with 11:33 remaining in the first half. Then the Bruins turned up the defensive effort, forcing four consecutive turnovers by Penn State and fueling an 11-0 run to take 25-16 lead. A steal by guard Sebastian Mack led to a fast break dunk by Clark. On the very next play, guard Kobe Johnson intercepted a pass and finished with a fast break dunk.
After a Penn State timeout, Johnson stole the ball once again, which led to a fast break layup by Clark. The next Penn State possession led to another turnover, and the Bruins scored on a layup by Johnson. The Bruins never looked back after this sequence, taking a 44-31 lead into the locker room at halftime. Clark, despite his illness, led the Bruins in scoring at halftime with 11 points.
Johnson was one of the few players to avoid the virus. He played 36 minutes and led the Bruins with 15 points, 13 rebounds, 6 assists, and 4 steals. Johnson leads the Bruins in rebounds, assists, and steals. On Saturday, he led the Bruins in all four categories. UCLA head coach Mick Cronin, who missed Friday’s practice with the virus, felt a lot better after watching Johnson in action on Saturday.
“Tremendous,” Cronin said. “Thirteen rebounds. I was happy to see him get it going on offense. Six assists, this is who he is. We had a tough stretch of games in early January. December beat us up, Eric broke his nose, and Will had surgery. Everybody has a tough patch in their schedule. So far, we’ve had a pretty good year. Kobe’s a big part of that because he gave us a senior leader that is a winner. He’s a winning player. He wins with the pass, he wins with the rebound, he obviously wins with the defense, and then he can score as well. He does all four things.”
Cronin continued, “You look down and the guy has 13 rebounds, four steals, six assists, 15 points, and a blocked shot. He’s been doing this all year for us. He just does a lot of things that don’t show up on the stat sheet, and there are a lot of NBA guys that are friends of mine that know it. He’s going to get his chance at the next level because people like to win. He was awesome today.”
The Bruins are playing good basketball, and the 24-point win over the Nittany Lions was even more impressive considering the illnesses among the players. The Bruins have had eight different players lead the team in scoring this season. The offense has been balanced, and the turnover ratio in favor of the Bruins has been impressive.
Against Penn State, the Bruins forced 18 turnovers and had just 3 of their own. UCLA scored 24 points off of turnovers, while Penn State had zero points off of turnovers. UCLA had 13 steals to just 1 for the Nittany Lions. Over the past two games against Michigan State and Penn State, UCLA has forced 34 turnovers and committed just 6 of their own.
Clark had this to say after the Penn State, “We’re playing a lot more confidently. On offense, that was one of our biggest problems at the beginning of the season. I think throughout this winning streak; we’ve been really dialed in on what we’re looking for on offense and running our plays.” Johnson added that, “We’re just taking care of the ball. Not forcing anything, just making the right decisions.”
The Bruins will be on the road for their next two games, starting on Tuesday Night, February 11 in Champaign, Illinois to battle the University of Illinois Fighting Illini. The game will be televised on the Peacock Network and will begin at 5:00 pm PST. Illinois has a 16-8 record for the season, and they are 8-6 in the Big Ten conference. Illinois has played a tough schedule and has a Net Ranking of 12. UCLA has a current Net Ranking of 25.
The second game of the two-game road trip will send the Bruins to Bloomington, Indiana to take on the University of Indiana Hoosiers. The game will be played on Friday, February 14 and will be televised nationally on FOX starting at 5:00 pm PST. Indiana has a season record of 14-10 and 5-8 in the Big Ten conference. The two-game road series will test the Bruins and their seven-game winning streak.
The Bruins failed one of those tests last Tuesday when they were beaten by Illinois 83-78. Bilodeau scored 25 points, Johnson scored 14 and Sebastian Mack scored 11 points for the Bruins in the game against Illinois.