The Bruins seemingly dominated in all facets against Cal Baptist in their first exhibition game Wednesday night.
UCLA walked away with a 100-53 win over the Lancers in a game that was lopsided from the very beginning. The Bruins passed both the eye test and lit up the stat sheet, exceeding just about every area in the box score.
Mick Cronin Is Not Satisfied
However, despite the dominant win, Mick Cronin is not satisfied. In his postgame press conference, he noted one weakness that UCLA may have to turn their attention to before they play against a top-10 team in Arizona on opening night.
“We had some shot selection I thought we got to improve on. You know, 45% here in this game is going to equate to about 37% against Arizona,” Cronin said.
He continued, “It's the hardest thing. It's like the final frontier in coaching is getting guys to get to the next advantage and hunt for layups and open shots. Don't settle. You're just helping the other team. You take tough shots against Arizona opening night, we're going to be in deep trouble.”
Despite UCLA’s offense scoring 100 points on the night, Cronin is correct in his assessment. Arizona will obviously present a much harder defense, and there were many players on UCLA’s roster who were flat-out inefficient against Cal Baptist.
Box Score Inefficiencies
Texas Tech transfer Jaylen Petty was not afraid to shoot the ball in the exhibition matchup, taking 15 shots on the night, but only making five. In fact, he was 2-for-10 from three-point range, a mark that was much lower than Bruins fans would like to see.
Even a player like Nikola Kusturica, who had a phenomenal defensive game, went 3-for-11 from the field and 0-for-6 from three. Starting point guard Trent Perry went 1-for-7 from the floor, while also shooting 1-for-4 from three.
I wouldn’t worry too much about the inefficiency of these three players, as each of them has proven they have the skill to be much better on any given night. The good thing about this UCLA team is that if one Bruin has a bad night, there are several options that can help out. Eric Dailey Jr. filled in the gaps tremendously, shooting 9-for-13 overall and 7-for-9 from behind the arc. An overall very efficient night to bridge the gap between some of the other Bruins who weren't as efficient.
Cronin is right to be looking for improvements heading into a crucial matchup to begin the season, and UCLA will need everyone to play their best ball if they want to start the year off on the right foot.
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