Westwood, CA – The No.2 UCLA Bruins (4-0) breezed by the North Florida Ospreys (0-5) with a commanding 96-63 victory on Wednesday night.
The Bruins led by 22 points at the half 55-33. From there, it was all downhill for North Florida.
UCLA held North Florida to 37.1% shooting and 30.8% from 3-point range.
In the previous game against Long Beach State, UCLA wasn’t as successful on the defensive end.
Long Beach State was able to shoot 58.2% from the field and 63.3% from distance against UCLA.
UCLA Head Coach Mike Cronin shared his thoughts on the defense against North Florida compared to Long Beach State.
“I think we still got a long way to go. I think some of the kids from Long Beach, in truth, deserve a lot of credit. It’s — what is it? November 17th? So, it’s still early. But we’re not to a point yet where we’re making multiple rotations defensively. I’m never happy. So, let’s just get that out on the table. We’re not quite there yet, but we’re getting there. They pass and they don’t jack shots up, so they tried to force us to play half-court defense which was great practice for us. So, I thought tonight was great practice for us.”
The UCLA starters controlled this game from start to finish.
Johnny Juzang, Jaime Jaquez Jr., Jules Bernard, and Tyger Campbell all scored in double figures.
Myles Johnson imposed his presence defensively.
“Coach Cronin always emphasizes how I’m always the biggest person out there, and I think today I made that really well-known and definitely helped the team out getting offensive rebounds and kicking it out. I’m surrounded by amazing shooters. On defense it’s getting the rebound and pushing it out to start the offense. But definitely it just felt like I was on a mission, vibing a little more with the team, getting my presence down there. It felt good,” said Johnson.
This is the first time these teams have played each other within the last six years.
The UCLA Bruins take a trip to Las Vegas to compete in the Good Sam Empire Classic tournament and battle against Bellarmine on Monday, November 22nd at 5 pm, followed by No.1 ranked Gonzaga on Tuesday, November 23rd at 7 pm.
