Cold-shooting UCLA falls to Stanford in final Pac-12 home opener
LOS ANGELES — Freshman guard Sebastian Mack scored 14 points but the cold-shooting UCLA men’s basketball team dropped a 59-53 decision to Stanford in its final Pac-12 home opener on Wednesday night at Pauley Pavilion.
“Let’s be honest. You can’t score, you can’t win,” UCLA coach Mick Cronin said postgame.
The Bruins led 30-26 at halftime, but they struggled to find their range all night. They shot 33% from the field overall but a particularly poor 21.4% (6 for 28) in the final 20 minutes.
“You can’t shoot 21% in the second half of a game and have any chance to win,” Cronin continued. “The fact that you don’t get blown out is a miracle. So obviously we’re struggling mightily on the offensive end.”
UCLA also had 16 turnovers and did not score any fast-break points.
“It kills you… it would be nice to get some live ball steals where we could get out and run,” Cronin shared.
Freshman forward Berke Buyuktuncel scored a career-high 13 points and sophomore forward Adem Bona added 12 points, nine rebounds and four blocked shots for the Bruins (6-8 overall, 1-2 Pac-12), who had won four straight games against the Cardinal.
“I’m trying to develop somebody who can score the ball,” Cronin explained after sharing that he wants Buyuktuncel to shoot the ball more.
Freshman guard Kanaan Carlyle had 17 points off the bench to lead Stanford (7-6, 2-1). The reigning AP national player of the week added five rebounds, four assists and two steals. The Cardinal reserves outscored the UCLA substitutes 29-6.
The Bruins jumped out to a 10-0 lead behind Bona’s strong start. He scored the game’s first four points and his dunk gave UCLA a 26-19 lead late in the first half.
“We get a little sloppy (Wednesday), the more shots we get, the more changes for us to get rebounds and the most changes for us to get points,” Bona said.
“I can say we probably got a little comfortable a little bit,” Mack added. “We can’t let that happen anymore going forward.”
The Bruins held Stanford to 33% shooting in the first half (8 for 24), but they led just 30-26 at halftime. The Cardinal kept the game close by going 8 for 9 from the free-throw line in the first half.
The Bruins shot 43% from the field (13 of 30) and went 0 for 4 from 3-point range. Bona had eight points and four rebounds in the first half.
A Carlyle 3-pointer tied the score at 36-all with 14:32 left in the second half. An Andrej Stojakovic 3-pointer put the Cardinal ahead 39-36 with 12:41 remaining. The 6-foot-7 freshman guard is the son of former Sacramento Kings All-Star Peja Stojakovic.
The Bruins, who made eight of their first nine shots, missed 25 of their next 31 and Carlyle drained another 3-pointer to extend Stanford’s lead to 42-36. UCLA’s Buyuktuncel hit a 3-pointer to cut the margin to 42-39 and Bona made two free throws to keep 44-41, with 10:16 left.
The Bruins were held scoreless for the next four minutes until Bona made a layup, which cut Stanford’s lead to 46-43 with 6:14 to play. Stanford took a 51-43 lead when Maxime Raynaud made the first of two free throws with 4:09 to go. The Cardinal maintained a two-possession lead from there. UCLA missed 22 of 25 shots before sinking its final two attempts – both from 3-point range by Mack, where the Bruins missed 10 of 11 prior.
“We’re burying ourselves,” Mack said. “I think we started to pick it up a little bit, now we just have to get over this hump and we’re going to be fine.”
The Cardinal won despite only shooting 36% from the field (18 for 50).
“We struggle to do simple things… aptitude is a big issue for us right now,” Cronin said. “The most important thing for a teacher is for his students to have aptitude, they can’t learn, they can’t apply, your rate of progress and development is way too slow.”
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UCLA will host Cal (4-10, 0-3) on Saturday at 6 p.m.
I’m courtside with UCLA men’s basketball ahead of their final Pac-12 home opener against Stanford. Tipoff is 6 p.m. at Pauley Pavilion. pic.twitter.com/a3PYlI2rSp
— John W. Davis (@johnwdavis) January 4, 2024