Los Angeles, CA – The UCLA Bruins improved to 3-0 after a 78-58 victory over the Lengthy Island College Sharks on Wednesday evening. LIU scored the primary basket of the sport however that was the one lead they held as UCLA cruised for the remainder of the competition. Sophomore guard Dylan Andrews didn’t play on account of an undisclosed cause however Jan Vide crammed in properly and had his finest recreation of the younger season ending with 12 factors and seven assists. Adem Bona led the Bruins in scoring with 20 factors whereas Eric Acker and Terell Strickland shared the highest spot for the Sharks with 18 factors every.
Proper from tip-off it was obvious that UCLA was going to impose their dimension on LIU by beginning the 6’10” Bona and seven’3” Aday Mara within the frontcourt. UCLA shortly jumped out to an early double-digit lead and by no means regarded again. The Bruins have been simply too massive and too bodily for LIU to deal with as they completed the primary half with 22 rebounds, 7 of them being offensive boards to LIU’s 11 rebounds. UCLA additionally tried 17 free throws within the first half connecting on 11. For the guests, R.J. Greene had a pleasant first half with 7 factors and was the principle supply of offense. He’s a succesful driver with the ball in his fingers and earned 3 free throws and created just a few layups. Eric Acker chipped in with 4 factors and 4 boards because the Sharks went into halftime trailing 35-17.
The second half was a lot of the identical as UCLA almost doubled up LIU 49-25 5 minutes into the second half. Nevertheless, LIU exploded on offense within the second half scoring 41 factors, however simply couldn’t string collectively any stops to ever actually make the sport shut. One of many issues coming into the season for Mick Cronin’s Bruins was an absence of perimeter taking pictures, and it continued once more because the Bruins broke a 792-game streak of constructing no less than one 3-pointer in a recreation. UCLA solely tried 6 triples as a workforce and related on none.
Bona continued to point out why he’s thought-about by many to be a primary spherical decide within the 2024 NBA draft if he declares. Bona was all around the courtroom as typical, dominating the paint on each ends and displaying off an improved free throw stroke which many scouts will like to see. Bona, after taking pictures solely 57% from the road final season as a freshman, has gone 14/18 (78%) within the first 3 video games of this season to this point. He additionally completed with 20 factors for the second time already after having no 20 level video games final yr.
Mara had his finest recreation this season as he completed with 14 factors, 4 rebounds, and 4 blocks. Mara is a lanky 7’3” freshman middle from Zaragoza, Spain who was a consensus 5 star recruit. Mara was simply too massive for anybody on LIU to deal with as he did an excellent job defending the paint and scoring simple buckets on the opposite finish. Not solely did he accumulate 4 blocks however there have been many occasions the place he deterred an LIU participant from even trying a shot across the rim. Mara additionally hit two 15-foot bounce pictures and flashed a pleasant again to the basket recreation. One space he wants to enhance on is power as he did have just a few rebounds get ripped away.
On the opposite facet, LIU was buoyed by R.J. Greene’s 7 first half factors however he actually tailed off as the sport went on ending with solely 8 factors. Terell Strickland (son of 15 yr NBA veteran and LIU head coach Rod Strickland) placed on a present within the second half as he collected 15 factors and all of his 3 threes. Freshman guard Eric Acker was stable all evening ending with 18 factors and 5 assists and might be one to observe within the Northeast Convention.
Trying forward, UCLA will journey to Hawaii as they take part within the Maui Invitational and tackle #4 Marquette on Monday evening. This may undoubtedly be the primary actual check for Mick Cronin and the Bruins as they give the impression of being to remain undefeated and gauge the place they’re at. LIU will look to say their first victory of the season as they journey again east and match-up with Columbia on Tuesday evening.
This text was written by Omar Hillo, a correspondent and scout for NetScouts Basketball. You’ll be able to comply with us on Fb, or on twitter.
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