UCLA Upsets Utah With A Little Help From Their Bench

The UCLA Bruins upset #11 Utah 69-59 to get their first quality win of the season and their first against a Top 25 team. UCLA had completely switched up their approach against the Utes who beat the Bruins by 32 in Salt Lake City earlier this month. Not only did the return of Tony Parker help, but the continued emergence of the Bruin bench helped contribute to the victory.

UCLA Bruins

The Bruins did not start slow, but did take a while to get their game in gear. Seven and a half minutes in, Utah had a 13-6 lead on UCLA. After that, the Bruins went on a run to tie the game three minutes later. Norman Powell was the biggest threat for the Bruins as he had 12 points in the first half and ended up with 23.

UCLA as a team was also very aggressive in their game planning and execution. The Bruins had sent several defensive looks Utah’s way as they were forced to make several late attempts in the shot clock. Utah also had a slew of very bad shots. Though the Bruins made it hard on the Utes, Utah still made 57% of their attempts in the first half.

UCLA was up 33-30 at the break.

The aggression did not stop there. UCLA held Utah scoreless for the first seven minutes of the second half. The Bruins had kept up their pressure on defense and were distributing the ball around to everyone on the offensive side. Though Bryce Alford had 14 points and 7 assists and Isaac Hamilton added 11 points, it was the bench players Thomas Welsh, Noah Allen and Gyorgy Goloman that had noticeably stepped up their game. Welsh had several aggressive dunks that were highlight worthy as he finished with 7 points.

Though Goloman and Allen only had three points between them, they had improved their game in other ways. Diving for balls, setting key screens, grabbing vital rebounds and generally being a presence, which is something they are not known for.

Utah was not themselves tonight. Aside from 14 uncharacteristic turnovers, the Utes shot 11-for-26 (42.3%) in the 2nd half, missing their first seven and four of their last five. Bad for them, good for UCLA.

Great defense, excellent bench participation and hustle. Those were the ingredients for the Bruin victory tonight. If UCLA keeps up this type of basketball, then they can do some impressive things late in the season.

Go Bruins!