The UCLA basketball team got upended in Las Vegas as youth and coaching weaknesses led to an 87-67 loss to Michigan State.
There must have been an 11th Commandment on the tablets that stated: Though shall play proper offense and defense with this much talent that you have been gifted. Thankfully for UCLA basketball head coach Steve Alford, there isn’t, but his team played in the most sinful way as they were picked apart by Michigan State.
This game was close for about two minutes, and then Michigan State took over with barely any resistance. It was if head coach Tom Izzo knew what UCLA was going to do.
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Jack up an outside attempt early in the shot clock.
Fail to rebound, get burnt in transition.
Fail to suppress any attack on the drive in the paint.
Fail to box out, apply pressure or put a hand in their opponent’s face.
Repeat.
Izzo knows how to capitalize on this because everyone knows how to capitalize on this. UCLA, currently, is not a very well coached team. With the height, length, and speed of this squad, they should have been in this game from the start and played the Spartans tough for 40 solid minutes.
Instead, UCLA displayed yet another embarrassing effort on national television and we all knew it was coming.
UCLA, once again, played limited defense. I say limited because it looked like the players tried from time to time. Unfortunately, there has not been a lot of coaching to maxime those attempts.
Game Stats
- UCLA: FG – 21/59 (35.6%) | 3FG – 5/17 (29.4%) | Rebs – 33 | Ast – 8 | Turnovers – 10
- Kris Wilkes – 15 pts | Moses Brown – 5 pts, 10 rebs | Jaylen Hands – 11 pts, 4 rebs
- MSU: FG – 32/62 (51.4%) | 3FG – 13/24 (54.2%) | Rebs – 37 | Ast – 20 | Turnovers – 12
- Cassius Winston – 19 pts, 3/6 3FG | Nick Ward – 18 pts, 5 rebs
As for their offense, which is their secret weapon, has been exposed. There is no effort to make the extra pass, it is extremely difficult to get the ball down low, and the overall effort does seem to be present. Not to mention that Michigan State’s defense was suffocating the Bruins. They were able to shut down passing lanes, get the angle on the Bruins’ shots and generally muscle them out of any position.
Because the Bruins were forced to make difficult shots, they were held to only 35.6% shooting. Even worse, their efforts from 3-point range were a paltry 29.4%. UCLA simply got punished and was ill-prepared for this clash of titans, which only proved how much of a titan the Bruins are not.
UCLA now has to come up with some game plan to take on #7 North Carolina on Friday after they missed out on downing Texas. Expect more of the same.