UCLA Basketball: Three Takeaways from their game against Marquette

Here are the other two quick takeaways from UCLA’s game against Marquette in the Maui Invitational.

No. 2

Sebastian Mack is playing like he may be the next great guard at UCLA.

UCLA’s freshman sensation, Mack, led all scorers with 25 points with 16 of those points coming in the second half, shot a perfect 13-for-13 from the free throw line. He also contributed six rebounds, two assists, and two steals.

Mack is now averaging just under 16 points a game and his defense seems to getting better game after game. If he keeps up this pace, he is on his way to becoming one of the best UCLA guards over these past couple of seasons.

No. 1

UCLA lost this game but they showed in this game that they are one of the top 25 teams in the country.

Marquette is the No. 4 ranked team in the country and they just came off of an impressive 71-64 road victory over Illinois. Before that game for the Golden Eagles, Marquette had put up 92 and 95 points in their first two games of the season. Not only on a neutral court did UCLA almost defeat the No. 4 ranked team in the country, but they led for most of the game and had an opportunity to win the game but missed two shots in the closing seconds.

UCLA’s defense came up big against arguably the best offense in the Big East and the Bruins played well even though their two outstanding freshmen Berke Buyuktuncel and Aday Mara who combined scored zero points did not contribute much on offense. The Bruins looked good in this game but just did not get the victory.

Next Up

Opponent: Chaminade

Maui Invitational: Second round

Time/Date: Tuesday, 5 PM EST

TV/Streaming: ESPN2

Prediction: UCLA 86 Chamindade 51