Basketball edition looking back on the 2020 season

The 2020 basketball season for UCLA turned into one of the biggest Cinderella stories of recent times. It started late due to the COVID pandemic and games had limited to no fans. Depending on the state and there wasn’t much travel involved to keep cases down as much as possible. The Bruins brought in transfer Johnny Juzang who would become a hero in the miracle run. Known as the First Four to Final Four run. After playing underdogs and having a good but not great regular season ending up 17-9.

UCLA was pretty equal on offense and defense as they finished 116th in the nation averaging 73.4 points per game. Their defense finished 118th giving up 68.4 points per game. Jaime Jaquez Jr. and Tyger Campbell were both sophomores and big parts of the team along with juniors Cody Riley, Jules Bernard and David Singleton. To pair with the transfer Juzang who could score the ball well. The season seemed to be in the balance when their best player Chris Smith tore his ACL nine games into the season.

UCLA stumbled into the finish of the regular season losing four straight games and finishing 17-9. That landed them the First Four game against Michigan State. Down by 15, they clawed back and won the game and went into the March tournament as the 11 seed in the East. They cruised to wins over BYU and Abilene Christian to send them into the Sweet 16. Where they then survived a scare in OT against Alabama that UCLA blew a large lead. Then as large underdogs they beat Michigan to head to the Final Four to face off against Gonzaga.

UCLA and Gonzaga played one of the greatest games of all time that ended with a Jalen Suggs game winner. This was one of the funnest seasons in UCLA history. Although it ended in heartbreak, the March run and the arrival of Johnny Juzang was a treat to watch. This would be by far the best season Mick Cronin would have as head coach of UCLA. He has not had a season as close to this one and the team got hot at the right time.