"They tried going back to the zone defense. They tried moving Tyler Bilodeau back to center. Nothing the UCLA Bruins did to combat their lack of rim protection worked for more than a couple of possessions at a time. And so a coach known for defense had to watch his team get bludgeoned inside once again while giving up an unusually frightening number of easy baskets."
"The Bruins were overmatched inside, the Bulldogs frontcourt tandem of Graham Ike (25 points) and Braden Huff (21 points) finding success at the rim far too often. It also didn't help that UCLA's late-game execution was once again pitiful, point guard Donovan Dent doing too little once he reached the rim thanks to a flurry of missed layups and bad passes."
"A faint "U-C-L-A!" chant broke out among the heavily pro-Gonzaga crowd after the Bruins went on a 9-0 run sparked by defense. A Dent steal led to a Brandon Williams layup in transition, an Eric Dailey Jr. steal allowed him to throw down a reverse dunk on the fast break and then a Bilodeau block resulted in a Dent layup in transition."
UCLA repeatedly failed to protect the rim despite switching to zone defense and moving Tyler Bilodeau back to center. The Bruins allowed Gonzaga's frontcourt tandem of Graham Ike (25 points) and Braden Huff (21 points) to score frequently at the rim. UCLA lost 82-72 at Climate Pledge Arena after Gonzaga shot 50%, attempted 13 more free throws and grabbed seven more rebounds. Donovan Dent struggled late with missed layups and bad passes, undermining late-game execution. Bilodeau scored 24 points but his contributions were overshadowed by the Bulldogs' interior dominance. A brief second-half defensive run was undone when Bilodeau picked up a third foul and departed.
Read at Los Angeles Times
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