NEW YORK — No. 16 UCLA put its recent improvement on display during a national showcase opportunity as the Bruins downed No. 13 Kentucky 63-53 in the CBS Sports Classic at Madison Square Garden. UCLA led by as many as 13 in the first half before Kentucky rallied to tie the game early in the second. From there, defense and timely buckets carried the Bruins to the finish line.
Jaime Jaquez Jr. led all scorers with 19 points for UCLA while Jaylen Clark and Tyger Campbell each contributed 15. Freshman wing Chris Livingston put Kentucky on his back early in the second half as he scored all but three of his career-high 14 points after the break.
But even with UCLA big man Adem Bona in foul trouble, the Wildcats could not get star big man Oscar Tshiebwe going in the paint. The reigning National Player of the Year finished with eight points and 16 rebounds but made just 4 of 12 shots from the floor and missed all four of his free throw attempts.
The win improves UCLA to 10-2 after the Bruins drubbed No. 20 Maryland 87-60 on Wednesday. Kentucky fell to 7-3 with the loss.
UCLA turns a corner
When UCLA dropped back-to-back games against Illinois and Baylor during the Roman Main Event in November, the Bruins looked disorganized defensively and were called out for their poor play by coach Mick Cronin. Now, roughly a month later, they look like a different team. In their drubbing of the Terrapins earlier this week, UCLA jumped out to a 49-20 halftime lead on the road and coasted to a win. Against Kentucky on Saturday, the Bruins forced 12 turnovers in the first half while again taking command early.
Kentucky made its run early in the second half, but UCLA weathered it and held the Wildcats scoreless in the game's final 4:31. UK shot a season-worst 33% from the floor and just 30.3% in the second half. All of the sudden, UCLA's defense has transformed from a weakness into a strength.
Kentucky goes soft
Bona, UCLA's starting center, logged just 12 minutes as he remained in foul trouble throughout the contest. Bona did not score and finished with just four rebounds, though he did block two shots. His primary backup, Kenneth Nwuba, fouled out with just two points in 13 minutes of action. A third UCLA big man, Mac Etienne, avoided foul trouble but scored just one point in 13 minutes.
This should have been a game that Tshiebwe dominated on the inside. Instead, the Wildcats were outscored by 12 in the paint as Tshiebwe suffered through a brutal offensive night. If UCLA's strategy was to throw a parade of brawlers at Tshiebwe with no regard for foul trouble or offensive production, then the strategy worked. Without the steady source of offense that Tshiebwe typically provides, the Wildcats had nowhere to turn for buckets when they needed points in the second half.
Little from deep
UCLA entered ranked 328th of 363 teams in the percentage of points that it gets from beyond the 3-point line, per KenPom. The Bruins' standing in that metric figures to continue dropping after they made just 2 of 8 attempts from beyond the arc against Kentucky. Both of them came from David Singleton, who is 6 of 7 from deep off the bench for the Bruins over the past two games.
Over these two impressive wins against Maryland and Kentucky, the Bruins have made just seven total 3-pointers and only one of them have come from the starting lineup. This team is never going to light up opponents from deep, but UCLA will need to cultivate more sources of outside shooting as the season goes on if they are going to be dynamic enough to make a deep postseason run.