The matchups against the Buffaloes and Utes were supposed to be the Bruins’ final road games of the season.
That isn’t the case anymore, with three road games in seven days now on the upcoming slate.
UCLA men’s basketball (16-5, 12-3 Pac-12) will still face off against Utah (9-10, 6-9) on Thursday and Colorado (17-7, 11-6) on Saturday, but it now has to travel to Eugene to play Oregon (14-5, 9-4) the following Wednesday as well. While he later said the team was fully focused on the Utes at the moment, sophomore guard/forward Jaime Jaquez Jr. also said the extra leg would make things more difficult for a Bruin squad that is 5-5 outside of Pauley Pavilion this season.
“I think it’s going to be a challenge for sure, having to travel to Oregon, especially after going to the mountain schools,” Jaquez said. “But it’s something we’re going to be able to adjust to.”
The Pac-12 added the UCLA-Oregon matchup to the schedule Monday afternoon, making up one of the two games that were supposed to be played at Pauley Pavilion in January but were canceled because of COVID-19 cases in the Ducks’ program. According to reports from the Los Angeles Times, the conference justified moving the game from Los Angeles to Eugene because it allows both teams to finish the Pac-12 season with nine home games and nine away games.
Coach Mick Cronin said the late change to the schedule could hurt his players mentally and academically as they head into the final few weeks of winter classes. He also said the decision was out of his hands and reminded the media the previous cancelations weren’t UCLA’s fault.
“I wasn’t consulted, so it is what it is,” Cronin said. “Obviously, the schedule was made. I have no idea who made those decisions – reasons don’t matter to me.”
For the time being, the Bruins have to start their stretch of road games in Salt Lake City.
The last time UCLA and Utah played was Dec. 31, the game in which senior guard Chris Smith tore his ACL. Redshirt junior forward/center Jalen Hill also played 20 minutes off the bench in that game, but he has missed the Bruins’ last five games because of personal reasons that continue to keep him away from the team.
UCLA won that game 72-70 thanks to four free throws by Hill in the final minute and a 3-pointer from Smith with 2:10 left on the clock. The duo, which will be missing from Thursday night’s rematch, scored the Bruins’ final seven points, meaning Cronin will have to draw up a new plan for victory this time around.
“As far as stuff from the first game, (it was) a long time ago,” Cronin said. “We always look at strategy, stuff I’m not going to talk about: How they play this screen, how they play post-up, what we ran, how they defended it. We’re always searching and analyzing that from a numbers standpoint and just from a technical standpoint, and we’ll make whatever adjustments we think give us the best chance to win.”
Forward Timmy Allen and guard Alfonso Plummer combined for 40 points in their first bout with UCLA, and they average 30.3 per game on the season.
Colorado, which UCLA also beat 65-62 earlier this year, tends to run a far more big-oriented scoring attack. Pac-12 Player of the Year contender McKinley Wright IV leads the Buffaloes in scoring and runs the point, but forwards Jeriah Horne and Evan Battey both average over 10 points and five rebounds per game.
With Hill still inactive, freshman center Mac Etienne will have to continue to make up for his minutes and production off the bench. After enrolling at UCLA midseason, Etienne is averaging 4.2 points, four rebounds and 0.4 blocks in 15 minutes per game, and he said he has been focusing on putting in extra work at practice and in the weight room to make up for lost time.
“I need to get the college weight on, just because I haven’t been in college too long. There’s people here that’ve been lifting for the past four years and even took a redshirt year,” Etienne said. “(The coaches) have helped me a lot with my defensive techniques, always making sure that I’m three-quarter defense, my hedge, switching – whatever I need to do, they’re helping me a lot.”
The Bruins have already clinched a bye in the Pac-12 tournament but will need to continue their three-game winning streak in order to keep pace in the race for the regular-season title.
