UCLA basketball comes up short against Utah in wild finish – Daily News

LOS ANGELES — The UCLA men’s basketball team held their emotions in check and stayed together but after a wild scramble in the final seconds, they suffered a heartbreaking 70-69 loss against Utah at Pauley Pavilion Sunday night.

“Hard fought game, disappointed in the outcome,” UCLA basketball coach Mick Cronin said postgame.

After being fouled twice in six seconds, sophomore guard Dylan Andrews had 13 seconds left to win the game. It took him less than seven seconds to size up his defender with a crossover and calmy drain a go-ahead jump shot. UCLA (14-12, 9-6) led 69-68 with 6.6 seconds to go.

However, after a wild scramble at the rim off a missed layup by Utah senior guard Deivon Smith, the Bruins did not collect what would have been the game-sealing offensive rebound. Instead, Utah senior center Branden Carlson tipped in the game-winning shot, with .2 seconds left. UCLA threw a full-court inbounds pass but it was intercepted by the Utes at the free-throw line as time expired.

“We’ve learned enough, we had enough losses, it’s simple scouting report,” Cronin said. “Too many bad fouls, egregiously, unintelligent fouls and terrible scouting report defense against Deivon Smith.”

Meanwhile, Cronin revealed that the scouting report was to stay in front of Smith, which would have prevented him from having an open driving lane to the rim on Utah’s game-winning possession.

“The goal was to back up and make (Smith) shoot, the last two plays,” Cronin continued. “He got it to the rim on the last two plays, our whole game plan was to back up and make him shoot. We didn’t get the job done, that falls on me.”

However, Cronin’s players said they have to meet the coaching staff halfway.

“They’re huge,” UCLA sophomore guard Will McClendon said. “They’re the answers to the test. When you have a scouting report like that and the coaches do a great job letting us know, preparing us, we have to meet them halfway and we didn’t do that to the best of our ability (Sunday).”

“Every possession matters,” UCLA junior guard Lazar Stefanovic added. “Every play matters so we didn’t make enough of them (Sunday) and that’s what happened.”

Stefanovic, a junior guard from Belgrade, Serbia, who transferred to UCLA from Utah during the offseason, finished with a season-high 19 points and eight rebounds. Sophomore point guard Dylan Andrews had 15 points. Sophomore forward Adem Bona finished with seven points in 18 minutes after spending the game in foul trouble.

“Excuses are for losers,” Cronin said. “It was still 5-on-5.”

The Bruins, who shot 39.7% from the field (25 of 63) and 23.8% from three-point range (5 of 21) sought but were not able to earn redemption after their embarrassing 90-44 loss to Utah on Jan. 11. Since that game, UCLA has won eight of their last 10 games but the Utes ended the team’s six-game winning streak on Sunday.

“It feels horrible,” Stefanovic continued. “I don’t know how to exactly explain it, it feels horrible… it came down to the last play but you can count 20 plays down the stretch that we didn’t make that, which would have made a difference. We have to learn from it and we have to be better.”

The team’s leading scorer, Sebastian Mack (13.5 points), a 6-foot-2 freshman guard from Chicago, was ejected midway through the first half after being called for a flagrant 2 foul for an apparent elbow to the neck/throat area of Utah’s 7-foot senior center Branden Carlson. Mack finished with four points and one rebound in eight minutes.

“This isn’t rocket science,” Cronin said. “If (Mack) did it, you have to play smarter than that.”

Utah (16-10, 7-8) was led by Smith’s double-double with 17 points and 10 assists. Carlson also had 17 points. Senior guards Gabe Madsen and Cole Bajema each added 11 points.

“We’re no juggernaut. The guys are competing. I’m proud of that but we’re about winning at UCLA so we have to play a lot smarter,” Cronin said. “We have to play a lot smarter. Just too many bad fouls.”

It was a slow start for the Bruins who trailed 7-0 early. UCLA missed their first three shots before Mack’s driving layup got the Bruins on the scoreboard with 17:05 left in the first half. Andrews drained a 3-pointer to make it 7-5.

A nice assist from sophomore forward Adem Bona to Andrews for a jump shot just inside the free-throw line put UCLA up 9-8 with 14:03 left in the first. UCLA freshman forward Berke Buyuktuncel’s offensive rebound and putback made it 11-8.

Mack, the team’s leading scorer at 13.5 points per game, was ejected with 9:53 remaining in the first after being called for a flagrant foul while trying to go through a screen set by Carlson. UCLA led 16-12 at the time. However, Madsen made both four straight free throws to tie the game at 16. Carlson returned to the game less than three minutes later.

After review, it was ruled a flagrant 2 and Sebastian Mack will be ejected from the game after this play pic.twitter.com/qul0x9eLji

— FOX College Hoops (@CBBonFOX) February 19, 2024

Bona’s three-point play put the Bruins up 21-18 with 6:55 to go in the first.

The Bruins were called for another technical foul, this time on Coach Cronin with 6:04 remaining in the first. Madsen made one of two free throws. UCLA led 21-19 but the Utes retained possession.

Andrews, a 6-foot-2 180-pound point guard, muscled his way to the rim for a three-point play, which pushed UCLA’s lead to 24-19. Bruins freshman forward Brandon Williams made both free throws, which put UCLA up 26-19, their largest lead of the first half.  Utah responded with a 5-0 run, which cut the Bruins’ advantage to 26-24.

After another back-and-forth stretch, Bajema made a tough layup through contact, which tied the game at 34 with 40 seconds to go before halftime.