This was the desire last spring, when Mick Cronin reassembled his roster to gird it for any possibility in the games that matter most.
A player is sidelined by injury. Another is limited by foul trouble. A third is having an off night.
No matter what happened, or who was doing what, UCLA would have a stockpile of players who could get the job done. And if everyone happened to play well on the same night? Well, that’s just a bonus.
The Bruins enjoyed that sort of bonanza in their NCAA tournament opener Thursday night, withstanding Aday Mara’s injury scare and Eric Dailey Jr.’s foul trouble to win so comfortably that walk-on Jack Seidler was able to dribble out the final seconds to cheers inside Rupp Arena. There was more fun in the locker room after seventh-seeded UCLA walloped 10th-seeded Utah State, 72-47, in a first-round game in the Midwest Region, its seven players making their tournament debuts showing steady resolve.
Mara, who threw what might have been the game’s best pass to teammate Skyy Clark for a dunk and finished with 10 points, six rebounds, five blocks and two assists in just 20 minutes, joked about the assists he lost because teammates couldn’t complete the play.
A player is sidelined by injury. Another is limited by foul trouble. A third is having an off night.
No matter what happened, or who was doing what, UCLA would have a stockpile of players who could get the job done. And if everyone happened to play well on the same night? Well, that’s just a bonus.
The Bruins enjoyed that sort of bonanza in their NCAA tournament opener Thursday night, withstanding Aday Mara’s injury scare and Eric Dailey Jr.’s foul trouble to win so comfortably that walk-on Jack Seidler was able to dribble out the final seconds to cheers inside Rupp Arena. There was more fun in the locker room after seventh-seeded UCLA walloped 10th-seeded Utah State, 72-47, in a first-round game in the Midwest Region, its seven players making their tournament debuts showing steady resolve.
Mara, who threw what might have been the game’s best pass to teammate Skyy Clark for a dunk and finished with 10 points, six rebounds, five blocks and two assists in just 20 minutes, joked about the assists he lost because teammates couldn’t complete the play.
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