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UCLA Basketball: 3 takeaways from season-opening loss to San Diego State

By Chris Thedinga

LOS ANGELES, CA - FEBRUARY 29: Tyger Campbell #10, David Singleton #34, Jaime Jaquez Jr. #4, Jalen Hill #24 and Chris Smith #5 of the UCLA Bruins listen as head coach Mick Cronin talks during a timeout in the second half of the game against the Arizona Wildcats at Pauley Pavilion on February 29, 2020 in Los Angeles, California. (Photo by Jayne Kamin-Oncea/Getty Images)
LOS ANGELES, CA - FEBRUARY 29: Tyger Campbell #10, David Singleton #34, Jaime Jaquez Jr. #4, Jalen Hill #24 and Chris Smith #5 of the UCLA Bruins listen as head coach Mick Cronin talks during a timeout in the second half of the game against the Arizona Wildcats at Pauley Pavilion on February 29, 2020 in Los Angeles, California. (Photo by Jayne Kamin-Oncea/Getty Images) /
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UCLA Basketball
UCLA Basketball Jaime Jaquez Jr. (Photo by Jayne Kamin-Oncea/Getty Images) /

UCLA Basketball opens the 2020-21 with a road defeat at the San Diego State Aztecs.

UCLA Basketball got bludgeoned by the Aztecs on Wednesday night by a score of 73-58. On a night without Jalen Hill and Johnny Juzang, not a lot of things seemed to go right for Mick Cronin’s team. The Aztecs came out ahead in just about every single statistical measure of a basketball game.

They made eight of their first 11 shot attempts, including a pair of threes from Chris Smith and Jaime Jaquez Jr. However, after that initial surge the Bruins only shot 28% from the floor in the final 32 minutes of the game. Jaquez Jr. was perhaps one of the lone bright spots offensively for UCLA, shooting 6-10 (3-5 from deep) for 17 points. Cody Riley posted 14 points and 12 rebounds, which was the second double-double of his career.

The Aztecs featured a spread-out offensive attack which led to four scorers in double digits. SDSU shot the ball quite well and splashed a few three’s from NBA range. But, the question for UCLA becomes how is this possible for a team that was as good defensively towards the end of the year as anyone in the country last season.

There is no need for the Bruin-faithful to push the panic button quite yet- and a loss at San Diego State is absolutely nothing to be ashamed of, especially with how Brian Dutcher has them playing the past couple of years. It is just one game, but quite an introspective one for Cronin and the Bruins.

Here are three takeaways and things we learned in Friday night’s matchup:

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