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UCLA Basketball: Takeaways from victory over Marquette Golden Eagles

By Chris Thedinga

LOS ANGELES, CA - MARCH 07: Head coach Mick Cronin of the UCLA Bruins cheers on his team in the second half of the game against the USC Trojans at Galen Center on March 7, 2020 in Los Angeles, California. (Photo by Jayne Kamin-Oncea/Getty Images)
LOS ANGELES, CA - MARCH 07: Head coach Mick Cronin of the UCLA Bruins cheers on his team in the second half of the game against the USC Trojans at Galen Center on March 7, 2020 in Los Angeles, California. (Photo by Jayne Kamin-Oncea/Getty Images) /
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UCLA Basketball
Jaime Jaquez Jr. UCLA Basketball (Photo by Jayne Kamin-Oncea/Getty Images) /

Defense getting better

UCLA finished last year’s season red hot, largely in part to their very strong play on the defensive side of the ball. Tonight, UCLA’s defense looked like a vintage Mick Cronin squad. They played tough and contested what seemed like just about every shot.

Within the second half especially, UCLA really put the clamps on the Marquette offense. They held the Golden Eagles to 0-11 from three; nine of which under the categories of “contested” or “highly contested.” This Marquette team is a top-50 offense in the country, and excluding the first three minutes, it couldn’t beat the Bruins defense.

Although Hill and Riley didn’t produce a whole lot offensively, their presence was felt on the defensive side of things. Theo John and Dawson Garcia had both of their worst games of the early season. With Justin Lewis only playing 12 total minutes due to foul trouble, there weren’t a whole lot of places to turn for Marquette.

One piece of the defense that impressed me was that of Johnny Juzang. The narrative around Juzang since he announced he was transferring to UCLA was that he was a great shooter with uninspired, if not just sloppy, defensive work. In this one, Juzang went just 1-8 from beyond the arc, but played very tough defense around the perimeter and showed some solid presence inside.

Marquette was held to just four points in the final seven minutes and change of the contest. Despite having a big edge in rebounding and second-chance points, the Bruins defense held strong possession after possession.

This is the highest-rated UCLA defense on KenPom in the last ten years. I expect that ranking (45th) just to continue to rise as the season progresses. UCLA’s defense in the second half against Marquette is one of the more impressive defensive showings I’ve seen this year.

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