IOWA CITY, Iowa — From existential crisis to inspired return, UCLA I experienced the whole gamut of emotions in just a few hours at Carver-Hawkeye Arena.
The last feeling was disappointment.
Disappointment in perhaps the worst first half Mick Cronin era. Frustrated by sloppy play and lack of toughness. Frustrated that it took so long that it required near perfection that didn't materialize in the final minutes.
“You don’t have to be that low,” Cronin said, “to play at your best.”
After trimming a 24-point deficit to four with just over three minutes remaining Saturday, the Bruins were unable to get the miraculous finish they were looking for. Iowa held out for a while. victory 74-61The No. 25 Hawkeyes played the way they needed to in a foul-filled final minute.
Iowa made eight free throws on what Cronin called “stupid fouls,” and the Bruins were unable to complement the point guard's stellar offensive play. Donovan Dentscoring 20 of his 25 points in the second half.
“When a team is struggling to score,” Cronin said, referring to the Hawkeyes shooting just 36.4% in the second half, “the last thing you do is put them on the line – and that's what the guys were told over and over again on every dead ball, every timeout.”
Any lingering hopes of a comeback effectively ended when Iowa's Tavion Banks dunked in transition to push the lead to double digits with 41 seconds left. Compounding that frustration was Hawkeyes point guard Bennett Stirtz adding 30 feet in the final seconds.
UCLA guard Donovan Dent chases the ball in front of Iowa's Cam Manyawu (left) and Cal Combs during the first half Saturday.
(Charlie Neubergall/Associated Press)
After a first half so terrible it looked like the Bruins were still on an extended vacation, UCLA (10-4, 2-1 Big Ten) rallied as if inspired by the arena's rally towels that read “Impose Your Will.”
The Bruins went on an 18-2 run after taking small steps, unleashing a full-court press in the pocket and making seven of eight shots at one point. Dent was at the center of it all, having caught the theft that led to Brandon Williams a dunk, a pair of layups and a rise for a mid-range jumper while benefiting from a defense that prioritized knocking down 3-pointers.
“You can’t play much worse than we played in the first half,” Dent said, “so we just found our rhythm.”
When UCLA Trent Perry recovered the ball for a steal and made a break in transition, the Bruins were within 47-42 with 10:44 left and Iowa's only move was to call a timeout. But UCLA had a big problem looming at quarterback. Sky Clark went to the bench with a hamstring injury that kept him out for the rest of the game.
Stirtz finished with 27 points for the Hawkeyes (12-2, 2-1), who shot 56 percent in a first half that couldn't have been much worse for the Bruins.
It all started with an inability to finish at the rim. There were two of them Tyler Bilodeau point-blank misses – including a missed dunk – and Xavier Booker a layup that was blocked and a Dent shot that was deflected and stolen. And that was only in the first five minutes.
“We were four rabbits short at the start of the game,” Cronin said.
After attempting to mitigate a 10-day layoff that was UCLA's longest in seven seasons under Cronin with intense practices, the Bruins instead came out and played as if they had just met. Dent and Bilodeau combined for eight of their team's nine turnovers in the half.
The Bruins' defense was equally brutal, with players leaving the perimeter open on drives and plate drives, leading to a flurry of 3-pointers.
“We gave them momentum,” Dent said of the flurry of mistakes. “The crowd gets into it, they shoot threes in transition; we just can't do it. It's hard to win on the road when you have so many turnovers.”
Cronin was so incensed that his team was down 23 points at the end of the half that he took off his jacket and threw it towards the bench, cursing at Perry during the timeout. UCLA scored the final five points of the half…and still trailed 40-22.
“You can't just play hard when the ball goes in,” Cronin said of his players' mindset. “We let our offensive struggles affect us and came here with a game plan that if you turn it around, you lose… I thought we were incredibly soft on offense and defense.”
Among their biggest problems is that the Bruins continue to get too little production from too many starters, given that Bilodeau (10 points) was the only Bruins to score in double figures. Forwards Eric Daly Jr. (four points in 30 minutes) and Booker (four points in 12 minutes) were non-factors, and Clark (five points) was unavailable with an injury with 15 minutes left in the first half, although Dent said Clark reported he was “feeling good” after the game.
Daly has scored in single figures against his last three high-level opponents, and Booker has scored a total of 12 points over his last four games, never exceeding 14 minutes. Some of UCLA's best games over the last month have come with a small lineup with Bilodeau at center, giving Cronin something to think about.
“It’s disappointing,” Cronin said, “how soft we were in the first 20 minutes. It’s extremely disappointing that I have to throw away my coat and rip my suit to force the guys to play with some toughness.”
By the time they found something, it was too late and they were sent out into the cold Midwestern night in search of comforting answers.
