LOS ANGELES — UCLA head coach Mick Cronin knew his team tapped into something special and familiar during its east coast road trip, which saw the Bruins take down ranked opponents Maryland and Kentucky.
“We were totally locked in with respect for our opponent and what we needed to accomplish,” Cronin said before Wednesday’s 81-54 victory over UC Davis at Pauley Pavilion. “We had that magic. ... We captured that [Final Four] magic last week.”
Despite a sluggish start, the Bruins (11-2) did ultimately handle their business by defeating the Aggies (7-5) to lock up their eighth straight win heading into the heart of Pac-12 conference play, which begins Dec. 30 against Washington State.
The Bruins went scoreless during the first three minutes of the game before Jaylen Clark connected on an alley-oop to freshman big man Adem Bona. By the end of the first half, however, UCLA found their rhythm and went into the break with a 12-point lead.
“Real teams play when they have a bunch of players that compete when they don’t have the ball, so early on, that wasn’t the case,” Cronin said after the game of the team’s sluggish start.
Senior Tyger Campbell gave credit to the Aggie defense for his team’s slow start.
“I just think the way UC Davis plays defense is they try to disrupt you,” Campbell said. “We had to kind of settle into the game a little bit at the beginning, as opposed to running our plays. We just kind of had to shake what they’d give us.”
Clark led the way for the Bruins with 18 points, adding 11 rebounds and three assists. The other members of UCLA’s big three, Jaime Jaquez Jr. and Campbell, put together solid performances — with Jaquez Jr. scoring 14 points and grabbing eight rebounds and Campbell scoring 17 points.
Freshman guard Amari Bailey scored seven points, but suffered an apparent ankle injury late in the second half. There was no update on his condition after the game.
Cronin had nothing but praise for Clark’s stellar performance.
“I believe in, what do you do when you don’t have the ball?” Cronin said. “Do you play or do you watch? Obviously, Jaylen Clark plays.”
Clark knew going into the game that it would be a difficult outing for the Bruins, but never doubted his or the team's ability to find their way.
“I feel like I knew coming in, especially after last week and with it being the holidays, everybody ready to go home and see their families and stuff like, that it was gonna be a hard game to get up for,” Clark said. “So we got off to a slow start. I was missing steals and stuff. ... I just wanted to make a pass or something so [we could] just get it started. I know once the ball got rolling we were gonna go ahead and do what we do.”
