Grading Bruins' in Devastating Loss to Golden Bears

UCLA would drop its second game of the season to Cal, losing 80-72, in a game that the Bruins should have won.

Easily one of the worst performances from the Bruins this season, a lot can be pinned on how the players performed in this one.

Nov 18, 2025; Los Angeles, California, USA; UCLA Bruins guard Donovan Dent (2) scores past Sacramento State Hornets guard Mikey Williams (1) during the second half at Pauley Pavilion presented by Wescom Financial. Mandatory Credit: Jayne Kamin-Oncea-Imagn Images | Jayne Kamin-Oncea-Imagn Images

Not the performance UCLA needed from its starting point guard. Dent struggled from start to finish — there’s really no way around it. Going 1-for-8 from the field and 1-for-4 at the line simply isn’t going to cut it, especially in a game of this magnitude.

He earns an F rating simply because he could not shoot. To his credit, he was double-teamed, but even then, he would still have six of the Bruins' 11 turnovers. There is also a possibility that he has been playing through an injury, so that could explain his performance.

DEN — Nov 7, 2025; Los Angeles, California, USA; UCLA Bruins guard Donovan Dent (2) looks on during the first half against the Pepperdine Waves at Pauley Pavilion presented by Wescom Financial. Mandatory Credit: Kiyoshi Mio-Imagn Images | Kiyoshi Mio-Imagn Images

Dent has really struggled this season; we have yet to see a repeat of his performance in the season opener that had all of us excited. If he can't get things going soon, we could see UCLA make an early exit in this year's tournament.

One of the Bruins' only bright spots in this game was Eric Dailey Jr. In this game, he would score a season high of 17 points and make UCLA look competitive late in the second half.

This performance could have easily been an A; however, it really took him a while to get things going. He started the game 1-5 from the field, and really didn't get baskets to drop until the second half. This was not a full game performance from Dailey, but he played very well otherwise.

On the bright side, Dailey Jr. appears to have turned a corner for the Bruins. He’s finally starting to play like the Eric Dailey Jr. many expected to see prior to the season's start.

Trent Perry has started to string together a few pretty solid games this season. The sophomore is averaging 10.0 points. 2.5 rebounds, 2.8 assists, while shooting a great 52.4% from the field from the bench.

Perry earns an A for continuing to showcase his scoring ability off the bench. He was essentially the reason the Bruins stayed competitive, providing the spark they desperately needed.

I don't think it would come to anyone's surprise if Perry were able to break into the starting lineup soon. He has shown that he deserves it, especially with Tyler Bilodeau expected to miss some more time.

The bar was set high for Skyy Clark after his 22-point game against Presbyterian. We figured his stats would dip in this one since Cal is an objectively better team. However, we didn't think this much.

Clark earns a D+ because, like Dent, not many shots were landing, and this was a disappointing follow-up performance from his last game.

We all know what Clark is capable of; let's just hope performances like these aren't common occurrences.

Nov 18, 2025; Los Angeles, California, USA; UCLA Bruins head coach Mick Cronin during the first half against the Sacramento State Hornets at Pauley Pavilion presented by Wescom Financial. Mandatory Credit: Jayne Kamin-Oncea-Imagn Images | Jayne Kamin-Oncea-Imagn Images

This was definitely a rough one, but the Bruins should bounce back in no time. Up next is Washington, their first conference test of the season.

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