Key Quotes from Donovan Dent After UCLA Victory

The Bruins' star guard had a very solid outing, something that fans have been waiting to see all season from him.

Donovan Dent was able to score 20 points for the first time since the season opener against Eastern Washington. He was also able to do this on decent shooting, going 9-17. Here is what he had to say following the bounce-back win over ASU.

Donovan Dent on his Confidence

Just by watching the game as well as looking at the box score, you can tell Donovan Dent has gotten a lot of his confidence back. He even shot a few threes, something that had been lacking in his game prior. Against ASU, he really let it fly, something that we need to see more of down the road.

Like, everyone's been uplifting me because they know I've been having my head up with some stuff. Coach giving me confidence. I mean, it helps a lot when your team has the utmost confidence and is behind your back no matter what, so it makes it a lot easier.
Donovan Dent

On Teammates Helping Through his Slump

Donovan Dent had a rough stretch there for a while. His shooting was looking awful compared to his time at New Mexico. Entering the ASU game, Dent was only averaging an abysmal 7.7% from three. Here is what Donovan Dent said after being asked what helped him through his lows.

I mean, they all just kind of told me, like, be yourself. Like, we know who you are.
You came here for a reason. Like, just be you. And then, I mean, that's all you want to hear from your teammates when you're going through a slump. Like, them just absolutely, absolutely being right there for you.
Donovan Dent

Why ASU was a Perfect Matchup

A big reason why Donovan Dent had such a good game was his shear will to get to the rim. His aggressiveness allowed him to get to the line a lot in this one, while he was unable to convert on some of those free throws, he still made a massive impact drawing fouls.

I mean, early in the game, I kind of saw how they're playing the blitz defense with the five man, and I feel like I could kind of reject the ball screen a lot because they're kind of when would look away as like a free reject because they're looking to weak the ball screen and that's where I got I think two and-ones and then I was split one of the big screen the one of the bigs on the pick and roll so I mean I think I was just kind of reading what they were doing and going with that because we knew they were going to blitz heavy in the ball screen
Donovan Dent

Dec 17, 2025; Los Angeles, California, USA; UCLA Bruins guard Donovan Dent (2) is defended by Arizona State Sun Devils forward Andrija Grbovic (14) in the first half at Pauley Pavilion presented by Wescom Financial. Mandatory Credit: Jayne Kamin-Oncea-Imagn Images | Jayne Kamin-Oncea-Imagn Images

Overall, a really good game from Dent here. He will need to build on this game to show that he is truly back, if he can the Bruins will look deadly, especially with conference play coming up shortly.

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