Bruins Battle, Mack and Andrews Deliver in Gritty Road Win

The UCLA Bruins pulled off a hard-fought 72-68 victory over Indiana on Friday night, marking a crucial road win in a tough Big Ten environment. While the team’s performance showed both promise and areas for improvement, the postgame sentiments from sophomore guard Sebastian Mack and junior guard Dylan Andrews reflected the team’s resilience and unity.

For Mack, the victory was a testament to the team’s collective grit and ability to close out games against a determined opponent.

“It was a big road win for us. We came out here and we fought, we competed,” Mack said. “Even though Indiana has a great group of guys, and they fought at the end, but we showed our toughness and stuck together as a team. I feel like that game helped us out a lot.”

A significant factor in UCLA’s success was the contributions from all over the roster. The Bruins had one of their more complete efforts of the season, something Mack took pride in.

“We call it when we’re ready, and we were all ready today,” he said. “That was one of the very few times that we had a complete, full roster. I feel like we did a hell of a job -- we went out there and we got contributions from Trent and Laz on the boards. We wanted this one.”

Mack also had high praise for Andrews’ composure in knocking down critical free throws in the closing moments of the game.

“We tried not to let him stress about it too much," Mack said. "'We got you, make or miss. We can either play defense and guard for you, or you make both of these free throws and be straight.' We told him, ‘Don’t even worry about it, you know what to do, you’ve been here before.’”

Even as Indiana made a late surge and forced UCLA into some mistakes, Mack said the team remained steady.

“It was a game of runs,” he said. “We didn’t dwell our heads on the turnovers and the little fouls that we had. We kept our heads down and we still fought, and that’s why we were victorious today.”

While the locker room celebrated the win, Mack emphasized that the team is already focused on the next challenge.

“We said our hoorays, but we’ve still got to buckle down,” he said. “We’ve got to get right back to it as soon as we land.”

Playing at Assembly Hall is a challenge for any visiting team, and Andrews acknowledged the impact of the atmosphere on the game.

“We came here for practice a day or two early. When we pulled up here, I didn’t realize that the stands looked like that,” Andrews said. “It was exciting to play here.”

Despite the noise and pressure, Andrews stepped to the free-throw line in the final moments with confidence.

“At the end of the day, you know you’re not going to make every shot,” he said. “You’ve got to stay confident [and] got to stay poised. Going down the stretch we missed a bunch of free throws. I missed one front end, Bas [Mack] missed one front end. But I knew if I had another chance to shoot free throws, I was making them.”

As the game came down to the wire, Andrews and his teammates remained calm and focused on securing the victory.

“You’ve got to stay calm, stay poised,” he said. “It was going to come down to the last possession, and we had the ball on the last possession. Luckily, Mgbako missed that last three-point shot.”

With the win, UCLA continues to build momentum as the postseason approaches. While there are still areas to improve, Mack and Andrews made it clear that this team is battle-tested and ready for what’s ahead.

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