UCLA Basketball: Bruins Keeping An Even Keel Ahead Of Utah Rematch
When UCLA last took on Utah in early January, the Bruins suffered their second-worst loss in school history. UCLA was outmatched by 46 points, reaching their low point of the year.
Since that disastrous loss, UCLA has turned it around. They've won eight of their last nine games, and now will face the team that crushed them 38 days ago.
For Utah, that win was their most dominant of the season. They are currently on a three-game losing streak and heading in the opposite direction of UCLA.
When asked about facing Utah for the first time since that loss, Sebastian Mack kept his focus on the present.
“We just have to worry about the next one," Mack said. "You can’t worry about it too much, we’ve got other ones coming up, so we just going to go in the lab, work on what we need to work on, and go"
Though UCLA has improved so much since their last game against Utah, they have shown some faults over their last couple of games against Cal and Colorado. UCLA won both of those contests but could have scored more and put away their opponents sooner.
Bruins head coach Mick Cronin discussed some of these mistakes ahead of their game against Utah.
"We were not ready to play defensively in the first three minutes of this game, and I lost it," Cronin said. "I went after a few guys and pulled a few guys aside; they started the game with two point-blank layups. It’s a concern because it is a long year, and the goal is to get your team ready on game night, not practice ... I give the kids credit they responded.”
If the Bruins can build off their momentum and clear up some of these errors, they should be clear to get the win against Utah and put their horrific loss from January completely in the past.
