UCLA Men's Basketball Turns Pepperdine Giveaways Into Blowout Win
The Bruins had their hands on the wheel all night long, dominating on both ends of the floor to return to their winning ways.
No. 19 UCLA men's basketball (4-2) blew out Pepperdine (4-2) en route to a 100-53 win at Pauley Pavilion on Wednesday night. The Bruins' two previous games featured second half breakdowns against ranked teams, but a matchup with a mid-major helped them get their feet back under them.
Perhaps the most stark individual turnaround came from guard Amari Bailey, who had just six points in 49 minutes in Las Vegas over the weekend. Against Pepperdine, the McDonald's All-American notched a career-high 19 points on perfect shooting from both beyond the arc and the free throw line.
Bailey also led UCLA with four assists, providing a spark for an offense that more than pleased the content crowd in the stands on Thanksgiving eve.
The Bruins went ahead early, as Bailey found fellow freshman Adem Bona down low for a powerful slam to make it 4-0. Neither team was able to string together two unanswered buckets for another five minutes, though, with UCLA answering Pepperdine's run of midrange jumpers with some layups and another dunk by Bona.
The Waves got the upper hand for a moment, going ahead 14-12 after back-to-back 3-pointers by guard Houston Mallette. Pepperdine started the night 6-of-9 from the field, and they were sinking contested jumpers from all over the floor.
It didn't take long for UCLA to turn the tides, however, as they immediately staged a 19-2 run. The Bruins starting hitting jumpers of their own, and capped things off with their first 3-pointer of the night from guard David Singleton.
Bailey also got in on the scoring action in this stretch, and his free throws a few minutes later helped break up what would have been a singlehanded 7-0 run out of Mallette.
A lot of the production in the first half came courtesy of the defense, with UCLA leading Pepperdine 20-3 in points off turnovers alone. Clark had a pair of steals before the break, but guard/forward Jaime Jaquez Jr. had one of the highlights of the night when he picked off a pass and tossed a behind-the-back lead pass to Singleton, who sent it up to Clark for the fast break jam.
Coming out of the locker room up 43-29, UCLA opened things up with a lobbed outlet pass from Bailey to Bona for yet another dunk. The five-star freshman guard led the Bruins with 12 points in the first half, but he turned things up to another level in the second.
Bailey hit a pair of shots in the paint in a brief stretch of trading buckets with Pepperdine. He then swung the ball around the perimeter to point guard Tyger Campbell for a 3-pointer, then went ahead and hit one of his own.
UCLA's lead ballooned to 56-33, and Bailey had already set a career high with 16 minutes left on the clock. Jaquez got in on the action after getting three points the old fashioned way, capping off a 16-4 run to open the half.
Once Pepperdine started hitting its shots again, Jaquez hit a midrange jumper and a straightaway 3-pointer to keep them at bay. Bona converted on and-1 to keep the lead growing, and Jaquez came through with two straight isolation layups to make it a 32-point game.
The game developed into a pure blowout when the bench lineups took over. Guard/forward Abramo Canka chased down a loose ball for a steal and led big man Mac Etienne for a rim-grazing fast break dunk, then Singleton continued the run with a transition 3 in the corner. After UCLA reeled in two offensive rebounds on the same possession, Canka sank the first of his two 3-pointers to make it 84-46.
Freshman walk-on forward Evan Manjikian sank a catch-and-shoot triple to get UCLA to the 100-point mark in regulation for only the second time in the last five seasons. The 53 points they allowed on the other end was also their lowest mark of the year, resulting in an astounding 47-point margin of victory.
By the end of the night, six Bruins made it into double figures as their lead reached as many as 48 points.
On top of Bailey's 19 points, Jaquez dropped 17 to go along with eight rebounds. Singleton went for 13 and Clark scored 12, while Campbell and Bona finished with 11 apiece.
UCLA has one more game of nonconference action before the early section of the Pac-12 slate tips off on Dec. 1. The Bruins will host Bellarmine on Sunday at 4 p.m., with the matchup set to be televised on Pac-12 Networks.
Follow Connon on Twitter at @SamConnon
Follow All Bruins on Twitter at @FN_AllBruins
Like All Bruins on Facebook at @FN.AllBruins
Subscribe to All Bruins on YouTube
Read more UCLA stories: UCLA Bruins on Sports Illustrated
Read more UCLA men's basketball stories: UCLA Men's Basketball on Sports Illustrated
