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Social Media Reacts To Concerning First Round Win

The Bruins were able to win in the first round, but a lot of things concerned social media.
Nathan Berry|
Mar 20, 2026; Philadelphia, PA, USA; UCLA Bruins guard Skyy Clark (55), guard Brandon Williams (5), center Steven Jamerson II (24), and guard Jamar Brown (4) react on the bench in the second half during a first round game of the men's 2026 NCAA Tournament at Xfinity Mobile Arena. Mandatory Credit: Bill Streicher-Imagn Images
Mar 20, 2026; Philadelphia, PA, USA; UCLA Bruins guard Skyy Clark (55), guard Brandon Williams (5), center Steven Jamerson II (24), and guard Jamar Brown (4) react on the bench in the second half during a first round game of the men's 2026 NCAA Tournament at Xfinity Mobile Arena. Mandatory Credit: Bill Streicher-Imagn Images | Bill Streicher-Imagn Images

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UCLA Bruins

The Bruins entered their game against the UCF Knights with the seed advantage, being the seven seed compared to the ten seed, but with a huge disadvantage as they had to play the game without Tyler Bilodeau.

Everybody would need to step up in their own ways, and some did in the Bruins' first round victory that began this year's hopeful run to the final four, but some also struggled according to the stats.

However, not everything was excellent for the Bruins, and overall the game was sloppy for both teams, which gave social media a lot to talk about by the final buzzer.

A Concerning Win Against The Knights: The First Half

The game started out in UCLA's favor, which was much pleasing to viewers, and UCF began horribly, having double digit turnovers before the Bruins could even garner three.

Because of the disparity in turnovers the Bruins should have been able to pull away and put the game in blowout territory, and that is what it looked like in the first ten minutes.

UCLA should have been able to keep up their fire, and players like Eric Dailey Jr. could have continued to explode on offense, but instead the Bruins began to stall, and it was not pretty.

What had once been a double digit lead fell quickly to an eight point lead by halftime, and some of UCLA's players looked like they needed to wake up on the court.

Social media was happy with UCLA being up, but they needed to see more before they could be hopeful for the rest of the tournament because of the lackluster play.

A Concerning Win Against The Knights: The Second Half

The offensive woes of the first half continued in the second, and UCLA could have easily saw the game slip from their fingers, but luckily for them they were able to continue dominating on defense.

Unfortunately the only thing that fans could notice was the things going wrong for UCLA and, as expected, the offensive issues, specifically with the pace of the game, was at the forefront.

The moment that greatest ecapsulated the game was when Skyy Clark was playing great defense and was accidentally elbowed by a UCF player, knocking out his tooth, slowing the game down, and showing some sloppiness; which caught a lot of attention.

The game ended with a solid win for the Bruins if the only thing that was looked at was the final score of 75-71, but if dived into deeper it was a sloppy win and UCLA's play cannot continue like this should they want to make a run.

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Nathan Berry
NATHAN BERRY

Nathan Berry is a senior at NCCS and was raised a Michigan State Spartan fan. With a great interest in sports and writing, journalism is a great avenue to pursue both.