UCLA Basketball: Adem Bona Details What Lessons Bruins Will Take Into 2024 Season

Will he still be around to see it?

Your 14-16 UCLA Bruins are hoping to improve their regular season record to 15-16 tonight, during their finale against the Arizona Wildcats. But no matter the outcome, they will wrap up their 2023-24 bid with a sub-.500 record for just the fifth time in the last 75 seasons.

That's not a typo.

This is the winningest program in NCAA men's hoops history with 11 championships. And even a 15-16 record isn't going to cut.

UCLA players know this. Especially UCLA's best player, sophomore center Adem Bona. Although it's certainly possible he may declare for the NBA draft this spring/summer and depart the club before it has a chance to correct this issue, Bona acknowledged that the Bruins' occasional scoring draughts were a massive problem Thursday night.

“We’ve got one more game – we have one more chance to show our character, our identity before the Pac-12 Tournament, and that’s a big opportunity for us.”

Adem Bona, speaking about Saturday’s final regular-season contest in Pauley Pavilion pic.twitter.com/v8UqtiEDLK

— UCLA Men’s Basketball (@UCLAMBB) March 8, 2024

"Obviously the year's almost over by now, we should have learned from our mistakes," Bona allowed. "The only thing we can take away from this year is the lessons: how to gather ourself in a better position, how to share the ball with our teammates. We obviously had our offensive struggles... We had a lot of new guys. I think it's a learning process for us. But the year is not over, we still have a lot to give before the end of the year."

UCLA had lost five contests in a row heading into tonight's matchup. Whatever happens this evening, the Bruins will still have a chance to test their mettle in the Pac-12 Tournament next week.