INDIANAPOLIS – It will be time for BYU basketball to reflect on the magic of the 2020-21 season, the team’s first offer at the 2015 NCAA tournament and the return to Big Dance colloquially known as “March Madness,” the biggest show in North American Sports.
That time will come.
But he wasn’t at the historic Hinkle Fielddhouse on Saturday night.
Playing on a shattered ankle, Johnny Juzang won 27 points and Jaime Jaquez Jr. added 13 points, seven rebounds and three assists, UCLA won its second game in three nights, with a resounding 73-62 victory over BYU, ending Cougars’ first tournament appearance in 2015 after a single game.
One year after winning an almost identical UCLA team in the Maui Invitation in Hawaii, the Cougars failed to win the same wave.
Alex Barcello led BYU with 20 points and five rebounds, and senior teammate Brandon Averette scored 10 of his 15 points in the second half for the Cougars, who followed with 11 points at the break and never took the lead.
Matt Haarms provided 11 points, 10 rebounds and two blocked shots for BYU (20-7).
“There’s a lot of feeling right now,” an emotional Haarms told a Zoom microphone in the tunnels under the Indianapolis courtyard. “That was my college career … it’s just crap, coming out like that in the first round.”
After falling behind early, BYU played to catch up and never caught the sprinting Bruins on the Pac-12 – who advanced five teams in the round of 16, including Oregon’s undefeated victory over the virus-ridden VCU.
For UCLA, the joy of a March run continues. For BYU, the agony of defeat.
“That’s what we live for. This is the heyday of college basketball and we play for the Bruins – I’m from Los Angeles – we’re all brothers,” said Juzang, a Harvard-Westlake High School product in Tarzana, California. “Playing for the home team and making everyone on the team proud and everyone in the stands, it’s a great feeling to bring home wins for the UCLA Bruins.”
The high points on one side of the court and the lowest sentiment in BYU’s history in five years. Welcome to March.
Offensively, there were too many shots that BYU usually does that didn’t work on Saturday night: Haarms’ hook shot, Barcello’s jumper. The Cougars pitched 10 more free throws than UCLA, but made just 7 of 13 from the charity, while the Bruins settled for 3 of 3 before the final four minutes.
BYU shot 49% of the field, but only 3 of 17 from the 3-point range – including a 1 in 7 uncharacteristic in the second half – and made only 9-of-16 free throws.
“Clearly, I didn’t shoot the ball well from the 3-point line or the free-throw line,” BYU coach Mark Pope said, matching the emotion of his main point Averette as he came out of the field with his face buried in his white T-shirt with the words “Brigham” on the front. “Accredit UCLA for that. They put us on our heels for a substantial part of the first half.
“It happens sometimes. We managed to get past such nights before this season. We just didn’t get over it tonight. There will be occasional nights when you don’t shoot the ball well. We have answers; we can still win games. we just couldn’t do it tonight. “
It happens, but not by chance.
“What we wanted to do tonight was not to give up a bunch of three,” said UCLA coach Mick Cronin, whose team won back-to-back games for the first time since completing a round of February 4 in a row against Utah. “A team like BYU, the 3-point shot is their fuel.”
BYU looked like a team that hadn’t played in the bright lights of the NCAA tournament for nearly six years – which, to be fair, was the last time they reached the top 68 college basketball court in 2015.
BYU missed the first six shots, at which point Barcello took the lid off the basket with a 3:10 with 16:10 left in the half. The Cougars controlled the cup early and didn’t let UCLA get an offensive stunt for nearly six minutes, but BYU never led in the first half.
In 40 minutes of play, BYU never drove. The Bruins remained ahead on the scoreboard, except for 55 seconds.
UCLA shot 15 of 31 from the field in the first half, including 6 of 10 from the 3-point range and scored 11 points out of seven turnovers.
Just two nights after leaving the Bruins’ first game against Michigan State with a right ankle injury, Juzang scored 19 points in 8 of 11 first-half shots, including three triples, for a UCLA team that had BYU just two assists to 11 field goals.
“The first half was a struggle for us, because of Juzang and the way he played,” Haarms said. “We could not execute our game plan.
“In the second half, we raised him to five and then they pushed him to 11. We couldn’t stand up against them when it mattered.”
The Cougars used a 9-0 shot to reduce the deficit to four, 43-39 in the second half, keeping the Bruins scoreless on five consecutive possessions for 3:18. However, UCLA responded with its own 7-2 half and pushed the lead back to 11 in the middle of the second half.
BYU found that it scored shoes in the second half to be hung by UCLA.
Stopping the Bruins proved to be another matter. Juzang’s stoppage was particularly difficult, but UCLA then added Jaquez and Jules Bernard (16 points, five rebounds) while outsourcing BYU’s 13-7 lead.
Apart from the three seniors, Caleb Lohner had the most significant night with 6 points and 10 rebounds. But the freshman from Wasatch Academy was also prevented with four fouls.
“It’s a game. It’s March. It’s happening,” Pope said. “But UCLA credit; they played great and we just couldn’t get over the hump.”