The Bruins (30-5) face a second-round matchup against Northwestern (22-11), which has beaten four Top 25 teams … and is a future Big Ten foe.
SACRAMENTO — Thursday, and the first round of the NCAA tournament, was little more than a throat-clearing exercise for UCLA. Now the real competition begins.sent them into a second-round assignment against Northwestern on Saturday at approximately 5:40 p.m., and this is where the so-called Road To The Final Four starts developing those twists and turns.
The difference in the teams: Northwestern’s conference defensive player of the year is playing. UCLA’s, Jaylen Clark, is unavailable because of injury. And yet the Bruins’ defensive play hasn’t missed a beat since Clark was hurt in the regular-season finale against Arizona on March 4. Given that the Bruins are actually going to be a Big Ten team the season after next, it’s never too early to get used to that physicality. As Cronin noted after Thursday night’s game, the second-seeded Bruins were able to get out in front early and stay ahead comfortably against UNC Asheville because they were able to establish physical dominance from the start.
Meanwhile, big men Kenneth Nwuba and Mac Etienne had positive outings Thursday. Nwuba had 10 points, four rebounds and two blocked shots in 18 minutes. Etienne had 10 points, three rebounds and a block in 11 minutes. Neither missed a shot, and Etienne tossed up a couple of surprisingly effective jump hooks during his stint.
“It’s a great core that they have,” Northwestern forward Robbie Beran said. “Developing their guys, seeing improvement every single year. Hats off to that.
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