UCLA center Aday Mara drives to the basket during a game last season. The Bruins next home game is Monday at 8 p.m.
The UCLA Bruins Men's Basketball team, with a roster full of transfers, opened up the 2024-2025 season with a rousing 85-50 victory over the Rider University Broncs at Pauley Pavillion on the UCLA campus last Monday night.
The Bruins started four transfers and had two transfers come off the bench in the game. A total of 11 players saw action. Former Oregon State forward Tyler Bilodeau started at center and led the Bruins in scoring with 18 points in 22 minutes. Oklahoma State transfer Eric Dailey Jr. and USC transfer Kobe Johnson both started at forward.
Louisville transfer Skyy Clark started in the backcourt along Dylan Andrews, the one returning starter from year's team. Andrews scored 14 points and handed out six assists, while Johnson added 12 points and eight rebounds. Dailey had nine points and eight rebounds in 21 minutes. Clark led the Bruins with seven assists in 20 minutes. Clark is a good three-point shooter, but only hit one of five on three-point shots.
The 85 points scored against Rider would have been a season high a year ago. Last season's Bruins squad struggled to score points, averaging 66 points per game, which was last in the Pac-12. The ball movement against Rider was very good. The 2024-2025 squad is much more talented offensively, a point head coach Mick Cronin made in his post-game press conference.
"We have a lot of guys that can shoot the ball on this team, so we don't need to turn the ball over," Cronin said. "We should not turn the ball over because we don't need anybody to do too much on this team. You get some execution and get some ball movement. You have guys that can shoot the ball in the basket or go make a play. There is just no need to take a hard shot. We don't have to force Adem Bona the ball for lack of talent."
UCLA still plays good defense, something that Cronin demands from each player. Cronin likes to emphasize deflections on defense and against Rider, the UCLA defense delivered. "We had 52 deflections tonight, everyone who played got one," Cronin said. "We really have to work on blocking out, we knew that was going to be an issue with this team tonight. For us when Eric Dailey is out of the game, our rebounding struggles. We didn't play a big lineup. We didn't play Tyler (Bilodeau) at the four, as much as he will with Aday (Mara) in, because of their size."
The bench is going to be an area of strength for the Bruins in 2024-2025. Lazar Stefanovic, a 6-foot-7 senior swingman, started 33 games last season. He is now coming off the bench. Sebastian Mack, a 6-foot-3 sophomore guard, started 30 games last season at guard. He is also coming off the bench.
Center Aday Mara, their 7-foot-3 big man, started 8 games last season. He is a sophomore who spent the summer getting stronger and along with South Dakota State transfer William Kyle III, a strong and athletic 6-foot-9 center, should give the Bruins a formidable 1-2 punch at center. Kyle made the first-team All-Summit League in 2023-2024 and was selected as the league's Defensive Player of the Year.
Kyle had three blocked shots and five rebounds in 11 minutes of play, while Mara had five points and three blocks in 10 minutes of play. Freshman guard Trent Perry, a MacDonald's All-American from Harvard-Westlake high school, had six points and three rebounds in his first 12 minutes of his first regular season college basketball.
This Bruins roster is deep and talented. Cronin indicated that sophomore forwards Brandon Williams and Devin Williams would redshirt this season, and that freshman guard Eric Freeny was also considering that option. As Cronin said after the game, 'I think they'd be really good players, they just can't get minutes on this team. There are not a lot of minutes on this team."
The Bruins will head to Las Vegas for their next game on Friday night, November 8 at 8:00 pm, where they will take on the New Mexico Lobos. The game will be played at the Lee's Family Forum in Henderson, Nevada and will be televised on CBS Sports Network. New Mexico is coming off a 26-10 season in 2023-2024 and an appearance in the NCAA Tournament. The Lobos are 1-0 for the season after beating Nicholls State, 91-84.
The Bruins will return home to Pauley Pavillion on Monday, November 11, to take on the Boston University Terriers in a Veterans Day matchup, which will be Veteran and Armed Forces Appreciation Night. The game will begin at 7:00 pm and will be televised on the Big Ten Network (BTN). The Terriers are 0-1 on the season after an 80-72 loss to Northeastern University.
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