INDIANAPOLIS – There will be time for BYU basketball to reflect on the magic of the 2020-21 season, the team’s first candidacy for the NCAA Tournament since 2015 and a return to Big Dance known colloquially as “March Madness”, the greatest show in North American Sports .
That time will come.
But it was not Saturday night at the historic Hinkle Fielddhouse.
Playing with an injured ankle, Johnny Juzang scored 27 points, and Jaime Jaquez Jr. added 13 points, seven rebounds and three assists in UCLA’s three-night victory with a resounding 73-62 victory over BYU, ending the Cougars’ first tournament appearance since 2015 after just one game.
A year after a victory over an almost identical UCLA team at the Maui Invitational in Hawaii, the Cougars failed to catch the same wave to win.
Alex Barcello led BYU with 20 points and five rebounds, and also senior Brandon Averette scored 10 of his 15 points in the second half for Cougars, who lost 11 at halftime and never cut the lead permanently.
Matt Haarms provided BYU (20-7) with 11 points, 10 rebounds and two blocks.
“There are a lot of feelings now,” said an emotional Haarms in a Zoom microphone in the tunnels under the Indianapolis-based court. “That was my college career … it really sucks, going out like that on the first shift.”
After falling behind in the beginning, BYU played catch up and never caught the Bruins running from Pac-12 – which advanced five teams into Round 32, including Oregon’s unqualified victory over the virus-infected VCU.
For UCLA, the joy of a race in March continues. For BYU, the agony of defeat.
“That’s what we live for. This is the pinnacle of college basketball, and playing for the Bruins – I’m from Los Angeles – we’re all brothers,” said Juzang, a product at Harvard-Westlake High School in Tarzana, California. “Playing for the home team and making everyone on the team proud, and everyone in the stands, it is a great feeling to bring victories to UCLA Bruins.”
The highs on one side of the court and the lowest sentiment in BYU history for the past five years. Welcome to March.
Offensively, there were many pitches that BYU used to make that didn’t happen on Saturday night: Haarms’ hook toss, Barcello’s backward jump. The Cougars hit 10 more free throws than UCLA, but only hit 7 out of 13 in the charity band, while the Bruins got 3 out of 3 before the final four minutes.
BYU shot 49% of the field, but only 3 out of 17 in the 3-point range – including an atypical 1 out of 7 in the second half – and made only 9 out of 16 free throws.
“Clearly, we didn’t kick the ball well from the 3-point line or the free-throw line,” said BYU coach Mark Pope, matching the emotion of his senior point guard Averette when he left the court with his face buried in his white shirt with the words “Brigham” on the front. “Credit from UCLA for that. They followed us for a substantial part of the first half.
“It happens sometimes. We managed to get through nights like this before this season. We just didn’t get through tonight. Sometimes, there will be nights when you don’t kick the ball well. We have answers; we can still win games. We just haven’t finished 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 has won consecutive games for the first time since crowning a four-game streak on February 25 against Utah . “A team like BYU, the 3-point kick is their fuel.”
BYU looked like a team that hadn’t played under the bright lights of the NCAA Tournament in almost six years – which, to be fair, they were, having last reached the highest field of 68 in college basketball in 2015.
BYU missed his first six shots, at which point Barcello removed the basket lid with a 3-point basket with 16:10 remaining in the middle. The Cougars controlled the cup early and did not let UCLA get an offensive rebound for almost six minutes, but BYU never led in the first half.
In 40 minutes of playing time, BYU never led. The Bruins remained ahead on the scoreboard for almost 55 seconds.
UCLA hit 15 out of 31 field shots in the first half, including 6 out of 10 in the 3-point range, and scored 11 points in seven turns.
Just two nights after leaving the game of the first four of the Bruins against Michigan State with an injury to his right ankle, Juzang scored 19 points from 8 of 11 shots in the first half, including three of 3 points, for a UCLA team that held BYU just two assists in 11 field goals.
“The first part was a fight for us, because of Juzang and the way he played,” said Haarms. “We were unable to execute our game plan.
“In the second half, we went back to five and they went back to 11. We weren’t able to attack them again when it was important.”
The Cougars used a 9-0 spurt to reduce the deficit to four, 43-39 in the second half, keeping Bruins goalless in five consecutive possessions over a period of 3:18. But UCLA responded with a 7-2 spurt and pushed the lead back to 11 in the middle of the second half.
BYU discovered that it is scoring cleats in the second half to stay with UCLA.
Stopping the Bruins proved to be another problem. Stopping Juzang was especially problematic, but UCLA then added Jaquez and Jules Bernard (16 points, five rebounds) while outsourcing BYU’s bank 13-7.
In addition to the three veterans, Caleb Lohner had the most significant night with 6 points and 10 rebounds. But the Wasatch Academy freshman was also hampered by four fouls.
“It’s a game. It’s March. It happens,” said Pope. “But credit, UCLA; they played very well and we were unable to overcome the obstacle.”