Sizing up his undersized opponent, UCLA coach Mick Cronin went with a small starting lineup in his final preseason tuneup Wednesday night.
Playing alongside guards Dylan Andrews, Skyy Clark and Kobe Johnson were forwards Eric Dailey Jr. and Tyler Bilodeau. At 6 feet 9, Bilodeau was the tallest Bruin on the court.
But the transfer from Oregon State was a massive problem to defend from start to finish during No. 22 UCLA’s 100-64 exhibition victory over Cal State Los Angeles at Pauley Pavilion.
Bilodeau scored the game’s first points on a putback of his own miss and never slowed down on the way to 24 points on nine-for-11 shooting in only 20 minutes. By the midpoint of the first half, he had scored amid a triple team in the paint, pump-faked a defender out of the way before burying an open jumper and added a fadeaway jumper in the lane.
“As you can see,” Cronin deadpanned, “Tyler Bilodeau can score.”
So can Cronin’s team in a welcome departure from last season, when the Bruins regularly struggled to crack 60 points on the way to a losing record.
These Bruins looked dominant, albeit against an NCAA Division II opponent. They outscored the Golden Eagles, 60-12, in the paint and scored 22 points off 16 turnovers. UCLA also made nine of 17 three-pointers (52.9%) after going one game last season without making one shot from beyond the arc for the first time since 2000.
“Most of our shots were great, great shots,” Cronin said.
Three other transfers joined Bilodeau in making Bruins basketball fun again.
Clark, who spent last season at Louisville, made seven of eight shots while scoring 17 points to go with two assists and no turnovers. Johnson (USC) was strong across the board with 11 assists, eight points, six rebounds and five steals. Dailey (Oklahoma State) looked like someone who might be hard to keep off the court with 11 points, seven rebounds, four assists and two steals.
“It was a very diverse group,” Clark said. “We’ve got a lot of guys who can do a lot of things.”
That includes sophomore center Aday Mara, who tallied eight points on four dunks — three off lobs — and grabbed five rebounds in just seven minutes while continuing to round into form from a foot injury.
Guard Jaden Lazo made eight of 13 three-pointers to lead Cal State L.A. with 24 points. Cronin said he liked that the Golden Eagles provided a great test before the season opener against Rider on Monday because of their relentless cutting and moving.
With his team leading by as many as 42 points, Cronin was able to get 16 players into the game. But it’s clear there may not be significant roles for more than a handful of those who participated. Cronin said he would have discussions with his players about redshirting before the opener; based on their usage Wednesday, candidates include sophomore forwards Brandon Williams and Devin Williams (no relation) and freshman guard Eric Freeny.
“I always leave that up to the player,” Cronin said. “But in the era of getting paid, if I was a young guy battling for minutes, I’d redshirt. I can get paid for five years instead of four before I gotta get a job. Pretty good deal, right?”
Cronin said he anticipated using multiple starting lineups , intimating that they would be based on matchups. The one he unveiled Wednesday showed the potential to make Cronin’s bid to rebound from last season a lot easier.
“Hey, look, it’s hard to win when you can’t score,” Cronin said. “You can’t win without defense, toughness and winners on your team, but man, you can’t coach that ball in the basket.”
