UCLA basketball’s winning formula could carry the team into March

A week after it was on the verge of unraveling, UCLA looked like a team that wanted to stay together.

Deep into March.

“I’m having a blast,” point guard Donovan Dent said late Tuesday night.

Who wouldn’t be, given the stunning transformation?

Dent has followed one superb performance with another. Coach Mick Cronin is back to cracking jokes instead of throwing players out of games.

It helps that the Bruins have identified their best lineup. Starting three guards and going back to Tyler Bilodeau as the primary center appears to have unlocked the full potential of this offense. It’s also motivated big man Xavier Booker into two strong performances off the bench.

The result has been victories over both a top-10 team and their archrival after the Bruins completed an 81–62 rout of USC on Tuesday at Pauley Pavilion.

UCLA (19–9 overall, 11–6 Big Ten) has gone from the fringes of making the NCAA tournament to a team that appears capable of a postseason run.

The rise has been sparked by Dent’s reemergence after failing to resemble the player he was at New Mexico for most of the season.

“Nobody is going anywhere in March,” Cronin said, “without their best players playing well.”

Dent has put together an unrivaled two-game stretch. After tallying 14 points, 15 assists, no turnovers, and a coast-to-coast, game-winning layup at the buzzer against Illinois, Dent scored a season-high 30 points to go with seven assists and no turnovers against the Trojans.

According to OptaSTATS, Dent is the only Division I player in the last 30 seasons to notch 40 or more points, 20 or more assists, and no turnovers over a two-game span.

“I’m hoping this groove continues,” Dent said. “I mean, this is the best time to get it. For me, I was struggling early in the season. So for me, getting in a groove right now. I feel like it would be huge for our team and myself.”

UCLA’s offense has been humming thanks to the new three-guard lineup featuring Dent alongside Skyy Clark and Trent Perry. Perry was strong across the board with 13 points, four assists and four steals against USC, his continued rise giving the team another reliable scoring option.

“I would tell you out of the guys that are starting,” Cronin said, “it can’t just be Tyler Bilodeau and pray for rain.”

Cronin was putting a new spin on an old baseball saying — ”Spahn and Sain and pray for rain” — that referred to the Boston Braves once having two dominant starting pitchers but not much else in their rotation.

Everyone in UCLA’s starting lineup is capable of a big night, allowing the team to offset clunkers like forward Eric Dailey Jr.’s one-point performance against the Trojans.

The Bruins have also overcome their rebounding woes — USC outrebounded them by 10 — with sticky defense and an efficient offense that minimizes turnovers and shoots a high percentage, thanks to elite ball movement.

“As I tell people,” Cronin said, “you can’t be great at everything and we’re surely not. When we share the ball, we’re a very, very high-level offensive team.”

UCLA hopes to remain that way after moving past demoralizing losses to Michigan and Michigan State by a combined 53 points. Those defeats were compounded by Cronin’s having ejected backup center Steven Jamerson II from the game against the Spartans for committing a hard foul, a move that led to widespread condemnation from fans and media.

Fortunately for the coach who later apologized, his players don’t seem to be holding what he did against him.

“How I look at adversity, you could go one or two ways,” Perry said. “You could either fold, or you could push through it and come out stronger. And I feel like right now, we’ve kind of grown closer as a team. Have a great bond right now, and coach is also motivating us.”

He’s also back to teasing his players, joking with Dent that his Riverside hometown was a truck stop. That was a reference to what the late Bill Walton had called every conference besides his beloved Pac-12, alluding to their small-town aura. 

In perhaps the surest sign of a team united, Dent fired back in jest at his coach: “He’s just trying to get his little clip,” Dent said.

“Just ignore him. Riverside is beautiful. Guys, Riverside is beautiful.”

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