UCLA
8-2,2-0Pac-12
Denver
8-3,0-0Summit League
No. 19 UCLA Races Past Denver, 87-64
December 10, 2022 | Men's Basketball
LOS ANGELES – Jaylen Clark scored a team-leading 24 points to lead the No. 19 UCLA men's basketball team past Denver, 87-64, in a non-conference contest on Saturday afternoon in Pauley Pavilion presented by Wescom.
UCLA (8-2) led nearly the entire way, securing a 44-35 advantage against Denver (8-3) at halftime.
The Bruins used a 17-0 scoring run to open the second half, over a span of nearly six minutes, to lead by a 61-35 advantage with 14:05 to play in regulation.
"We took a lot of good shots that didn't go in in the first half," said Mick Cronin, The Michael Price Family UCLA Men's Head Basketball Coach. "You can't control that. You can control your attitude, your effort and your energy. You've got to be mature enough to know you're not going to make shots all the time. Let's go rebound the ball."
Jaime Jaquez Jr. finished with 18 points, connecting on 9 of 11 shots. Clark was 10-for-13 from the field and made 2 of 4 attempts from 3-point distance. Dylan Andrews rounded out UCLA's list of double figure scorers on Saturday, scoring a season-high 11 points. Andrews also had six assists and no turnovers.
Denver's Touko Tainamo scored a team-leading 16 points for the visiting Pioneers.
The Bruins committed only six turnovers, 18 turnovers fewer than Denver committed (24). That marked the largest turnover margin (+18) by UCLA's team in four seasons under Coach Cronin. Previously, the Bruins had not initiated a turnover disparity like that since Dec. 23, 2008, when Wyoming committed 18 more turnovers than UCLA in Pauley Pavilion.
The Bruins finished the game having made 38 of 79 shots, logging a percentage of 48% from the field. Denver shot 50 percent against the Bruins, making 23 of 46 total shots (and five of 12 attempts from beyond the 3-point arc).
UCLA's scoring surge early in the second half was largely initiated by Clark. He made a layup at the 19:42 mark to give the Bruins an 11-point cushion before coming up with a pair of steals – at the 18:10 mark and with 17:18 to play – helping UCLA expand its margin to 20 points.
Jaquez Jr. followed with a pair of baskets to give the Bruins a 59-35 advantage with just under 15 minutes remaining in the game.
Denver didn't score in the second half until the 14:05 mark, as Tainamo cut to the basket for a layup to snap UCLA's 17-0 scoring run. The Pioneers reduced UCLA's cushion to 21 points with 12:43 to play.
Midway through the second half, UCLA used a 10-0 scoring surge to secure a 30-point margin – at 72-42 with 8:41 left in the contest.
UCLA's Will McClendon scored his first collegiate points on Saturday, sinking a 3-point basket with 5:54 left in the second half. He finished the contest with three points, two assists and a pair of rebounds.
In all, the Bruins had 10 players who scored at least two points on Saturday.
UCLA will return to action next week with a pair of games along the East Coast. The Bruins will play at No. 13-ranked Maryland on Wednesday, Dec. 14. Game time at Maryland's Xfinity Center is 6 p.m. PT (9 p.m. ET in College Park). In addition, UCLA will face No. 16-ranked Kentucky on Saturday, Dec. 17, at Madison Square Garden in New York City as part of the CBS Sports Classic.
Both of those games will be nationally televised. UCLA's game at Maryland will air on FS1. The Bruins' contest against Kentucky will be broadcast on CBS.
Prior to Saturday's game in Pauley Pavilion, the UCLA men's basketball team recognized the late Jalen Hill, who competed in the Bruins' program from 2017 through 2021 and passed away in the summer of 2022. Hill's mother, father and sister were on the court for a brief pregame ceremony, alongside UCLA's student-athletes and coaches. Hill, from nearby Corona, Calif., played in 77 games in three seasons for UCLA.
