No. 12 UCLA continues to be a work in progress, even after two victories in two games, and will work on the process in a home game Monday against West Georgia in Los Angeles, Calif.
UCLA earned a 74-63 over Pepperdine on Friday as Michigan State transfer Xavier Booker scored 15 points with five rebounds and New Mexico transfer Donovan Dent scored 12 points with four assists.
The Bruins shot 48.1% from the floor, but they made just 5 of 21 shots from 3-point range (23.8%). Tyler Bilodeau, Trent Perry and Jamar Brown combined to go 0 of 11 from distance.
Bilodeau, UCLA’s leading scorer last season at 13.5 points per game while shooting 49.6% from the floor, is 3 of 10 from long range this season. Bilodeau was substituted 26 seconds into the game after an off-ball foul.
UCLA head coach Mick Cronin, a stickler on defense who gives the perception that offense is an afterthought, was zeroed in on that offense after the victory.
“Our offense wasn’t totally cohesive at times,” Cronin said. “Our guards are a lot better than they played tonight.”
Alongside Dent, guard Skyy Clark scored 11 points on an efficient 3 of 5 shooting. Dent, an All-America candidate, was 3 of 8 from the floor. While the Bruins typically set themselves apart on defense, each team had 34 rebounds, while Pepperdine had 12 turnovers to 10 for UCLA.
The 6-foot-11 Booker took it upon himself to put emphasis on the defensive end. He had five blocked shots in 31 minutes.
“Obviously, defense was one of those things, and coach got on us about,” Booker said about UCLA’s season-opening 80-74 victory over Eastern Washington last Monday. “So I kind of took it a little personal, and I mean, I just went out being more active.”
West Georgia (1-1) is in its second season in Division I after moving up from Division II. The Wolves earned a 120-83 victory over Division III Huntingdon on Friday after an 86-53 season-opening road loss to another Big Ten foe in Nebraska last Monday.
Josh Smith scored a game-high 26 points for West Georgia on Friday, while Shelton Williams-Drydens scored 19 points with a game-high nine rebounds. Smith and Eric Baldassarre (12 points) each went 4 of 6 from 3-point range.
In their first Division 1 season in 2024-25, the Wolves went 6-25 overall and 4-14 in the Atlantic Sun Conference, while scoring 69.0 points per game and allowing 78.3.
West Georgia’s chance to match talents with UCLA came from a connection between Cronin and West Georgia head coach Dave Moore.
“We’re going to play one of the most-storied programs, if not the most-storied program in the history of college basketball,” Moore said. “Coach Cronin’s a great coach, does a great job. He and I grew up together in Cincinnati. My brother played for his dad in high school.
“We appreciate the opportunity to go out there and play one of the best teams in the country.”
