UCLA
3-1,0-0Pac-12
Marquette
4-0,0-0Big East
UCLA Men's Basketball Edged by No. 4 Marquette, 71-69
November 20, 2023 | Men's Basketball
HONOLULU – Freshman Sebastian Mack scored a team-leading 25 points as the UCLA men's basketball team lost to No. 4-ranked Marquette, 71-69, in the Allstate Maui Invitational on Monday evening.
Mack was a perfect 13-for-13 at the free throw line in the Bruins' first game of the tournament, hosted at the University of Hawaii at Manoa (SimpliFi Arena at the Stan Sheriff Center). Mack shot 6-of-14 from the field and registered six rebounds and two assists.
Sophomore Adem Bona finished with 13 points and two blocks, and junior Lazar Stefanovic scored 11 points and grabbed nine rebounds.
"Well, we didn't play near as smart," said Mick Cronin, The Michael Price UCLA Men's Head Basketball Coach. "Two things where our inexperience showed. The [Marquette] run. We got rattled offensively. I told the guys it was coming. They got great players and we got rattled. It took us too long to get our composure back, and that's where you don't have a veteran guy to calm [the team]. Adem is a great player, he's still a sophomore. It showed right there. The second thing where it showed, there were too many defensive breakdowns against their penetration. That's just gameplan stuff, specific stuff you have to execute against a team."
Marquette's David Joplin scored a team-leading 19 points, connecting on 7 of 15 shots from the field and 5 of 11 attempts from 3-point distance.
UCLA (3-1) led by a 35-30 margin at halftime and pushed its lead to as many as 12 points (at 45-33) with 15 minutes to play in the contest.
Marquette (4-0) used a 17-0 scoring run over the game's next four minutes to secure a 50-45 cushion. The Golden Eagles later led by 57-50 tally, but UCLA countered with a slam dunk by Bona, two free throws from Mack and a pair of free throws from Stefanovic. That trimmed Marquette's advantage to just 57-56, with eight minutes to play.
UCLA trailed by 59-56, minutes later, before redshirt sophomore Will McClendon sank his third 3-point basket of the evening. McClendon finished the game with nine points, connecting on 3 of 5 attempts from 3-point distance as a spark plug off the bench.
Marquette regained the lead after McClendon's 3-point basket, and then UCLA tied the contest at 64-64, with 4:05 left in regulation. A layup by Bona at the 53-second mark put the Bruins ahead, 69-68. Marquette followed on its next possession with a 3-point basket by Sean Jones, putting the Golden Eagles ahead, 71-69.
The Bruins had two shots in the final 10 seconds, looking to take the lead or tie the game. A 3-point attempt by Stefanovic was unsuccessful, and a last-second mid-range attempt by Mack did not fall for the Bruins.
UCLA will move into the consolation bracket of this year's tournament and will face Chaminade University (1-3) on Tuesday at 12 p.m. HT (2 p.m. PT). The Bruins' game against the Silverswords will be nationally televised on ESPN2.
The Bruins have compiled a 3-0 all-time mark against Chaminade University, with all three matchups against the Silverswords taking place on the island of Maui (in the Maui Invitational).
