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 โ 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.
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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.
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Sophomore Adem Bona finished with 13 points and two blocks, and junior Lazar Stefanovic scored 11 points and grabbed nine rebounds.
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"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."
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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).
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