UCLA
30-5,18-2Pac-12
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UNC Asheville
27-8,16-2Big South
UCLA Defeats UNC Asheville, 86-53, to Advance in NCAA Tourney
March 16, 2023 | Men's Basketball
SACRAMENTO, Calif. – Jaime Jaquez Jr. and Amari Bailey each scored 17 points to lead the No. 2-seed UCLA men's basketball team to an 86-53 victory over UNC Asheville at the Golden 1 Center in the NCAA Tournament first round on Thursday.
Jaquez Jr. and Bailey joined David Singleton, Kenneth Nwuba and Mac Etienne as double-figure scorers for UCLA (30-5) in Thursday's 33-point win over UNC Asheville (27-8).
The Bruins led the game from start to finish, claiming a 14-0 lead in the contest's first four minutes before UNC Asheville trimmed UCLA's advantage to 14-5 at the 15:46 mark of the first half.
Nwuba and Etienne, the Bruins' primary post players on Thursday, combined to make nine of nine baskets. Singleton was particularly effective from 3-point range, connecting on 3 of 7 attempts from downtown.
UCLA's win has propelled the Bruins to a second-round matchup against No. 7-seed Northwestern (22-11) on Saturday, March 18. Game time this Saturday is approximately 5:40 p.m. (PT). The Bruins' contest will be televised on TNT.
POSTGAME: Thursday's Postgame Press Conference
"Our defensive intensity and our deflections early in the game I think really rattled them," said Mick Cronin, The Michael Price Family UCLA Men's Head Basketball Coach. "They could never really get comfortable. We did a great job on their shooters. [Tajion] Jones only made one three, Fletcher [Abee] maybe one three, Drew Pember only made one. That was our big focus tonight. Our guys really approached the game with a professional attitude, which is something that we try to focus on. It's not about our opponent, it's about us. We got to make sure we maintain the same level of intensity and preparation for our next game."
Defensively, Jaquez Jr. set a career-high with five steals and pulled down a team-high eight rebounds. He finished the game just two steals shy of Reggie Miller's record-setting seven steals in an NCAA Tournament contest (from March 14, 1987).
UNC Asheville's Drew Pember scored a team-leading 13 points on 4-for-8 shooting for the Bulldogs. Tajion Jones and Alex Caldwell each tallied 11 points.
As a team, UCLA shot 54 percent from the field and outscored UNC Asheville by a 56-24 margin in the paint. The Bruins recorded a season-best 24 assists and committed just eight turnovers.
UCLA led the Bulldogs at halftime, 46-25, and never saw its second-half lead fall to any fewer than 19 points.
Nwuba opened his 10-point and four-rebound performance by slamming back-to-back dunks in the midst of a 14-0 scoring run to begin the game. Jaquez Jr., who was named a second-team AP All-America selection this week, scored UCLA's final 12 points of the first half (one five consecutive made baskets).
A 12-0 scoring run midway through the second half stretched UCLA's lead to 74-41 with 7:43 to play. Etienne scored his season-high 10 points off the bench in the second half. The Bruins' redshirt freshman forward had two offensive rebounds and a blocked shot.
The win against UNC Asheville handed UCLA its 30th victory of the season. That marked the first time since 2017 in which the Bruins had reached the 30-win plateau in a single season (UCLA finished the 2016-17 season with a 31-5 record, losing in the Sweet 16 to Kentucky).
Saturday's matchup against Northwestern will be nationally televised on TNT.
