Men's Basketball Defeats Idaho State, 84-70

Wednesday, November 20

Los Angeles, Calif.

8:00 PM (PT)

UCLA

4-1,0-0Big Ten

Idaho State

2-4,0-0Big Sky

Team	1	2	F
Idaho St.	27	43	70
UCLA	41	43	84

Sebastian Mack

Photo by: Scott Chandler

Men's Basketball Defeats Idaho State, 84-70

November 20, 2024 | Men's Basketball

Box Score Box Score (PDF)Quotes UCLA's Season Stats (PDF)

LOS ANGELES – The UCLA men's basketball team took down Idaho State, 84-70, behind Sebastian Mack's 21-point performance on Wednesday night in a non-conference game inside Pauley Pavilion presented by Wescom.

The Bruins (4-1) enjoyed their best three-point shooting display of the young season, connecting on 9-of-14 attempts from beyond the arc. Tyler Bilodeau spearheaded the long-range effort by going a perfect 4-for-4 from beyond the arc to fuel his 20-point night. UCLA shot 57.4 percent as a team, its best mark of the season.

Mack totaled a game-high 21 points, sinking 15 of 16 free throws. He finished with a career-high 15 free throws one year to the day that he shot 13-for-13 at the line in a loss to Marquette (in Honolulu, last season).

In addition to Bilodeau (20 points) and Mack (21 points), Eric Dailey Jr. rounded out the Bruins' list of double-figure scorers with 16 points (on 7-of-9 shooting). Dailey Jr. had a game-high seven rebounds and connected on 2-of-3 attempts from 3-point distance.

"I thought for 30 minutes, we played great, and then we got up 28, and a bunch of guys were selfish," said Mick Cronin, The Michael Price Family UCLA Men's Head Basketball Coach. "Their mind wasn't on defense – just trying to get a steal and get a layup, just go to the other end and get mine. We became everything that I despise in the last 10 minutes. But in the first 30 minutes, we were great."

Dailey Jr. enjoyed a stellar start to Wednesday night's contest, going 5-for-5 from the field and 2-for-2 from behind the three-point arc to lead the Bruins with 12 points in the first half. As a team, UCLA shot 60 percent (12-of-19) to build a 41-27 lead at the break.

Despite multiple scoring droughts of over three minutes in the opening half, Idaho State's Isaiah Griffin knocked down three triples to keep his team within striking distance. Griffin finished with a team-high 16 points.

Bilodeau restored UCLA's advantage by hitting the team's first three-pointer of the contest and Dailey Jr. continued his excellent first-half showing by banking in a three-ball of his own with the shot clock expiring.

Bilodeau drained another 3-pointer and William Kyle III electrified the crowd with a powerful dunk, sparking a 15-3 run over a six-minute span to propel UCLA's cushion into double digits.

The Bruins stiffened on the defensive end in the closing stages of the first half, holding the Bengals without a field goal for over five minutes. The visitors shot just 32 percent from the floor in the opening 20 minutes, but five of those eight field goals came from 3-point range.

An old-fashioned 3-point play from Sebastian Mack kick-started a 7-0 run for the Bruins in the early stages of the second half.

Bilodeau settled into a rhythm on the offensive with an individual 8-0 run, sinking two three-pointers and a layup to extend UCLA's margin beyond 20 points at the under-12 media timeout. The scoring run was pushed to 14 after Dylan Andrews and Trent Perry buried a pair of 3-pointers.

The Bruins led by as many as 28 points in the second half, but a dry spell of almost five minutes allowed the Bengals to cut the deficit to 16 with less than four minutes to play.

Bilodeau paced the UCLA offense with 12 points on 5-of-9 shooting in the second half.

The Bruins will host Cal State Fullerton on Friday evening inside Pauley Pavilion presented by Wescom. Game time is set for 7 p.m. UCLA's contest will be televised live on Big Ten Network, with J.B. Long and Don MacLean calling the game courtside.