LOS ANGELES – Freshman Nikola Kusturica scored a team-leading 29 points and had six rebounds and two blocks as the No. 22 UCLA men’s basketball team surged past North Florida, 114-63, in the Bruins’ home opener on Friday night.
Kusturica scored 26 of his team-best 29 points before halftime for UCLA (2-0), playing in the Bruins’ first regular-season home game inside Pauley Pavilion presented by Wescom Financial. He made 10 of 12 shots against North Florida (1-1), sinking each of his first nine shot attempts. Kusturica nailed his first four 3-point attempts and finished the game 4-for-6 from beyond the 3-point arc.
With 114 points, UCLA registered its highest single-game point total during head coach Mick Cronin’s eight seasons in Westwood. The Bruins last scored that many points in a game on Nov. 20, 2016, cruising past Long Beach State 114-77 inside Pauley Pavilion. UCLA had opened the 2016-17 season with an 119-80 win over Pacific.
“Tonight, we had six deflections in the first eight minutes and at the 12-minute mark, I think we were losing,” said Mick Cronin, The Michael Price Family UCLA Men’s Head Basketball Coach. “From that point on, we had 45 deflections. We had 26 deflections, disrupting their offense, in the last 12 minutes of the half. Then the game changes. Obviously, Nikola got hot offensively, which probably rattled them. I know it would rattle me if I was watching that. But that's really the story of the game. That time was coming for him. We see it all the time so it's just a matter of when.”
Trailing 18-17 with 9:49 to play in the opening half, the Bruins went on a sizzling 35-0 scoring run to push ahead of North Florida, 52-18. Kusturica ignited UCLA’s scoring run with three consecutive 3-pointers – at 9:24 to take the lead, at 8:59, and at the 7:06 mark to jump ahead, 26-18.
Joe Philon III, who finished with 17 points and a team-leading five steals, had a fast break layup at the 6:41 mark to put UCLA on top, 28-18. Kusturica followed with a dunk, Brandon Williams nailed a jump shot and Eric Dailey Jr. slammed home a dunk to give UCLA a 34-18 cushion.
UCLA had closed the opening half on a 35-2 scoring run and entered the locker room at the intermission ahead of the visiting Ospreys, 52-20.
Kusturica led a group of four Bruins who scored in double figures. In addition to Kusturica’s 29-point effort, Jaylen Petty totaled 22 points, Philon II had 17 points and Dailey Jr. and Perry each scored 11 points.
Petty was 3-for-6 from 3-point range, while Philon was a perfect 3-for-3. In all, UCLA shot 48.3 percent from 3-point distance, knocking in 14 of 29 attempts.
The Bruins limited North Florida to 31.7 percent shooting and 29.4 percent from 3-point range. UCLA outrebounded North Florida, 49-34, and finished the non-conference game with 24 assists, 12 steals and four blocks.
Kusturica’s 26-point first half marked the most points in any half by a UCLA player since then-sophomore Jaylen Hands scored 27 points in the second half of a thrilling 90-83 win over Oregon on Feb. 23, 2019. Hands was scoreless in the first half in that contest before totaling 27 second-half points.
In addition, Kusturica became UCLA’s first freshman to score at least 29 points in a game since TJ Leaf netted 32 points in a win at Washington State on Feb. 1, 2017.
UCLA will return to action against Arkansas-Pine Bluff on Wednesday, Nov. 11. Game time in Pauley Pavilion is set for 6 p.m. (PT). The Bruins’ game on Wednesday will be televised by Big Ten Network.