xavier booker

COLUMBUS, Ohio — It might be time for UCLA to consider some possibilities about its basketball team, starting with the obvious: It’s just not shaping up to be all that good.

The Bruins can’t defend for long stretches, and when they do they often give up an offensive rebound. Xavier Booker’s transition to center is not working out. Tyler Bilodeau can’t seem to find enough consistent offensive support. Donovan Dent appears to be an average point guard at the Big Ten level.

UCLA’s limitations were on full, frustrating display once more Saturday afternoon during an 86-74 loss to Ohio State at the Schottenheim Center.

The Bruins got hammered on the boards, gave up too many big runs and couldn’t generate consistent offense in having their two-game winning streak snapped.

Some might say it’s tough to win on the road in this conference — especially with guard Skyy Clark sidelined once more by a hamstring injury — but the Bruins fell short in the energy and toughness departments while falling behind by as many as 19 points.

After giving up 12-0 and 8-0 runs early in the second half, UCLA (12-6 overall, 4-3 Big Ten) was further deflated when it gave up two offensive rebounds on the same possession and then committed a foul to send a Buckeyes player to the free-throw line.

Ohio State (12-5, 4-3) shot 52.8% from the field and won the rebounding battle, 37-27, with 12 offensive rebounds leading to 17 second-chance points. Buckeyes guard John Mobley Jr. (28 points, six three-pointers) and forward Devin Royal (22 points, nine rebounds) were a major nuisance for a defense incapable of providing more than token resistance.

Bilodeau’s 30 points weren’t nearly enough on a day that Dent added 13 and forward Eric Dailey Jr. fouled out with nearly nine minutes left after tallying 12 points and four rebounds. Three days after he had a career-high 30 points, UCLA guard Trent Perry could manage only seven while making two of nine shots.

Almost nothing went the Bruins’ way more than halfway across the country.

A first half that was something of an exercise in frustration for UCLA ended in fitting fashion.

Mobley curled around in the backcourt to take the inbounds pass and dribbled his way into an open three-pointer that pushed the Buckeyes into a 42-36 lead. Mobley was up to 18 points by then, the Bruins unable to slow him no matter who tried to defend him.

As he walked off the court toward the locker room, UCLA coach Mick Cronin had some words for Dent, who extended his arms in frustration.

The Bruins remained within striking distance thanks largely to Bilodeau, whose 15 points came largely on the strength of making three of four three-pointers. Dent made two of three three-pointers, which was noteworthy considering he entered the game having made just two of 22 this season.

UCLA played a fourth consecutive game without guard Clark, who continues to close in on a return from the injury he suffered in the second half of his team’s loss to Iowa earlier this month.

Meanwhile, Cronin might be closing in on another decision — what to do about Booker. The big man got another start Saturday before providing very little in return. He got yanked after only two minutes, never to return after Cronin pointed to the spot of an apparent defensive breakdown as Booker walked past him on his way to taking a seat on the bench.

Steven Jamerson II started the second half in Booker’s place. It made no difference for a team with too many deficiencies.

UCLA had just put on a dazzling offensive display when a help-wanted sign went up in the postgame news conference.

The search for assistance came from a coach who knows his team can score but will need a lot better effort on the other side of the ball to get to where it wants to go this season.

“My biggest challenge with this team,” Mick Cronin said after the Bruins needed an epic scoring surge in the second half to post a relief of a 108-87 victory over Cal Poly, “is finding a guy or two or three that their mind is on defense.”

Nobody filled that role Friday night during a first half that led to scattered boos serenading the Bruins on their way to the locker room inside Pauley Pavilion.

UCLA was trailing by two points after putting in a low effort and playing just a sprinkling of defense against a mid-major team with a losing record from the Big West Conference.

The Cal Poly logo on the front of the opponents’ jerseys did not elicit the same sort of spirited effort the Bruins had given against more brand-name foes, continuing a troubling trend going back to the season opener.

“I definitely think that’s fair to say,” UCLA guard Skyy Clark said after notching a season-high 30 points while making six of 10 three-pointers and becoming the first Bruin in school history to make at least six three-pointers in back-to-back games. “That’s just something we gotta harp on as a team.”

The Bruins could exhale after going with a smaller lineup that produced 65 points in the second half, the most in a half by UCLA since it splurged for 66 in the second half against George Mason on Dec. 22, 1994.

But plenty of worries linger, most of them on the defensive end for a team that has given up an average of 78.2 points over its last six games.

This was another case of UCLA simply outgunning an opponent, the Bruins shooting 57.4% to Cal Poly’s 51% during a game in which defense was played only in spurts. How do the Bruins explain giving up 45 points in the first half?

“We’ve got too many guys who are conscientious objectors defensively,” Cronin said. “And if I can’t get those guys to quit protesting — they don’t say anything, but until they really believe that’s the way to win … ”

UCLA (9-3) prevailed only after Cronin went with a three-guard lineup, replacing center Xavier Booker with Jamar Brown to start the second half in an effort to combat the Mustangs’ drive-and-kick offense that stationed practically everyone behind the three-point line. With a more mobile lineup, the Bruins proceeded to go on a 15-0 run to transform a two-point deficit into a 60-47 lead, removing any doubt about the game’s outcome.

Clark continued his recent scoring spree and received plenty of help from forward Tyler Bilodeau (24 points and eight rebounds) and point guard Donovan Dent (16 points, 11 assists and five steals) as the Bruins notched a second consecutive victory.

UCLA guard Donovan Dent, center, dribbles past Cal Poly guards Guzman Vasilic, left, and Kieran Elliott to score during the second half Friday night.

(Damian Dovarganes / Associated Press)

Cayden Ward scored 21 points for Cal Poly (5-8), which had been given a 2% chance of winning, according to the metrics of basketball analyst Ken Pomeroy.

By the game’s midpoint, the possibility of a massive upset had crept uncomfortably upward for UCLA.

Giving up open shots as part of a lackluster defensive effort wasn’t nearly the worst of it for the Bruins.

Trent Perry twice fouled a three-point shooter, once prompting Cronin to yell, “Get over here!” after Perry sent Cayden Ward to the free-throw line for three shots. A new low came late in the first half when Brown fouled Hamad Mousa on a three-pointer that went in, Mousa making the free throw to complete a four-point play.

“Buddy, it’s the worst play in basketball, and I’ve gone literally years with that happening zero times,” Cronin said. “Nobody coaches that more than me. You are not allowed to foul a jump shooter if you play for me, never. Never. If you’re that close, that means the shot is contested. You could deduce that, right? So I don’t care if he makes it, he’s taking a contested shot. Jumping toward the guy, you’re going to land in his space.”

Brown was immediately replaced by Perry, whose defensive inattentiveness quickly reemerged when Ward beat him off the dribble for a one-handed dunk. Things improved considerably the rest of the way. Cronin said he continued to be pleased with Clark’s defense and was satisfied with the second-half effort of forward Eric Dailey Jr., who limited Mousa to only two of his 14 points after halftime.

Cronin suggested that he wanted this team to prioritize defense the way the Bruins did after halftime of their victory over Michigan State in the opening round of the 2021 NCAA tournament, which sparked a flurry of lockdown efforts leading to five consecutive wins.

“From that point on, it took a halfcourt shot to stop us from trying to win the title,” Cronin said, alluding to Jalen Suggs’ buzzer-beater in a national semifinal. “But if that wouldn’t have changed, we weren’t going anywhere, so you just keep trying to stay relentless with it.”

How does Cronin get his team to make that change?

“You play the guys who will do what you tell them to do,” Cronin said. “If you play guys who are conning you with their effort defensively, not only are you going to lose, then the other guys will start doing it because they think you’re a fraud because you’re playing them anyway.”

Applications are being accepted. The next opportunity to fill a heightened role comes Tuesday against UC Riverside.