UCLA Basketball: Bruin Blames Players, Not Coaches, For Being Underprepared For Utah

This past Sunday, your resurgent UCLA Bruins saw their recent six-game win streak halted in its tracks by the upstart Utah Utes, who absolutely stole a 70-69 victory to drop the Blue and Gold to a middling 14-12 record on the 2023-24 season.

Sophomore guard Will McClendon once again logged the most run off Mick Cronin's bench in the losing effort. Across 26 minutes, the 6'3" Las Vegas native scored a bench-most nine points on 4-of-8 field goal shooting (1-of-2 from deep) while pulling down nine rebounds and dishing out one assist. On the year, he's averaging 4.7 points on 37.4% from the floor, 3.6 rebounds and 1.2 dimes.

Per UCLA Communications, McClendon spoke after the game about the formidable force Utah presented on the hardwood, explaining that he laid the blame for the defeat on himself and his fellow players, rather than Cronin and his staff's scouting report.

"They’re huge," McClendon noted. "They’re the answers to the test. When you have a scouting report like that, and the coaches do a great job letting us know, preparing us, we’ve got to meet them halfway. We didn’t do that to the best of our ability today.”

UCLA will make its next bid for a win against the lowly 10-16 USC Trojans, against whom they'll face off for the second time this season, at home, on Saturday.