LOS ANGELES — In this era of college basketball where players remain in college longer because they can profit off their name, image and likeness, Mick Cronin doesn’t believe all experience is created equal.
“Guys have played college basketball,” the UCLA men’s basketball coach says, “but they haven’t played for you.”
That’s not the case with the Gonzaga Bulldogs. They returned six of their seven rotation mainstays. Their significant additions were upperclassmen in graduate student Khalif Battle and senior Michael Ajayi.
“They’re pretty much the same,” Cronin said before practice Friday. “They can score. They’re always second or third in offensive efficiency.”
In many ways, the 14th-ranked Bulldogs (9-3), who are third in offensive efficiency, according to KenPom’s rankings, are the antithesis of the No. 22 Bruins (10-2), who have seven new faces seeing significant minutes and boast the fourth-best defensive rating, per KenPom. It makes for a highly anticipated matchup between Gonzaga and UCLA in the first college basketball game in Inglewood’s Intuit Dome at 1 p.m. Saturday.
Gonzaga has the type of experience Cronin craves, only attainable over hours spent together. It’s not that the Bruins don’t have battle-tested players. Cronin just hasn’t had the time to leave his mark, or as he put it, to develop them.
Juniors Tyler Bilodeau and Skyy Clark have provided stability – Bilodeau with his timely offense, Clark with his decision-making.
Bilodeau is a breath of fresh air because he’s dominant with the ball in his hands but doesn’t constantly demand touches.
“I definitely look for opportunities to score when my teammates can get me the ball, but I’m just trying to stay in the flow of the offense,” Bilodeau, who averages a team-high 15.1 points per game, said Friday.
The 6-foot-9 transfer from Oregon State quickly assesses his matchup and operates off that, shooting over smaller defenders and going past taller ones. He’ll have his work cut out for him Saturday as Bulldogs big man Graham Ike, at 6-foot-9 and 250 pounds, doesn’t lack size or agility.
“He’s really strong, physical down in the post,” Bilodeau said about Ike, who leads Gonzaga with 15.5 points per game. “He’s a tough player to guard.”
Clark also has a tough cover. After sizing up a quick, score-first guard like North Carolina’s RJ Davis last weekend, he’ll face a table-setter in Ryan Nembhard. The 6-foot senior is the head of the snake that is Gonzaga’s offense, which runs as complex a compilation of sets as anyone in college basketball.
“He’s really the only true point guard on that team,” Clark said. “If we can take him out of the game, then we’ll see if Gonzaga can run their offense.”
The Bruins lead the nation in creating turnovers (18.4 per game), which is a result of the calculated, but pesky, pressure they apply. Clark, a 6-foot-3 transfer from Louisville, is the key to that.
Bilodeau and Clark, each with only 12 games for the Bruins, have been the most reliable forms of experience. If you listen to Cronin’s words, it should be junior Dylan Andrews. At least he expected it to, because Andrews has been in the system. He was supposed to set the example for the Bruins – like Nembhard, Ike, and guard Nolan Hickman, who’s been at Gonzaga for four years, do for the Bulldogs.
Instead, the confidence and aggression Andrews showed toward the end of last season has been sparse.
“I got issues, but there ain’t enough time for my issues,” Cronin said about Andrews on Friday. “I think, as a point guard, you gotta be able to make quality decisions, take care of the ball. He’s had his moments. I think he’s gotta improve.”
UCLA needs its experienced players to come through Saturday because Gonzaga’s will. Like Cronin said, there’s not much time left to work through issues. That’s come and gone with the nonconference home games. Now, with the Bulldogs in town and Big Ten games looming, any signs of immaturity will be exploited.
West Coast Hoops Showdown
Who: No. 22 UCLA (10-2) vs. No. 14 Gonzaga (9-3)
When: 1 p.m. Saturday
Where: Intuit Dome
TV/radio: FOX (Ch. 11); AM 570