Five players scored in double figures for No. 8 UCLA, and the Bruins used a 28-8, first-half run to cruise past Long Beach State 93-69 on Friday in Los Angeles.
UCLA (2-0) built a lead of as many as 29 points in the second half after taking control with a dominant stretch lasting a little more than nine minutes in the first half.
Long Beach State (1-1) made just one field goal over that span, going more than six minutes between field goals at one stretch.
The Bruins complemented stingy defense — holding Long Beach State to just 24-of-66 shooting (36.4 percent) from the floor on the night and 6-of-21 (28.6 percent) from 3-point range — with balanced offense.
Tyger Campbell set the pace with 18 points. Jaylen Clark did not match his perfect field-goal shooting performance from Monday’s season opener, going 6-of-12 against the Beach, but he completed another strong all-around game with 16 points, seven rebounds, five assists and four steals.
UCLA’s Jaime Jaquez Jr. added 12 points and eight rebounds, while David Singleton shot 4 of 8 from 3-point range as he scored 14 points and grabbed nine rebounds off the bench. Amari Bailey rounded out the double-figure scorers with 14 points.
UCLA leveraged scoring advantages of 40-30 in the paint and 19-9 on fastbreaks. The Bruins converted 17 Long Beach State turnovers into 25 points. UCLA coughed up 15 turnovers, but the Beach only converted 16 points from the takeaways.
Lassina Traore led Long Beach State with 14 points and matched a team high with seven rebounds. Aboubacar Traore also grabbed seven rebounds to go with nine points on 4-of-5 shooting from the field.
Jadon Jones added 10 points in the loss, and Joel Murray finished with 10 points and a game-high seven assists, but he was forced into four turnovers.
–Field Level Media