Can Bruins Right Pass Against Rutgers?

On By Littum

Not a whole lot has gone right for UCLA men’s basketball over the last three games. Hitting a rough patch for the first time this season, the Bruins can’t act like this is the end of the world, even if coach Mick Cronin thinks it is. Fortunately for the Bruins, they have a chance to right their wrongs against the Rutgers Scarlet Knights.

The Bruins have dropped their season scoring average in the last three games and have struggled in their last five. While UCLA has some veterans leading the way, there hasn’t been enough consistency on both offense and defense to lead them to wins.

Fortunately for the Bruins, the Scarlet Knights haven’t found much success themselves this season. Entering the game with UCLA with an 8-8 record and a 1-4 Big Ten record, the Bruins may have an answer to their losing streak.

Every losing streak eventually comes to an end, but it takes the perfect matchup to do so. The Bruins will need to be aggressive on offense against Rutgers if they want to secure the win. If they don’t, the Scarlet Knights can certainly pull through.

For the young Bruins players, a competitive loss would be better than an average win in the eyes of of Croninespecially with the harsh words he has given to the media surrounding his team lately. Some might call it tough love, but the Bruins have experienced a lot of the tough part and not a lot of the love.

The biggest threat that Rutgers provides on offense is freshman guard Dylan Harper. Harper has led the Scarlet Knights in average points per game. game this season averaging 20.1 in 32.6 minutes on the field. Aside from Harper, Rutgers could still be the underdogs going into the matchup, even with UCLA on a losing streak.

For UCLA, a win would push them back to .500 in Big Ten competition and give them their 12th win. In an effort to crawl back to the promised land of atop the Big Ten standings, the Bruins will need to pick up some wins.

Be sure to follow X (Twitter) @UCLAInsideronSI and @tcav30 and never miss another news story again.

Let us know your thoughts when you like our Facebook page WHEN YOU CLICK RIGHT HERE.