Some seasons start slow.
Some begin unremarkably.
But the Bruins are looking to continue the momentum from their jackpot of a start.
No. 22 UCLA men’s basketball (1-0) takes on North Florida (1-0) at Pauley Pavilion on Friday night in its home debut. The squad is coming off an upset win over No. 5 Arizona in Las Vegas on Monday night, as well as decisive victories over California Baptist and the San Diego in two exhibition games before the season’s official start.
[Related: UCLA men’s basketball hits the jackpot with season-opening win against Arizona]
“We have great people on our team that they’re smart enough to understand that the least important thing on the stat sheet is total points,” said coach Mick Cronin. “We got guys that understand that basketball’s what you do without the ball, your talk, everything else.”
Junior guard Trent Perry – who was named the UCLA Student-Athlete of the Week on Nov. 4 – led the team with 21 points, shooting 33.3% from the field while hitting all 11 of his free throws. He made half of his shots from deep and tallied three rebounds and five assists in his season-opening performance.
Other notable names to watch are guard/forwards senior Eric Dailey Jr. and freshman Nikola Kusturica, who combined for 23 points against the Wildcats. Kusturica saw 39 minutes on the court in his collegiate debut, failing to hit any of his five 3-pointers but making an impact everywhere else. The Novi Sad, Serbia, local collected five rebounds, two steals and three blocks, as well as finding Dailey off an inbound pass for a dunk that helped the Bruins seal their opening victory.
“Niko’s (Kusturica is) young, but he’s a very smart player,” said sophomore guard Jaylen Petty. “He has vision, and he could pass very well. We all trust him to create for himself and for others.”
Kusturica was named in the Julius Erving Award watch list, which honors the nation’s top collegiate small forward.
Dailey also missed all five of his 3-point attempts but led the team in rebounds with eight and secured the late-game dunk from Kusturica’s pass. While several starters had mixed stats with room for improvement, the Bruins saw contributions across the board.
Junior forward Sergej Macura ended the night with a 50% field goal clip, including two of his three shots from deep, with one being a momentum-shifting and-one.
“I’ve been talking to him, ‘Keep your head up. You’re a player. You’re on this team for a reason,’” Perry said. “He showed up. He hit two 3s, especially one big and-one 3. … Everybody’s coming here to play, and everybody knows what they’re capable of.”
Now, the Westwood squad will return to take on the Ospreys.
North Florida is coming off a season-opening win over California Baptist. Despite the eight-point margin, the points were dispersed across the roster, with five Ospreys reaching double digits.
Last season, North Florida went 7-25 overall and 5-13 in the Atlantic Sun Conference. When the two squads last met in 2021, UCLA won in Pauley Pavilion 98-63, and former Bruin guard/forward Jaime Jaquez Jr. put up 20 points.
But no matter what happened in the past, things can always change.
“You can get a quality win and learn some things and get some film,” Cronin said. “We just got to make sure we stay humble, so we are going to get back to LA now. So now, everybody is going to tell these guys how good they are, so you have to stay humble. You got to stay hungry.”
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