No.13 UCLA Bruins roll past the UC Davis Aggies 81-54

UCLA Bruins #0 Jaylen Clark (G) going up strong for a shot in the paint. Photo by Jerry Kelly/TGSportstv1.

 WESTWOOD, CA - The No.13 UCLA Bruins improve to (11-2) after beating the UC Davis Aggies(7-5) at Pauley Pavilion 81-54 with Jaylen Clark leading the way with 18 points, Tyger Cambell with 17 points, and Jamie Jaquez Jr. with 14 points.

The Bruins returned home with some impressive wins over the Maryland Terrapins and the Kentucky Wildcats, and I asked head coach Mike Cronin if his team is heading in the right direction before Pac-12 Conference play.

"I guess I would say I don't believe in all that stuff. I believe in game-to-game and day-to-day. In this era, it's so hard to keep guys focused on just the team and whatever the team needs to do. I believe in 'What do you do when you don't have the ball?' Do you play or do you watch? Obviously, Jaylen Clark plays. … Real teams play when they have a bunch of players who compete when they don't have the ball. Early on that wasn't the case. We'll see is what I would say. I hope so. We got great guys on our team. Last week, they were committed to winning."

Christian Anigwe's layup gave the Aggies a 2-0 lead in the first half. Tyger Cambell tied the game 4-4 with a jump shot. UC Davis led 7-4 with a three-pointer by Robby Beasley III.

UCLA trailed 11-9 after a layup by Kenneth Nwuba. Jaylen Clark's jump shot and Campbell's layup gave the Bruins a 13-11 lead with 10:05 left in the first half.

UCLA Bruins #24 Jamie Jaquez Jr. going up for a layup. Photo by Jerry Kelly/TGSportstv1.

Jamie Jaquez Jr. would make a layup to give the Bruins a 17-11 lead. Elijah Pepper's jump shot had the Aggies trailing 17-13. Clark would drive to the basket for a layup and foul on his shot and make a free throw to give UCLA a 20-14 lead.

The Bruins led by six points, 22-16, with a layup by Nwuba. Clark's jump shot in the paint gave UCLA a 24-16 lead. UC Davis would trail 24-19 when Beasley knocked down a three-point shot.

The Bruins led 33-21 at halftime. Clark led UCLA in scoring with 13 points. Johnson led UC Davis with 7 points, and Beasley and Anigwe, both with 6 points.

UCLA led in the second half 35-21 with a dunk by Bona. Johnson would make a reverse layup from the right side of the basket to have UC Davis trailing 49-31 with 14:31 left in the game. Amari Bailey's three-pointer gave the Bruins a 54-31 lead.

The Bruins led 64-44 with a three-point shot by David Singleton with 7:46 left in the game. Pepper's layup had the Aggies down 66-46.

The Bruins were up by twenty-six points, 76-50, with a driving layup by Campbell. The Aggies would fall to UCLA 81-54 with Pepper leading them in scoring with 16 points, Beasley with 14 points, and Johnson with 13 points.

After the game, Campbell spoke about if the Bruins were ready to start Pac-12 Conference play.

"Obviously, we have a lot of work to do. Just coming out, be good on defense, we move the ball on offense, but we have to come in with the mentality that every game matters. We just have to keep playing like we have everything to lose."

UCLA committed 10 turnovers compared to UC Davis with 19 turnovers and outscored the Aggies in the paint 40-22.

The Bruins' next home game will be against their cross-town rivals the USC Trojans on Thursday, January 5 at 6:30 PM.