“Hungry dog gets the bone.”
That’s what UCLA men’s basketball coach Mick Cronin said to the media Tuesday morning.
Cronin is alluding to the oversized dog bone that is awarded to the Bruin whose name is written on it the most at the end of the season. The bone has the final score of each game accompanied by a signature of the player who led the game in deflections, a stat the UCLA program keeps itself.
“I brought that from Cincinnati,” Cronin said. “The hungry dog gets the bone when they throw the scraps out at night. If you’re not hungry, you’re not willing to fight for scraps, that’s the law of the alley. That’s who wins games, usually. The team willing to get into the fight.”
According to Cronin, a deflection is any tipped ball, steal, rebound or block. For example, blocked shot and recovery of the ball is two deflections.
“More incentive,” Cronin added.
Jaime Jaquez Jr. won the bone his freshman and sophomore years. Myles Johson won the bone last season. This year, Jaylen Clark is the frontrunner with 202 deflections. Jaquez is in second with 149 and David Singleton has 105.
The Bruins have tallied at least 40 deflections in seven games this season. In Cronin’s first year, in 2020, UCLA had just one game with 40 deflections.
“We track total deflections, but also deflections per minute played. It tells you how hard someone is playing on defense,” Cronin said. “Dylan Andrews’ (rate) is very high.”
Clark also leads the team in steals with 58 as he closes in on UCLA’s single-season steals record of 95 set by Jordan Adams in 2013-14.
The extra incentive could explain why No. 7 UCLA (19-4, 10-2 Pac-12) averages more steals per game (8.9) than any other Pac-12 Conference team ahead of its trip to play the Oregon schools. The Bruins will face Oregon State (9-15, 3-10) at 6 p.m. Thursday in Corvallis, before taking on Oregon Saturday night in Eugene.
UCLA has won its past two games at Oregon State and holds a 12-6 record…
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