The 1st place UCLA Bruins…………………..sounds good, at an infant stage of the B10 season…………………are showing a concerning tendency as games wind down.
We’ve now got a sample size of 8 games, out of very roughly 35 or so matchups this season, and the numbers show a drift to tightening results in the 2H.
Thru the 1st 8 games, UCLA is on the + side of their 6-2 record, having scored +108 more points against a mixture of gimmes & tougher competition. The wrench in the gear shaft is that their plus-point margin in the final 20 mins of those 8 gms is a disproportionately low 28 pts.
Our “O” tends to slacken as the final minutes count down, and it notably bit us in our 2 losses. All that matters is a W, but CMC does tend to take the air out of the ball in the final minutes and turn the game into a slosh in the mud.