Jaylen Clark has career night to help lead UCLA past Washington State, 76-56
Jaylen Clark was everywhere.
On the glass, in passing lines, diving on the floor, and setting up his man only to cut back door to the basket. The sophomore guard started Thursday night’s game against Washington State in place of Tyger Campbell, who did not play due to a violation of team rules, and made his case for sticking in the starting lineup going forward as he helped the 13th-ranked Bruins to a 76-56 rout of Washington State.
Clark finished with a career-high 18 points to go with 11 rebounds (his first double-double), five assists, and four steals. In the first half, with UCLA’s leading scorer Johnny Juzang picking up two fouls in four minutes and sitting the rest of the way, Clark carried the burden.
He had 12 points and five assists before the break, helping the Bruins to a 10-point lead.
Juzang played much more disciplined in the second half and put up 16 of his game-high 19 points.
UCLA dominated, and Wazzu entered Thursday’s meeting having lost by double-digits only one other time all season—a 12-point loss to Arizona on Feb. 10. But UCLA was able to keep the Cougar offense from finding any kind of rhythm.
Michael Flowers, averaging nearly 18 points over his previous five games, was held to just 3 points on 1-of-8 shooting. Tyrell Roberts had to take 14 shots to get his 14 points. As a team, the Cougars shot just 28% from the field while UCLA was north of 50%.
The Bruins also won the board s 41-26 and controlled the paint 26-14.
UCLA (18-5, 10-4 Pac-12) will host Washington Saturday at 7 p.m. PT. Washington State (14-11, 7-7 Pac-12) will face No. 17 USC on Sunday at 4:30 p.m. PT.