Adversity breeds struggle.
But struggle cultivates growth.
After No. 19 UCLA men’s basketball’s (3-1) first loss of the season to then-No. 5 Arizona at the Intuit Dome – a game they led by 10 in the first half and eight with under six minutes remaining – it will have the chance to bounce back against Sacramento State (3-2) Tuesday night at Pauley Pavilion.
“We definitely want to feel this and make sure we don’t feel like this again,” said junior guard/forward Eric Dailey Jr. “Good thing it’s early in the season and we’ve got a lot of games left to play. We’ve got a lot of things to build on as a team, and just keep learning and moving by keeping it one day at a time. We have to keep fighting – every day.”
Junior guard/forward Eric Dailey Jr. follows through on a shot attempt and watches it head toward the basket. Dailey finished the Arizona affair with 13 points. (Aidan Sun/Assistant Photo editor)
The affair also gives Dailey and senior guard Donovan Dent time to rebound and settle in. They missed time in the offseason and at the beginning of the 2025-2026 campaign due to injury.
Dent shot a season-worst 5-for-16 from the field against Arizona and garnered just 11 points and three turnovers. Dailey scored 13 points on an efficient 50% clip from the field and 60% from beyond the arc, but has yet to find the cohesion and familiarity needed on the court.
“With Book (junior forward/center Xavier Booker) and Donny (Dent) being a lot of pick and rolls, and they’re both new – they haven’t been in that situation together, so we need to go through that,” said coach Mick Cronin. “The other piece is Eric (Dailey) didn’t practice in October, literally for a month. He’s an unbelievable worker, so he stayed in shape. . . It’s hard to figure out the best way to incorporate him when he missed 26 of our 30 practices we get in the fall. That’s an area where we can really get better at.”
The affair will bring familiarity to UCLA and the Los Angeles area, with guard Mikey Williams and forward Shaqir O’Neal. The former was a youth basketball cultural icon, garnering millions of followers and viewers. This was through his record-breaking high school performances, including breaking the California single-game scoring record with 77 points as a high school freshman.
Williams – a former four-star recruit from San Diego, who was the No. 8-ranked recruit from California and No. 39 in the nation – gained his fame by dominating the youth AAU circuits on the North Coast Blue Chips, alongside Bronny James.
As a seventh and eighth grader, he was the No. 1 recruit in the country, per the Naismith National Youth All-American Report. His collegiate path, however, does not mirror the track of most top-ranked prospects, going from Memphis to Central Florida to Sacramento State over the last three seasons.
O’Neal – the son of NBA Hall of Famer Shaquille O’Neal – is the younger brother of Shareef O’Neal, who redshirted his freshman year at UCLA due to a heart condition and returned for an additional season. He played in 13 games in the 2019-2020 campaign before transferring to LSU, his father’s alma mater.
Both Williams and O’Neal have started all five games for the Hornets. The former tied for second on the team in scoring with 16.4 points per game on 46.3% shooting from the field and 36.8% shooting from beyond the arc. The latter averages just four points and 2.6 rebounds per game despite playing 18.4 minutes per contest.
Williams’ offensive game can be explosive at any moment, dropping 30 points against UC Santa Barbara on 10-for-16 shooting from the field and 4-for-7 shooting from 3-point land. And with the former top-ranked player returning to Southern California, and to a program of UCLA’s caliber, Williams will be looking to make a statement.
While Williams and O’Neal capture media attention, coach Mike Bibby’s Hornet squad is led by forward Jeremiah Cherry and guard Prophet Johnson. The 6-foot-11 Cherry should be matched with Booker and could look to dominate the interior with his strength and frame.
Cherry enters the contest averaging 18.2 points and 9.6 rebounds per game. The guard struggles from beyond the arc – shooting just 14.3% – but makes his money around the glass. His physicality could draw redshirt senior center Steven Jamerson II off the bench to help mitigate his interior impact.
Senior guard Skyy Clark dribbles down the court. Clark finished with nine points and went 3-for-11 from the field. (Aidan Sun/Assistant Photo editor)
Similarly, Johnson will most likely take senior guard Skyy Clark – consistently tabbed by Cronin as the Bruins’ best man-to-man defender. Clark will have to track Johnson all 94 feet, as Johnson, despite standing at 6-foot-3, leads the team in rebounding with 9.8 rebounds per game.
And Johnson is more than just a rebounding threat. He ties Williams with 16.4 points per game – but does so on a more efficient clip, shooting 52.1% from the field and 56.3% from 3-point land. Clark could have his hands full Tuesday night.
With Clark busy with Johnson, Dent with Williams and Booker with Cherry, senior forward Tyler Bilodeau and Dailey can capitalize on less formidable matchups.
And if it’s not Bilodeau or Dailey, then Cronin will have to turn to the pine for an impact – an area of focus the head honcho wants to improve after the team’s loss to Arizona.
“We did some things well, and we got to get a lot better and more production off our bench,” Cronin said. “We also brought in Trent (sophomore guard Trent Perry), who’s a good player. And we got to develop our bench, get better on defense and better on rebounding.”
Tip-off commences at 7:30 p.m. at Pauley Pavilion.