Checked out both the post-game comments by Mick Cronin and David Woods' game analysis/story and found both mentioned a single play - one that drove me nuts at the time. I think it was a prime example of a fundamental element that is sadly missing in our offense.
Mak had the ball rushing downcourt. UCLA wound up with a guard trying to cover Aday Mara underneath. Mack drove straight ahead into a defender, lost the ball and it turned into a dunk for Tennessee at the other end iirc. And there was 7'3" Mara under the basket being marked by a guard, still waiting for the pass.
One play - but that was just flat out missing for us all year - recognition of the mismatch, failure to make the timely pass. Far too much solo ball, guys who want to do it themselves. How often did we have a fast break downcourt with the dribbler having a teammate coming open on his wing but so rarely did the driver pass the ball. Coming off screens - the 7 footer rolls to the basket but the dribbler just keeps on dribbling.
As several have said, we need a real point guard, someone who thinks pass rather than just move the ball without purpose or look for my own shot,
On the limited occasions on which Mack did share the ball, we were far more effective, but those times were far too few and far between. Dylan lost confidence in his shot so he wound up a lead guard who wasn't scoring rather than a PG. Clark was a bit better but with his shooting ability, he's better playing off the ball.
There were a number of times last night when ball movement opened opportunities for us on offense but our players just didn't see them or trust themselves to make th pass or passing the ball just wasn't among their considerations.
We don't run plays, basically run patterns. (I know the arguments about having plays, but otoh plays can be scouted and prepared for - example: USC (men) run plays but a UCLA assistant broke their code and called out defenses to our team SC didn't do very well.) Regardless, I believe our ball movement gave us a number of good opportunities on offense that our roster of players simply didn't take advantage of.