Why has Sebastian Mack thrived as UCLA's cold-blooded closer? He's 'got no fear'

The only things missing from his emergence as UCLA’s closer are an entrance song and a breathless announcement from the P.A. announcer.

“Preparing to take the big shot for the Bruins, No. 12, Sebastian Mack !” Otherwise, the sophomore guard has mastered taking over a game in the final minutes. He made the three-pointer that kept USC from completing a comeback .



He converted an old-fashioned three-point play to nudge his team ahead against Gonzaga . He badgered Wisconsin with a barrage of floaters and driving layups. Like baseball’s best closers, Mack has shown a knack for being dependable in pressure situations.

“Sebastian’s got no fear,” UCLA coach Mick Cronin said Wednesday, “and when you’ve got a guy like that, he believes he can score at any time.” Mack often finishes what his teammates started, coming off the bench to provide an infusion of offense. The latest came with 68 seconds left Monday against the Trojans, who had crept to within a point after being down by 12.

With the shot clock about to expire and three of the Bruins’ top five scorers on the bench — Tyler Bilodeau with an injured ankle, Dylan Andrews with cramps and Kobe Johnson with five fouls — Mack rose for the three-pointer that quieted the roaring crowd inside the Galen Center. “My mindset was, just try to find something,” Mack said. “ .

.. I just felt like I could get us there, I’ll take us home.

” Having developed a tendency to shoot line drives that barely clear the rim, Mack might have benefited from good defense on several of his late jumpers. “Because they were contested,” Cronin said, “he had to lift his elbow and finish high, therefore he shot the ball with arc, the way he should have and the way we try to work with him on, and that’s why he made them.” Mack pointed out that others have also stepped up late in games.

Bilodeau buried Arizona with a flurry of baskets, Skyy Clark made critical free throws in several games and Andrews sank three-pointers against Oregon and Washington. But Mack might have become the one Bruin other teams don’t want to see with the ball in his hands in the final moments. “It’s nice to have a Mariano Rivera that can get a bucket,” Cronin said, referring to the Hall of Fame reliever from the New York Yankees.

“He can get you an out. It’s nice to have somebody get you a bucket when you need a bucket and it’s in his DNA; it’s the way he’s wired.” A bigs decision Should Cronin go with Bilodeau or Aday Mara in the starting lineup once Bilodeau makes his imminent return from the ankle injury that forced him to miss most of the last two games? How about both? Cronin said he went back and watched the handful of situations where both players were on the court together this season.

The challenge with that lineup involves opponents that play four guards, putting Bilodeau at a disadvantage against a significantly quicker player. “If you want that lineup in and you want Tyler at the four,” Cronin said, “defensively, how are you going to handle that if he’s guarding the fourth guard?” Cronin may not have to answer that question against No. 16 Oregon on Thursday night at Pauley Pavilion given that the Ducks usually don’t use a small-ball approach.

That could lead to more minutes for Mara, who has averaged 15.3 points, 7.7 rebounds and 4.

0 blocks while shooting 64.3% during his past three games, even if Bilodeau returns from his injury. Bilodeau practiced with the team Wednesday, putting him on track to possibly play against the Ducks.

Cronin said Mara’s defense and rebounding, not to mention his willingness to push back against counterparts trying to bully him, have been the biggest reasons he’s earned more playing time. “The more he puts his hands up and the more he fights back,” Cronin said, “the more the officials are going to actually call the foul [on the other player], OK?” Familiar problem The cramps that forced Andrews to sit out the final five minutes against USC have been an ongoing issue since his arrival on campus. Breeze McDonald, Andrews’ godmother, told The Times last year that extensive testing revealed the condition was related to hydration and nerves.

“He’s cramped for so long, even when he wasn’t going to cramp, he didn’t not want to not cramp, if you get it,” McDonald said. “So he would play differently, it became psychosomatic at that point that, ‘Wow, I don’t want to let my team down,’ and ..

. he kept saying, ‘No, I’m going to get through it.’ ” Andrews’ treatment plan, devised by a team of specialists, involves a special diet, fluids and supplements.

“It’s been looked at from all angles,” Cronin said. “I think it’s one of those things where they’ve helped him a lot, but it’s crept back up again.” No love lost Johnson, on being booed every time he touched the ball in his return to the Galen Center after spending his first three college seasons at USC: “I didn’t expect it to be that bad, but I loved every second of it.

” Before he fouled out with seven points, three rebounds and two assists, Johnson held a finger over his mouth in a shushing gesture with the Bruins on their way to a second consecutive victory on the Trojans’ home court. A group of UCLA students got in the final word while walking through the concourse after the game, chanting “Kobe Johnson!” “That’s huge to me,” Johnson said of the support, “knowing that UCLA has embraced me so much already, so I can’t wait to try and continue to win here.”.