As schedule toughens, UCLA needs Dylan Andrews to reemerge as a top playmaker

With every jump shot that fell through the net, a flurry of nine points in less than 2½ minutes last week, Dylan Andrews provided a reminder of the player he’s been and the one he’d like to be again. The guy’s got experience, he’s got experience in our system — I’m not saying he’s got to be the player of the year in the Big Ten, but he’s got to give us production.” Before the season, Andrews said he wanted to be a 40-50-90 player — making 40% of his three-pointers, 50% of his shots and 90% of his free throws — but he hasn’t met any of those benchmarks. Andrews’ 2.1-to-1 assist-to-turnover ratio has remained excellent, but he’ll need to more closely resemble the player from late last season if the Bruins expect to thrive during a difficult stretch that starts Tuesday night at Pauley Pavilion against Washington in their first-ever Big Ten game. After being outplayed by New Mexico’s Donovan Dent, whom Cronin passed on as a high school recruit to take Andrews, in the Bruins’ only loss this season, Andrews will also need to be in top form defensively against a parade of elite guards including Oregon’s Jackson Shelstad, Arizona’s Caleb Love, North Carolina’s R.J. Davis and Gonzaga’s Ryan Nembhard. “You know, I still would like to get more deflections; he was back to one deflection in the Southern Utah game.” Just like with his scoring outburst last week, maybe it’s a start.