Just how emphatic a statement UCLA made with its victory Tuesday
night remains to be seen.
Yes, the Bruins slogged their way through a 95-59 rout of the
Southern California All-Stars at Pauley Pavilion. But a
30-plus-point exhibition blowout hardly erases the sting of last
year’s 19-loss debacle.
“It felt like we didn’t really get to test
ourselves,” junior forward Dijon Thompson said. “These
type of (near) 40-point blowouts don’t really mean
much.”
Maybe not, but at least the Bruins were able to dominate the
All-Stars ““ a stark contrast to last year, when the squad
lost both its exhibition matchups. Playing in their first and only
game together, the All-Stars fumbled their way to 28 turnovers and
generally looked inept offensively.
Even when they did something right, the All-Stars stumbled.
Forward Ike Harmon air-balled a wide-open five-footer after a nice
drive to the basket, and guard Jason Crowe fell to the ground after
a first-half dunk.
Although defeating a rag-tag bunch of former collegiate role
players won’t mean much a month from now, UCLA will take
whatever victories it can get at the moment.
“Anytime you win, it’s a good thing,” UCLA
coach Ben Howland said. “We like to win by 36 no matter who
the opponent is. It shows how much we’re
improving.”
There was plenty to smile about for the Bruins Tuesday night.
Freshman Trevor Ariza led the Bruins in scoring for the second
consecutive game with 16 points, and the squad erased all memory of
its abysmal free throw shooting last Wednesday against EA Sports.
UCLA looked a lot more confident at the line against the All-Stars,
converting on 15 of 16 attempts.
But even more impressive than UCLA’s improvement at the
charity stripe was its marksmanship from behind the three-point
line. Eight Bruins buried three-pointers as the squad shot 54.5
percent from behind the arc.
During one first-half stretch, Thompson, junior Brian Morrison,
redshirt junior Josiah Johnson and redshirt junior Ryan Walcott
each hit three-pointers as the Bruins reeled off 14 consecutive
points to take a commanding 34-18 lead.
“Fifty-four percent is outstanding shooting,”
Howland said.
Another encouraging sign for UCLA was the play of sophomore
center Michael Fey. Held to just two points on 1-of-4 shooting
against EA Sports, Fey rebounded with a 14-point performance
against the All-Stars, including several key buckets during
UCLA’s 23-7 second-half run that put the game on ice.
And while at times he still looked awkward with the ball,
Fey’s improvement may have been enough to solidify his spot
in the starting lineup when the Bruins open the season in earnest
Nov. 29 against Vermont.
“Last week I had a lot more nervous energy,” Fey
said. “This time I was a lot more relaxed. I didn’t
rush as many shots, and I got in the flow.”
There were certainly areas of concern against the All-Stars. The
Bruins themselves made 13 first-half turnovers, several of which
resulted in easy baskets in transition for their opponents. UCLA
also yielded a number of easy put-backs on the offensive glass as
at times both Fey and fellow sophomore center Ryan Hollins failed
to get a body on the men they were guarding.
But while it by no means was a flawless performance, after a
victory as dominant as this, the team could find little to complain
about.
“We’ve come a long way since the first exhibition
game,” Fey said. “We’ve gotten better in every
aspect of the game.”