With the UCLA men’s basketball team missing four of its
potential starters because of injury, determining the significance
of Friday night’s exhibition could have been difficult.
UCLA freshman point guard Darren Collison made it easy.
In his first collegiate game, Collison paced the Bruins with 13
points, five assists, three rebounds and two steals, racing UCLA to
a 78-51 exhibition victory over Carleton (Canada) at Pauley
Pavilion on Friday night.
With his performance, the freshman made an offer to Ben Howland
that the third-year UCLA men’s basketball coach may be unable
to refuse.
Of the Bruins’ five freshmen, Collison is the only one to
fill a niche already comfortably occupied, with the point guard
position shored up by sophomore Jordan Farmar.
And with Farmar expected to return to practice today after
suffering a groin strain on Oct. 27, Collison would seemingly
return to the role of a traditional backup.
But as Howland sees it, the possibility of having both the
6-foot-2 Farmar and the 6-foot Collison on the court together is
intriguing.
“We definitely have to have Darren and Jordan in there
together this year,” Howland said. “That’s going
to put a little more pressure on Jordan to guard a (two-guard), but
the advantages we have with both of those guys being able to shoot,
dribble, handle, pass, their quickness, it’ll cause problems
for some people, especially on the offensive end.”
Only facing one half of that Bruin duo certainly caused enough
trouble for Carleton on Friday.
Known for his blistering speed, Collison scored the game’s
first five points before most of the fans had time to warm their
seats.
“I wanted to come out the gates really strong tonight, and
I did,” Collison said.
He then spent the rest of his team-high 32 minutes harassing
Carleton’s overmatched guards and primarily dishing the ball
to Ryan Hollins and Arron Afflalo, who finished with 14 and 12
points, respectively.
Collison, who finished the night shooting 6-for-9 from the
floor, capped the evening with a steal and breakaway dunk in the
second half.
“That dunk looked pretty athletic for a guy 6-foot,”
Howland said. “That was an impressive play.”
AFFLALO PLAYS: After missing four days of
practice with a left thigh contusion, sophomore guard Afflalo
played a team-high 32 minutes while tallying 12 points on 4-for-11
shooting.
“You can tell he wasn’t himself,” Howland
said.
“When you miss four days in a row, you lose your timing.
But winning would have been much tougher without him.”
Afflalo, who wore a kneepad on his left knee during the game,
will continue to wear it all of next week as a precaution. Howland
expects that Afflalo won’t need the kneepad once the season
begins on Nov. 15.
FAN FAVORITE: It didn’t take long for the
crowd at Pauley Pavilion to take a Bruin under its wing. Freshman
Kelvin Kim, a 5-foot-10 guard from Lake Forest, received the
loudest ovation on the night after he drove to the hoop and
converted a layup while being fouled, registering his only two
points on the night.
CHARITY ISSUES: Redshirt senior Cedric Bozeman,
a 50 percent career free-throw shooter, appears to have refined his
stroke from the line. Bozeman exhibited a soft touch from the line
on Friday, where he went 3-for-3. Freshman Luc Richard Mbah a Moute
had his struggles at the free-throw line, missing all four of his
attempts.
INJURY UPDATE: Farmar, who hasn’t
practiced since his Oct. 27 injury, is expected to return to the
court today, according to Howland. Both senior center Michael Fey
and freshman forward Alfred Aboya are still a few weeks away from
returning from their respective injuries.
DRIBBLERS: Throughout the game, a loud
shrieking horn caused many fans to cover their ears … At
halftime, Mbah a Moute ran into a different tunnel than the rest of
his teammates … The Bruins are ranked No. 18 in the USA
Today/ESPN preseason poll … UCLA’s exhibition game against
Cal State Monterey Bay on Thursday at 7:30 p.m. will be the
Bruins’ final exhibition game before the regular season kicks
off on Nov. 15.