NEW YORK “”mdash; After being called for a blocking foul right
before halftime, UCLA’s Jordan Farmar remained motionless on the
court for several seconds, looking up at something in Madison
Square Garden’s decorative ceiling.
It was a strange place to find exactly what he was missing in
the first half ““ his offense.
By the time the sophomore point guard left the locker room after
his team’s 88-80 defeat to Memphis, he had displaced a first half
he’d rather not remember with a second half he won’t soon
forget.
Farmar scored 23 of his career-high 28 points in a
highlight-reel second half, almost single-handedly bringing the
Bruins back from what an hour earlier looked like certain
defeat.
"Jordan did a good job in the second half," UCLA coach Ben
Howland said. "He really got it going."
The Bruins needed him to.
In the first half, Farmar had only five points on 1-for-6
shooting and as many assists (3) as turnovers, struggling to adjust
to the Tigers’ harassing full-court press. That was just one of the
many reasons UCLA (3-1) found itself down 17 points at the
intermission to Memphis (3-0).
But a new half brought about a new player in Farmar.
He found his stroke, making 8 of 14 shots, including all four of
his 3-pointers.
He found his teammates, dishing out four of his seven assists,
several to centers Michael Fey and Ryan Hollins underneath the
basket for uncontested dunks.
And he found a way to make a seemingly lopsided game quite
competitive, bringing the Bruins back to within six points from a
seemingly insurmountable 20-point deficit.
"When our backs are against the wall, you do what you have to
do," said Farmar, who also finished with five rebounds.
"In the first half, everything was more team-driven. In the
second half, it was just you got to do what you go to do. We had to
just play."
That’s exactly what Farmar did.
The sophomore more than happily took the jumpshots that Memphis
defenders were offering him, which he used to generate an offensive
rhythm. Then when the Tigers adjusted, so too did Farmar, driving
to the hoop for several acrobatic lay-ups.
His team down by 15 points, Farmar brought UCLA to within six
points after he rattled off nine straight points, the last of which
coming on a shot in which he challenged two Memphis forwards,
banked the ball high off the backboard, and never even peeked to
see if the shot actually went in.
After that play, the relatively few fans still left at Madison
Square Garden rewarded the Bruins and Farmar with a standing
ovation, even though that was as close as UCLA was going to
get.
Still, Farmar’s second-half performance was more than enough for
the sophomore to forget a poor first half and the throbbing pain in
his sprained right ankle, while also convincing his coach that the
ball needs to be in his point guard’s hands.
"(The ankle) started hurting a lot more in the second half, but
you have to play through that kind of stuff," Farmar said. "I was
in a rhythm and I was in the zone, so I didn’t think about it."
"We have to have the ball in his hands as much as possible,"
Howland said.
MISSED LAY-UPS: Howland on UCLA’s four missed
lay-ups in the first half: "We went up tentatively worrying about
getting blocked rather than going up and attacking the rim," he
said. "Either get fouled or get blocked, but don’t miss."
DRIBBLERS: UCLA’s match-up with Drexel in
Friday’s consolation game will tip off at 1:30 p.m. PST and precede
the Memphis/Duke final at 4 p.m. at Madison Square Garden. It will
be the first-ever meeting between the Bruins and the Dragons. …
UCLA’s Michael Fey, recovering from a shoulder sprain he suffered
last Thursday against Temple, recorded a season-high 13 points. …
Center Ryan Hollins had a season-high three blocks, all coming in
the first half. … Arron Afflalo missed his first free throw of
the season. He’s now 14-for-15 through four games. … A referee’s
whistle wasn’t working for a portion of the first half. … In
Duke’s 78-68 victory over Drexel, the Dragons’ leading scorer in
defeat with 25 points, Dominick Mejia, was the only player not to
have a name on his jersey from both teams.