As the UCLA men’s basketball team walked off the court
Thursday night after picking apart Cal Poly Pomona in the first
exhibition of the season, coach Ben Howland was well aware that the
result did not necessarily depict the fine details of the game
itself.
“Having only 17 practices under our belt, you can see we
have a lot of work to do,” Howland said after the game.
“We made a lot of mistakes.”
Regardless of the way his squad took the court, Howland
understands that the Bruins will continue to improve and was able
to find several positives in a game marred by subpar stats.
UCLA totaled 24 turnovers while shooting under 60 percent from
the charity line ““ something Howland blames himself for,
noting the lack of time spent on free-throw shooting in practice so
far.
Not everything about Thursday night’s game was as shaky,
however. Arron Afflalo and Josh Shipp showed what they are capable
of accomplishing together, leading the Bruins with 17 and 16
points, respectively.
“Arron and Josh looked very good tonight,” Howland
said. “They looked really in the rhythm offensively in terms
of being aggressive.”
Another positive for UCLA was the play of its point guards,
sophomore Darren Collison and freshman Russell Westbrook. Collison
was able to successfully run the offense and distribute the ball
while Westbrook got a taste of the collegiate level, playing for
just under 20 minutes.
“He was a freshman playing his first game in
college,” Howland said. “He had three turnovers in 16
minutes and took a couple of wild shots.
“But again, he’s a freshman and he’s going to
make mistakes based on inexperience. Overall, I was pleased with
him.”
Westbrook got his first points as a Bruin just 30 seconds after
entering the game on a fast break where he appeared to be slightly
hesitant.
“I saw an opportunity to take it to the hoop so I took it
in even though I was a little nervous at first,” he said.
INSIDE PRESENCE: Perhaps the biggest question
for the Bruins was the ability to find a player capable of filling
the void left by Ryan Hollins’ departure.
“I think we need a lot more inside presence,”
Collison said. “Today, our goal was to get inside. We have a
lot of guards who can run the ball, but anytime we can’t run
it, we just want to set it up and use our big guys to our
advantage.”
On Thursday, UCLA looked to sophomore Alfred Aboya to be that
advantage. Aboya put up 10 points in 20 minutes. Aboya played more
than usual, as junior Lorenzo Mata was sidelined with an injury and
sophomore Ryan Wright got into early foul trouble when he picked up
three in just six minutes.
“(Aboya’s) gotten a lot better since last
year,” Collison said. “He’s more assertive with
where the ball is. Now he can post up, but last year he was more of
a jump-shot shooter. I can’t say enough about that
guy.”
FRESHMEN TAKE THE FLOOR: Howland managed to
play all four of his freshmen by the end of the game, as Mustafa
Abdul-Hamid played the last three minutes of the game.
James Keefe and Nikola Dragovic also saw significant playing
time with 19 and 14 minutes, respectively. Keefe struggled from the
free-throw line, going 2-for-6, but managed to pull down seven
rebounds. Dragovic, meanwhile, was scoreless while grabbing three
rebounds.
DRIBBLERS: During warm-ups, Aboya and Keefe had
a friendly three-point contest in which Aboya hit three consecutive
shots from beyond the arc. … Former Bruins Jordan Farmar, Billy
Knight and Earl Watson were in attendance. … On an inbound pass,
Farmar grabbed sophomore Luc Richard Mbah a Moute’s shorts
playfully after the two exchanged words on the sideline.