During Thursday’s exhibition game against Humboldt State,
it seemed as if the most interesting things happening inside Pauley
Pavilion were the unique chants produced by the Lumberjacks’
fan section.
The team brought its marching band, and its fans had mini
green-and-yellow axes reminiscent of the Green Bay Packers’
cheese-heads.
But despite its fans’ best-dressed efforts, the
Lumberjacks’ basketball team lost to the No. 5 Bruins, 87-61,
before a crowd of 7,538 at Pauley Pavilion.
After the game, UCLA coach Ben Howland was happy with his
team’s effort, even though the Lumberjacks are a Division II
team and the game was an exhibition.
“They had a lot of big, older bodies and were very
impressive,” Howland said. “I was happy with the way we
responded against them. We shot a very high percentage, and we
limited the amount of turnovers (compared with our performance) a
week ago.”
Leading the way for the Bruins on Thursday were veteran players
Josh Shipp and Arron Afflalo.
Shipp was 7-for-8 from the field for a game-high 21 points,
while Afflalo was 6-for-11 overall from the field for 18
points.
Both also shot exceptionally well from behind the 3-point line,
as Shipp was 3-for-4 and Afflalo was 3-for-6.
“I was very happy with Josh and Arron, except for
Arron’s turnovers,” Howland said. “I thought both
shot extremely well from the field and finished on the
break.”
Finishing on the break has been a focal point for the team as a
whole, as the Bruins have made a concerted effort to push the ball
this year with quick guard Darren Collison running the point.
Collison finished Thursday’s game with six assists, and
the Bruins shot nearly 54 percent from the field, as many of the
big men were able to score on easy dunks in transition.
“”˜Run, run, run.’ That’s our motto this
year,” Collison said. “We have the guys to score on the
break, and we have to take advantage of that.”
For the Bruins, Thursday’s game was merely a tune-up for
Wednesday’s season-opener against BYU, at which point the
games start to count.
“Sure, we can learn a lot from these games, but they are
exhibitions,” Shipp said. “We’ll be ready for
Wednesday.”
MATA IMPROVING: Center Lorenzo Mata was
scheduled to participate in practice for the first time on
Saturday. Mata completed three individual workouts this past week.
Without Mata in the lineup against the Lumberjacks on Thursday, the
Bruins only out-rebounded Humboldt State by two, and also allowed
center Cy Vandermeer to register 16 points on 7-for-10
shooting.
KEEFE OUT: Freshman forward James Keefe missed
Thursday’s game with a neck strain, but was expected to
practice on Saturday, and should be ready for Wednesday’s
opener.
Keefe, a McDonald’s All-American, suffered the injury
while setting a screen on Afflalo in practice.
MAUI PREPARATIONS: During a conference call
held for the coaches of all teams participating in the upcoming EA
Sports Maui Invitational, Howland talked about the experience of
playing in the tournament.
“It is the premier event at the beginning of every
season,” Howland said. “I remember watching last
year’s tournament, and I was just astounded how many great
teams were in that tournament.”
But Howland also realizes that there are many potential
distractions involved.
“That’s one of the reasons we’re staying an
extra day,” Howland said. “We are … taking a day off
just to enjoy it with our fans and the family that is able to
go.”