In the middle of a grueling Pac-10 schedule, the UCLA basketball team got a much-deserved break.
UCLA (20-2, 9-2 Pac-10) leveled Oregon State (9-15, 1-10) by a final score of 82-35 to keep sole possession of first place in the Pac-10. It was UCLA’s biggest margin of victory since 1999, when the Bruins defeated Morgan State 100-39.
“It shows a maturing level on our team,” coach Ben Howland said. “We want to come out and play as hard as we can every night ““ period. It doesn’t matter who it is or what the circumstances are.”
Just two days after recording a big win over Oregon, the Bruins showed absolutely no signs of flatness. UCLA’s intensity put the game out of reach in the first few minutes. The Bruins continued to stretch their lead throughout the game, as the intensity level and results remained similar as Howland went down the bench to play the reserves.
“It’s hard to come off a win against a big team and play against a team like Oregon State,” sophomore point guard Darren Collison said. “Not to say that they’re not good or anything, but we wanted to have that same intensity. If we want to get to where we want to go, we have to have games like the one we just played.”
Oregon State had a bit of a different look to it than the team that hung around UCLA for a good portion of the game just one month ago in Corvallis, Ore. The Beavers were without junior guard Wesley Washington, who injured his wrist.
Also, junior forward Sasa Cuic, who led the Beavers with 13 points against UCLA in the first game between the teams, was benched to start the game and only played 11 minutes, due to his ineffectiveness as a rebounder. Saturday’s game was the first game all year in which Cuic did not score and the 6-foot-10-inch forward from Croatia had just one rebound and three turnovers.
Meanwhile, UCLA got to rest its starters for the majority of the second half and received plenty of production from its reserves. Freshman forward Nikola Dragovic earned enthusiastic applause when he entered the game at the end of the first half. Dragovic played well in his most extensive game action of the season, scoring eight points and grabbing six rebounds.
Freshman guard Russell Westbrook and sophomore center Ryan Wright also saw a season-high amount of minutes in the Bruin rout. Westbrook finished the game with 11 points, and Wright had six points and three rebounds.
Freshman guard Mustafa Abdul-Hamid came on with a little over four minutes left to play and the bench completely emptied when sophomore walk-ons Joey Ellis and DeAndre Robinson and junior walk-on Matt Lee entered the game with about two minutes remaining.
“It was real exciting to watch them play,” Collison said. “Those guys are good. Just because they’re not starting and they don’t play as much and they’re walk-ons doesn’t mean anything. We’ve seen them play, and we know they’re real talented.”
FUNKY STATISTICS: The final box score from the game produced some of the most lopsided statistics that one could ever hope to see from a Pac-10 game.
UCLA won every single statistical category on the box score with the exception of blocks and offensive rebounds, in which the Bruins tied the Beavers.
The Bruin bench scored just three less points than the entire Oregon State team and the Bruins were at least plus-20 on Oregon State in fast-break points, bench points, points in the paint and points off of turnovers.
But that’s not even the most surprising part. An unprecedented 12 UCLA players recorded an assist against the Beavers, and Darren Collison had 10 assists by himself in just 24 minutes. Oregon State as a team had just nine assists.
“We did a great job sharing and distributing the basketball,” Howland said. “I love all the unselfishness. That to me is, on the offensive side of the floor, the most pleasing thing.”