In the face of injuries, the UCLA men’s basketball program gutted out one of the tougher 38-point victories they’re likely to be a part of this year.
Despite point guard Darren Collison, guard/forward Josh Shipp, guard/forward Michael Roll and forward James Keefe all being sidelined for the game, the Bruins still jumped out to a 32-point halftime lead before cruising to a 93-55 exhibition victory over Chico State.
Maybe the victory wasn’t especially challenging given the quality of the opposition but it was still a win for a Bruin team that was playing with some serious restrictions.
With only seven scholarship players available for the game, coach Ben Howland doled out minutes to a variety of players who aren’t likely to see as much playing time once the Bruins are back at full strength.
Nikola Dragovic, typically a small forward, started at shooting guard for the team and Russell Westbrook was the only true guard on the list of healthy scholarship players. Walk-on Mustafa Abdul-Hamid played 16 minutes backing up Westbrook at the point, and freshman guard/forward Chace Stanback contributed 23 minutes.
In reality, the game was still just one more tuneup before the regular season starts Friday, and it provided an early opportunity for younger and less-experienced players to get playing time.
“It was difficult out there tonight obviously, having Darren, Roll and Josh ““ three of our top four guards ““ (out),” Howland said. “It was much different than it was Friday night.”
The Bruins had a comfortable lead throughout the game, despite playing so many inexperienced players.
The Bruins had two double-doubles, one from Kevin Love (23 points, 10 rebounds) and one from Lorenzo Mata-Real (13 points, 13 rebounds). Howland was pleased with their efforts.
“It was nice to get two double-doubles,” Howland said. “I don’t care who it’s against.”
Kevin Love, the most highly touted recruit of Howland’s tenure at UCLA, comes to Westwood with some high expectations to live up to, and Howland is setting the bar high for him.
“Sure,” Howland said when asked if he thought Love could average a double-double. “Why not? He’s really good at getting fouled because he’s so big. It’ll be hard. The harder part of it will be the rebounding. If you average 10 rebounds, that puts you top five in the country.”
As for Mata-Real, the senior center had to adjust to coming off the bench in Monday’s game. Mata-Real started throughout last season, but this year he could be as low as eighth in the rotation simply because of the talent ahead of him. Love and Alfred Aboya started ahead of him at the post positions, while Luc Richard Mbah a Moute has moved to small forward.
Love had an especially rough game, falling to the floor a number of times thanks to the pounding he took from the Chico State players.
He sank 9 of 12 free throws, taking advantage of the hard fouls he was taking. Despite being nicked up quite often in fall practice, Love was none the worse for wear from the physical play, and seemed to take it in stride.
“Oh yeah,” Love said when asked if he was expecting the game to be physical. “It’s been that way since I was in the fourth grade.”
COLLISON’S STATUS: Point guard Darren Collison, who suffered a knee injury against Azusa Pacific, remains doubtful for Friday’s game, although he is optimistic about playing soon.
“It feels pretty fine right now,” Collison said. “I’m not trying to rush the situation. (The way Westbrook played) really makes me feel like I have time to rest.”
Howland said Collison could play by next week.
Collison was also named a preseason All-American by the Associated Press on Monday. He is the first player from UCLA to ever be so honored.