It certainly wasn’t pretty, but the UCLA basketball team overcame a sloppy start, relying on solid jump shooting and its typical, stifling defense to cruise past Prairie View A&M 82-58, in the first game of the regular season Wednesday at Pauley Pavilion.
Point guard Darren Collison led the Bruins with 19 points. Darnell Hugee scored 22 for the Panthers.
With the victory, the Bruins advance to the second round of the 2K Sports Classic, where they will face Miami University (Ohio) 8 p.m. tonight at Pauley Pavilion. A win against Miami would send UCLA to face Michigan in New York City next week in the tournament’s semifinal round. Duke and Southern Illinois also have advanced.
But Wednesday’s game indicated that No. 4 UCLA has a lot more work to do before it can start thinking about the Madison Square Garden spotlight.
The Bruins turned the ball over 24 times, and 12 of those turnovers came from point guards Collison and Jerime Anderson.
“I don’t think we played to the best of our ability,” freshman shooting guard Jrue Holiday said. “I think we could have blown out that team by 40 or 50 points.”
Five freshmen played significant minutes for UCLA, and they all seemed to struggle early in the game. Forward Drew Gordon fouled a Prairie View A&M shooter on a 3-point attempt, and Holiday could not beat the Panthers’ full-court press.
“The turnovers were killing me,” Holiday said. “But the seniors were there to … pick me up, calm me down and keep me under control.”
The Bruins’ freshmen received substantial playing time because the team wanted to rest its veterans for their second-round game.
Coach Ben Howland also said that he rested guard Josh Shipp down the stretch because Shipp had tweaked his ankle during Tuesday’s practice. Shipp is expected to play tonight.
And even though it wasn’t the flashiest start for UCLA, players afterward seemed convinced that the team can dominate.
“We can’t just say “˜oh we’re a team that turns it over a lot,’ (because) this is just the first game,” Collison said. “Once we start limiting our turnovers, I think everything is going to come together because of how we’re playing on defense.”
DRAGOVIC TO RETURN: Forward Nikola Dragovic will play in tonight’s game after sitting out against Prairie View A&M.
Dragovic was arrested last Friday on suspicion of misdemeanor battery.
“I had him sit out the games as part of the disciplinary process,” Howland said. “Even though I am behind him 100 percent … it still is his responsibility to be in a position where he cannot be accused of anything.”
“I don’t want anyone to think that I take this lightly.”
MIAMI MOVES ON: In the first game of the night at Pauley, Kenny Hayes hit a buzzer-beater 3-pointer, despite a foul, to clinch a 70-66 win for Miami (Ohio) in a tough battle against Weber State.
Hayes finished with 24 points. Kellen McCoy led the way for Weber State with 16 points.
Howland said he expects a defensive battle when the Bruins face the Redhawks.
“That’s a very good team,” Collison said. “We’ve got to put this game behind us and get ready to go. If we make turnovers the way we did (tonight), it’s going to be a close game.”