The UCLA men’s basketball team finally had a reason to smile and laugh and joke on Tuesday night.
Nothing about the team’s 22-day winless drought was funny, but the mood quickly switched following a 100-68 drubbing of visiting New Mexico State before a sparse crowd of 5,933 at Pauley Pavilion.
“We needed it bad,” coach Ben Howland said. “It’s no fun to lose. I’m happy for our guys.”
Five players scored in double figures for the Bruins, who snapped their five-game losing streak. Sophomore guard Malcolm Lee scored 15 of his career-high 20 points in the first half to pace UCLA (3-6).
The Bruins opened a comfortable 21-point lead at halftime by shooting a blistering 61.3 percent from the field.
“When somebody else is hitting, it gives that same energy to the whole team,” said freshman forward Tyler Honeycutt, who scored a career-high 14 points.
UCLA cooled off a bit in the second half, but by then, it was too late for New Mexico State (3-6), who was riding high after its impressive road victory against previously unbeaten UTEP on Sunday.
The Bruins played their most complete game of the season, and it all started with a 10-0 run early in the first half that allowed them to pull away from a 6-6 tie.
“I’m just glad our guys came out and played a solid game tonight,” Howland said.
Sophomore point guard Jerime Anderson complemented Lee well, posting career-highs of 13 points and seven assists.
“Jerime had his best game as a Bruin,” Howland said. “Hopefully that will get him going. “¦ He did a tremendous job of reading the defense.”
An Anderson 3-pointer gave the Bruins a 39-point lead – their largest of the game.
Not everything went the Bruins’ way, though.
Senior forward James Keefe earned the start, but headed to the locker room early in the first half after suffering an injury to the left shoulder ““ the same shoulder that was surgically repaired two years ago.
Keefe walked off the court holding his left arm after the shoulder had popped out of its socket. A team doctor popped it back in before Keefe returned to the bench in the second half wearing his warm-up jersey.
“We won’t know a whole lot until tomorrow,” Howland said. “Hopefully he will be OK.”
Keefe hurt the same shoulder early in the fall but recovered ahead of pace and in time for the start of the season.
Keefe’s replacement, freshman forward Reeves Nelson, took an elbow to the right cheek shortly after coming on to the court. The blow nearly struck his badly bruised right eye, which he got more than a week ago in the team’s loss to top-ranked Kansas.
“I just keep looking like a boxer more and more,” Nelson said. “That’s fine with me.”
The cut to the right cheek didn’t slow Nelson down, though, as he pitched in with a career-high 16 points on 6-of-7 shooting. He also grabbed eight boards and had two blocks, both of which came during an impressive sequence early in the second half.
Nelson ran the court and converted on a hook shot off the glass immediately after his defensive stops to hand UCLA a 30-point lead.
“A lot of the scoring tonight started with our defense,” Howland said.
UCLA had not won since Nov. 23 when it defeated Pepperdine by 19. The team’s relief was obvious in the postgame press conference, as even Howland was quick to make light of a lucky, early-game 3-point bank shot by Lee.
“He didn’t call bank on that one 3,” Howland joked, “but we’ll take it.”
A serious-toned Lee begged to differ.
“Yeah, I called it,” he said as Nelson shook his head next to him, “when it was about halfway in the air.”