NEW YORK—It was a perfect storyline.
Sophomore guard/forward Kyle Anderson was set to make his grand return to Madison Square Garden just over a Lincoln Tunnel’s ride away from where he played his high school basketball.
Redshirt senior forward David Wear was going to come out of nowhere and lead the Bruins with a ferocious scoring effort, and Steve Alford was going to notch his first marquee win as UCLA’s 13th head coach over No. 8 Duke.
But on Thursday night, Duke mandated an entirely different plot. The welcome mat was yanked out from underneath Anderson in front of a crowd of over 15,000 that was dominated by Duke faithful. Alford’s Bruins fought to a score of 37-all at the break but fell short as Duke coach Mike Krzyzewski improved his record over UCLA to 8-1 in an 80-63 Blue Devil victory.
Read the rest of the story here.
Story by: Andrew Erickson