If a team’s two leading scorers are once again inserted into the lineup, is the difference immediately felt?
With a half still to play against Oregon State at Pauley Pavilion, the results are still inconclusive. Sophomore guard Jordan Adams has four points and sophomore guard/forward Kyle Anderson leads the team with 10 points, but UCLA trails OSU 38-29 at the break.
After serving suspensions for Thursday night’s loss to Oregon due to a violation of team rules, Adams and Anderson showed the Bruins a taste what they were missing during the double-overtime heartbreaker. Anderson drained two early jumpers, while Adams easily finished a reverse layup to tie the game at 10 with 14:11 to play.
Oregon State center Angus Brandt got off to a hot start for the Beavers, scoring his team’s first seven points to give OSU a 7-6 lead over UCLA at the first media timeout.
But while the Bruins got a significant scoring bump, many problems from their February visit to Corvallis remained. The Beavers scored 18 of their 38 first-half points in the paint.
UCLA also struggled to keep Oregon State guard Roberto Nelson, the Pac-12’s leading scorer, away from the basketball, and he made the Bruins pay in the form of 12 first-half points. On Feb. 2 against UCLA, he scored just 12 points in 35 minutes.
The Bruins trailed by just a point, 24-23, with 5:47 to go in the half, but surrendered a 16-6 run to the Beavers in the closing minutes of the half.
On Feb. 2, UCLA led OSU 31-29 at the break.
Compiled by Andrew Erickson, Bruin Sports senior staff.