SAN DIEGO “”mdash; The pressure was magnified, greater than
anything they’ve seen.
The opponent was unknown, eager to shock the world.
The start was delayed, then it was slow.
But in the end, 13 minutes of relative madness amounted to
nothing at all, as second-seeded UCLA overcame a slow start to
cruise to a 78-44 drubbing of Belmont in the first round of the
NCAA tournament.
With the victory ““ UCLA’s first in the NCAA
tournament since 2001 ““ the second-seeded Bruins (28-6)
advance to Saturday’s second round to face 10th-seeded
Alabama.
“We’re on a mission,” sophomore guard Arron
Afflalo said. “A six-game mission of one game at a time.
We’re not really celebrating for three weeks.”
After racing out to fast starts in their previous four games,
the Bruins, who have now won eight straight, appeared sluggish
Thursday.
Atlantic Sun champion Belmont (20-11), in the team’s
first-ever NCAA Tournament appearance, held an 18-12 lead with just
under seven minutes to play in the first half.
But as it has done all season, UCLA stepped up the defense,
settled into a rhythm, and ran away with the game. The Bruins
closed the first half on a 23-5 run, opened the second half on a
20-5 run, and then put it on cruise control. No Bruin played more
than 27 minutes in the easy victory.
“I thought the first 10 minutes we came out a little
tight,” Howland said. “The last 30 minutes we were
terrific.”
On a night when both Afflalo (seven points) and fellow sophomore
guard Jordan Farmar (eight points) weren’t their usual selves
offensively, freshman forward Luc Richard Mbah a Moute led UCLA in
four statistical categories, finishing with a career-high 17
points, eight rebounds, six assists and three steals.
Freshman guard Darren Collison provided a huge spark off the
bench for the Bruins, keying the first-half run and finishing the
game with 10 points, two assists and three steals.
“I felt like a new player out there because we were just
so happy to be out there. It was just a new atmosphere,”
Collison said.
“Me and Luc and the rest of the freshmen understand that
this is it and we’ve got to take care of business. Just
because we’re freshmen doesn’t mean anything
else.”
Business was a primary theme for the Bruins on Thursday.
Last season, UCLA was just happy to be in the NCAA Tournament.
And the stay was short-lived, as a first-round loss to Texas Tech
ended things before they even got started.
This year, the aspirations are much higher.
“Things are a lot different,” Farmar said. “We
were going home last year.”
But just like in last season’s first-round game, Farmar
struggled Thursday against Belmont. The sophomore guard finished
3-for-8 from the field and 0-for-4 from 3-point range. He also had
three turnovers.
Thursday was the first time all season that both Farmar and
Afflalo were held to less than 10 points.
“A lot of teams are going to be focused on Arron and I, so
everyone else has a lot of opportunities to be aggressive,”
Farmar said. “That’s what makes us so hard to beat. You
can’t nail in on anybody on this team anymore because we have
so many weapons and guys that know how to play
basketball.”
The Bruins once again proved that their team knows how to play
defense.
Belmont, a team that came in averaging 81.8 points per game,
shot a season-low 28.8 percent from the field en route to a
season-low 44 points.
"We’re disappointed, for sure," Belmont coach Rick Byrd said.
"You don’t want to ever get beat bad. UCLA was way too good for
us."
But the Bruins’ victory was no cause for celebration. The
team’s attention turned immediately toward Alabama and the
things that have to change in order to be successful on
Saturday.
“We’re not satisfied at all. We know that Belmont
isn’t as good a team as Alabama is going to be,”
Collison said. “We can’t come out to a slow start
again, that’s for sure.”
Howland was assured that they won’t.
“We will come out and play well from the gate on Saturday
at 5 o’clock,” he said.