NEW YORK “”mdash; There was very little holiday spirit emanating
from the UCLA locker room Wednesday night.
After an 88-80 loss to No. 11 Memphis (3-0) in the semifinals of
the NIT Season Tip-Off, the No. 16 Bruins (3-1) looked like a team
that had lost its last game of the season rather than its
first.
And while there were certainly positives that the team could
have elected to focus on, such as fighting back late in the second
half to make it a game, the Bruins preferred to own up to the
things that were so evidently lacking in Wednesday night’s
first half as they stumbled out of the gates to a huge 51-34
halftime deficit.
“We weren’t ready,” sophomore guard Arron
Afflalo said. “We were passive.”
UCLA coach Ben Howland preferred to use the word
“tentative,” but the message remained the same.
The Bruins lacked intensity. They didn’t play good
defense. They didn’t rebound. They missed easy shots. Put all
of those negatives together, and you have a halftime deficit
that’s pretty tough to pull yourself out of.
“We were very tentative in the first half on both ends of
the floor,” Howland said. “I didn’t think we were
aggressive defensively or offensively against their
press.”
It didn’t help that Memphis came out so well, racing to a
quick 12-4 lead on the hot hand of 6-foot-8 freshman forward Shawne
Williams, who hit three 3-pointers in the game’s first four
minutes. To Howland’s disappointment, UCLA continued to give
Williams open looks for much of the first half, and the talented
freshman went into halftime with 20 points on 7-for-7 shooting. He
was 5-for-5 from 3-point range.
“Those threes hurt,” senior center Ryan Hollins
said. “You go 5-for-5 on threes and we’re not
converting on the other end or matching him, you can be down
quick.”
And quick it was. Memphis went on a 14-4 run late in the first
half, a run highlighted by two more Williams threes, to extend the
lead to 18 and force the dejected Bruins, who shot 33 percent from
the floor in the first half, to the halftime locker room with a
huge mountain to climb.
“It was pretty obvious that we needed to pick up our
intensity,” said Afflalo, who finished with 14 points on
5-for-10 shooting. “And part of that is when you’re
down 17 you have no choice. I guess that’s the only positive
we really got out of tonight.”
In a game where the Bruins could have easily packed it in and
took their beating, they showed a large degree of heart in the
second half to come back and get as close as six points.
A lot of that had to do with sophomore point guard Jordan
Farmar, who scored a career-high 28 points (23 in the second half)
to go with seven assists and five rebounds.
“When our backs are against the wall, you do what you have
to do,” Farmar said.
In the future, the Bruins’ focus will be on keeping their
backs from that wall, and that starts with first half
intensity.
“In the first half we were really on our heels, and
you’re got to give them credit,” Howland said.
“They’re a very, very good team. They’re
athletic, strong, physical, they forced turnovers.”
And though Afflalo also gave the Tigers credit, his focus was on
himself and his team.
“That’s a very good team, but they were definitely
beatable,” Afflalo said. “I wasn’t at my best
tonight, and neither was this team.”
LOOKING AHEAD: UCLA will face Drexel, losers to
No. 1 Duke 78-68 on Wednesday, in the third-place game of the NIT
Season Tip-Off on Friday at 1:30 p.m. PST.
“They’re a good team,” Hollins said of Drexel.
“Their confidence level is as big as can be. We have to come
out with pride and take them out and show that we deserve to be
here.