There were plenty of stars during the Bruins’ run through
the Maui Invitational, including tournament MVP Darren Collison and
all-tournament performer Arron Afflalo.
But one player who didn’t celebrate in the plethora of
awards was forward Josh Shipp.
On Tuesday, Shipp more than made sure he wasn’t the
forgotten one, scoring a career-high 24 points on 6-of-9 shooting
from beyond the arc, and recording seven rebounds.
Asked if Tuesday was his best shooting performance as a Bruin,
Shipp slyly agreed.
“Definitely, it felt nice,” Shipp said. “It
makes it a lot easier when we are out in transition, and the
baskets are going in.”
Shipp was part of an overall strong shooting performance for the
Bruins from beyond the arc and from the field. The Bruins finished
13-for-26 from the 3-point line and shot 44.8 percent total from
the field.
Shipp started off the Bruins by making 4-of-6 from the 3-point
line in the first half, and made his first three outside shots. His
only mistake, however, was a missed dunk.
“It must have been the fatigue,” Shipp said with his
usual smile. “But still, you have no excuse to miss
layups.”
Overall, the Bruins realized against the Long Beach State 49ers
that if they are to live up to their No. 1 seeding, they will need
contributions from all their key players.
Tuesday just happened to be Shipp’s turn.
“We have so many offensive weapons on our team,”
UCLA coach Ben Howland said. “I was very happy with our
shooting tonight.
“We have the chance to be a very good offensive
team” Howland said.
For Shipp, he knows that with point guard Jordan Farmar gone,
and with him and Afflalo being two of the elder statesmen, he will
need more performances like the one on Tuesday.
“For me, it’s just effort,” Shipp said.
“There are a lot of other things I can bring to the team
other than scoring. I have to bring the effort every
night.”
COLLISON STEALS: Collison came close to the
Bruins all-time steal record with nine steals on Tuesday. The
Bruins’ all-time record of 11 is held by former point guard
Tyus Edney.
Buoyed by Collison’s effort, the Bruins combined for an
overall season-high 15 steals against the 49ers.
“We played much better defense, especially in the second
half,” Howland said. “We were really helped by our
ability to cause turnovers.”
COLD SPELL: Almost half of the Bruins had some
sort of cough or cold on Tuesday, Howland said after the game.
For today’s day off, Howland’s lone instruction for
the Bruins was to dress warm.
“For us Westerners, this is cold weather,” Howland
said. “Our guys need to dress like it.”
For Shipp, Howland had specific instructions.
“He told me to move back home so my mom could dress
me,” Shipp said.
WESTBROOK CHIPS IN: Freshman point guard
Russell Westbrook scored a career-high 11 points against the
49ers.
Westbrook was 3-for-3 from the 3-point line, and chipped in with
one fastbreak dunk.
“They gave me the open shots, and I took them,”
Westbrook said. “I was just happy they went in.”
NO SUSPENSION: Long Beach State senior guards
Kejuan Johnson and Louis Darby threw punches in the 49ers’
previous loss to USC on Friday. Both were given technicals during
the game, but were not suspended for Tuesday’s game against
the Bruins. Johnson, however, did not end up playing on Tuesday,
because of a broken nose he sustained the previous week in
practice.