After 20 minutes of play, No. 24 UCLA leads Oakland 44-24.
In front of a crowd with plenty of holes, UCLA’s offense moved about as quickly as the Pauley Pavilion turnstiles early in the first half. The Bruins opened up the contest just two of six from the floor.
On their first fast-break attempt of the evening, the Bruins were whistled to a halt on a travel by sophomore guard/forward Kyle Anderson. On its next two possessions, however, UCLA finally found some explosiveness in the form of back-to-back dunks from junior guard Norman Powell and sophomore forward/center Tony Parker.
With 9:51 left to play in the half, a pair of made free throws from sophomore guard Jordan Adams kicked off an 8-0 run for UCLA that lasted about two minutes. The stretch gave UCLA its second-largest lead of the half at 23-13, a lead that would expand to as many as 20 points in the closing minute of the half.
Parker proved to be UCLA’s biggest source of offense on the first 20 minutes, converting on all five of his field goal attempts for 11 points and hauling in a career-high eight rebounds.
Compiled by Andrew Erickson, Bruin senior staff.