Well, that was interesting.
To say the UCLA men’s basketball team stole a 62-61 exhibition victory over Concordia on Wednesday would be an understatement.
The Bruins committed highway robbery.
After struggling for much of the game, redshirt junior point guard Mustafa Abdul-Hamid played the role of John Dillinger, knocking down a clutch 3-pointer with 16.1 seconds left to give the Bruins a one-point lead. Concordia’s Terrence Worthy nearly outdid Abdul-Hamid on the other end, but a slew of last-second shots failed to go down.
UCLA fans, both shocked by the close score and relieved by the outcome, celebrated briefly before filing out of Pauley Pavilion.
“It’s instinct once you’re there,” Abdul-Hamid said of his game-clincher. “You try to do what you’re supposed to do and knock down an open shot.”
With starting point guard Jerime Anderson dressed in street clothes and waving a towel from the bench, Abdul-Hamid did just that.
By hitting the dramatic game-winner in his first career-start, Abdul-Hamid made up for his game-high seven turnovers.
“It was nice to see Mustafa hit the shot after having such a tough night handling the ball,” coach Ben Howland said.
But even Abdul-Hamid’s shot could not hide the fact that the Bruins looked out of sync offensively.
Sophomore forward Drew Gordon’s energetic 17-point, 11-rebound performance off the bench seemed to be the only bright spot for a depleted UCLA team that was without a pair of key contributors in Anderson (groin) and senior guard Michael Roll (ankle).
“We were pretty fatigued by the end of the game because we haven’t been a full squad at practice,” Gordon said.
Sophomore guard Malcolm Lee, who added 11 points but fouled out with more than four minutes remaining, also saw time at the point. Freshman forward Mike Moser was in the rotation as well, but the injuries to Anderson and Roll forced Howland to play Abdul-Hamid for a game-high 36 minutes.
“It was a rough night,” Abdul-Hamid said. “I’ve never played that long.”
Abdul-Hamid was not the only Bruin who had a rough night. UCLA looked lackadaisical from the start and went into the locker room with a three-point deficit at the half. Without any rhythm offensively, the Bruins were down by as many as eight points in the second half and did not have an answer for Concordia guard Justin Johnson, who led the Eagles with 21 points on a stellar nine-of-12 shooting.
“He was just driving around us, driving around us, driving around us,” Howland said of Johnson.
Concordia, an NAIA school located in nearby Irvine, utilized a full-court press to fluster the Bruins.
“Those guys came in here fired up like everybody does playing in Pauley,” Howland said.
UCLA committed 20 turnovers, a clear by-product of Anderson’s absence combined with the Eagles’ constant on-ball pressure. UCLA didn’t help itself by shooting just nine-of-19 from the free-throw line.
In the end, the Bruins were lucky to avoid a stunning loss.
“Practice would have been tough,” Gordon said half-jokingly.