Too bad college basketball games are 40 minutes long.
Or, in the case of Tuesday night’s game, 45.
The Bruins played admirably for 35 minutes in their season
opener Tuesday night, but it was the final 10 minutes that cost
them the victory in an 86-81 overtime loss to San Diego in front of
6,845 spectators at Pauley Pavilion.
“We have to learn how to put teams away,” forward
Dijon Thompson said.
UCLA was up by as many as eight points in the second half, but
costly turnovers and poor shooting, combined with dominant post
play from San Diego center Jason Keep, allowed the Toreros to climb
back to tie the game at 73 at the end of regulation play.
Keep finished with 30 points and 16 rebounds, both game highs.
In all, the Bruins were outrebounded 49-33, and San Diego had 21 of
those rebounds on the offensive glass.
“We needed to contain their second shots by getting more
defensive rebounds,” Thompson added.
But despite Keep’s domination on the boards, the Bruins
““ specifically guard Jason Kapono ““ had several
opportunities to quell the San Diego rally by hitting key
shots.
Needless to say, the Bruins came up short. Kapono went 1-for-9
from the field in the second half before fouling out in overtime.
The whole team seemed to take questionable shots down the
stretch.
“My leg was cramping up in the second half,” Kapono
said. “Those are shots I usually make throughout the fall,
winter, spring and summer. I just didn’t have my
legs.”
Tuesday’s loss puts UCLA in a tough spot. They have yet to
win as a team, dropping two exhibition games and then losing again
Tuesday night. And now they go against No. 6 Duke on Friday on
national television.
“We are on alert now,” point guard Cedric Bozeman
said. “That red light is coming on. We need to step up our
game.”
To the Bruins’ credit, they did step up their game last
night in comparison to the exhibition games, which were both
embarrassing debacles.
“I feel like we got better today,” Cummings said.
“We made a big step forward.”
Despite the decent play, San Diego (2-0) never quit, playing 45
minutes of intense, smart basketball.
“They came out firing,” guard Jon Crispin said.
“They would have beat a lot of teams with the way they played
tonight. They did everything right. You have to give them
credit.”
“Obviously this is a big win for our program,” said
San Diego head coach Brad Holland, a former UCLA player and
assistant coach who is in his ninth season with the Toreros.
“To come in and beat a ranked team, this is probably our
biggest win since I’ve come here.”
UCLA head coach Steve Lavin possibly handed San Diego the win by
not using the full-court press at all, opting to go with a
half-court man and zone defense instead.
Lavin said the absence of redshirt sophomore Ryan Walcott, who
was sitting out the first game of a two game suspension, was the
main reason he didn’t press.
But the breakdown of both the perimeter defense (San Diego hit
nine three-pointers) and the post defense left many spectators
second-guessing that move.
Whether UCLA should be ranked in the top 15 is another story.
With the lack of a dominant inside presence, and with trouble
playing intense basketball, the Bruins have a lot of work to do to
gain back their respectability.
“We are a long way from being a good basketball
team,” head coach Steve Lavin said. “We are short on
quickness and depth.”