It was another sleepwalking affair for a team that can afford to
snooze – for now.
In the middle of a sparse crowd of fans checking watches and
stifling yawns, the No. 1 UCLA basketball team cruised to a dreary
74-53 victory over Oakland (6-7), another in a series of
overmatched nonconference opponents.
The Bruins came out of the gate quickly, leading 5-0 in the
early going, but could not sustain it in the first half. With just
a few minutes to go in the half, the Bruins led just 21-19 because
of some poor decisions with the basketball and some very poor
rebounding.
Against a starting front line that averaged just 6-foot-6, the
Bruins (9-0) were unable to box out effectively, which led to UCLA
being outrebounded 38-33 in the game. It is a disturbing trend for
a team that prides itself on its defensive fundamentals.
"I look at those guys, they must have a heck of a weight
program," coach Ben Howland said. "We’ve been
outboarded two games in a row now. We weren’t blocking out well. If
we continue getting beat on the boards, we’re
going to lose."
On the boards and defensively, the Bruins did not have a good
interior game. Oakland’s center, Shawn Hopes, who is 275 pounds at
6-foot-7-inches, bulled and crashed his way to 17 points behind an
array of drop steps and turnaround hook shots. UCLA did not really
have an answer defensively, but it did not matter because they were
guarding so effectively on the perimeter.
Oakland’s two starting guards, Johnathon Jones and Erik Kangas,
were a combined 3 for 21 from the field.
The Bruins basically sealed the game with a 12-0 run to end the
first half and a relatively hot start to the second half.
Point guard Darren Collison led UCLA scorers with 15 points as
the Bruins shot roughly 50 percent in the game.
Saturday’s game was the first for the Bruins since last
Saturday’s Wooden Classic in which the Bruins defeated then-No. 6
Texas A&M 65-62. The intervening week has been filled with
finals, perhaps offering some explanation for the lethargic effort
to start the game.
"It was a hard week when you have a finals week," Howland said.
"We weren’t done with finals until Thursday evening."
The Bruins will next face another patsy, Sam Houston State, at
home Tuesday before getting some legitimate competition Saturday
against 11-1 Michigan.
NOTES: Star UCLA 2007 commit Kevin Love was in
attendance at Saturday’s game. Love played a high school game in
Pauley Pavilion on Friday night in which he scored 25 points to go
along with 13 rebounds and nine blocks. … Backup
point guard Russell Westbrook was taken out of the game with a leg
injury late in the second half. Howland did not know the severity
of the injury, only that it was being iced.