What his teammates have seen of James Keefe in practice for the past several months has officially been revealed to the general public.
On Thursday, Keefe had a career night while helping UCLA maintain a lead over Western Kentucky that was vanishing rather quickly throughout the second half. The win helped propel the Bruins into the Elite Eight for the third straight season.
“It is kind of fun to see a guy that does the right things get rewarded by having the game of his life here and helping his team get on to the next round of the Elite Eight,” UCLA coach Ben Howland said.
After coming off a shoulder surgery in August, Keefe had been expected to redshirt the 2007-2008 season, but an injury that Michael Roll sustained midway through the season forced Howland to make a decision that is just now beginning to take shape.
Keefe, a sophomore forward, began to show his potential during the Pac-10 tournament and is continuing to improve through the first three rounds of the NCAA Tournament.
With the Bruins getting into foul trouble early in the game, Keefe was called upon by Howland to help UCLA prolong its season.
“It was a great opportunity with all the foul trouble,” Keefe said. “I just got in the zone. I was just working hard to get the second-chance points.”
Prior to the Bruins’ matchup against the Hilltoppers, Keefe met with assistant coach Donny Daniels to go over film from UCLA’s past few games. After noticing that Keefe didn’t attack the boards consistently, Daniels emphasized the need for him to do so.
“He said that I need to go to the glass every time,” Keefe said. “So when it came in the game tonight, it showed that it really worked.”
Not only did he pull down a career-high 12 rebounds, but Keefe was also able to convert several of his six offensive rebounds into second-chance points, including a follow-up dunk after a missed Russell Westbrook layup.
Keefe was able to complete his double-double with 18 points, with perhaps the two most important coming from the free-throw line with just over five minutes left in the game.
The Bruins were trailing 63-59 in the midst of an impressive Western Kentucky run that saw the UCLA lead diminish rapidly as Keefe stepped to the line for the front end of a 1-and-1.
Rather than having a flashback to his air ball when he was at the charity stripe against Stanford in the championship game of the Pac-10 tournament, Keefe calmly stepped up to the line and sank the free throw.
“That was kind of a turning point in my free-throw shooting,” he said of that miss. “After that I’ve been working really hard.”
His hard work has also extended to his defensive game, especially when he was matched up against smaller, quicker players, forcing him to use his length and size to catch back up with the opposition.
Keefe ended the night with four blocks, three of which came in the first half and a few of which came from behind when he was beaten off the dribble.
“He came in there and gave us a great effort and once again helped us win this one,” junior Luc Richard Mbah a Moute said. “Sometimes the starters don’t have good nights, and James came in and had a big night. I’m just glad he was ready when his name was called.”