As far as tune-ups go, it wasn’t much of a test.
UCLA’s comfortable 76-41 victory over Division II Cal State San Bernardino (3-1) in the second round of the CBE Classic on Tuesday was billed as an opportunity for the Bruins (3-0) to work out their struggles against the press, but in the end it was essentially a clinic on how to operate against a press.
Point guard Russell Westbrook had 6 assists and just one turnover, and his backups at the point, Mustafa Abdul-Hamid and Josh Shipp, combined for 4 assists and 2 turnovers.
“I was very concerned coming into today’s game because (Cal State Bernardino) played very well against Weber State,” coach Ben Howland said. “I thought we attacked the press very well for a team that hasn’t seen presses very much yet. I thought Russell did a very good job again. Russell’s improved the last three games in a row.”
Much of the first half was guard-dominated, as the Bruins took 12 3-point shots and made eight of them. However beginning in the second half, the Bruins made a concerted effort to get star freshman center Kevin Love the ball in the post.
At the half, Love had just 3 points and 3 rebounds, and it seemed as if there was a reversion to last year, when at times the guards were loath to throw the ball into the post.
But starting in the opening seconds of the second half, Love went on a tear, scoring 10 points in a little over four minutes to start the half and finishing his night with 19 points and 9 rebounds.
Howland said that Love’s performance had as much to do with his own improved play in the second half as it did with his teammates’ getting him the ball
“I was really pleased with Kevin’s second half in particular,” Howland said. “I thought he did a better job at sealing. The one thing he’s going to learn in a zone is that if you don’t lay your body right on the guy behind you, which you saw in the first half he didn’t do a couple of times, the ball was coming in kind of like a slow pass and they were going for it just like he was.”
In the first half, Love had difficulty getting himself open, and at times, even when he was open, the guards had difficulty finding him down low, some of which is probably attributable to all of the bodies San Bernadino put around Love.
“That was part of the game plan (for San Bernadino in the first half), that they were going to push it in on the inside,” Love said. “Like coach Howland said, I just need to seal more. I just need to get more touches so I can find my teammates on the outside … for easy buckets.”
COLLISON IMPROVING: Point guard Darren Collison, out with a minor knee injury, has begun to do more work and could return to practice as early as Friday, Howland said.
“I don’t know yet (if he will be back by Monday’s game against Maryland),” Howland said.
“He did go through a series of things today on the court which included shooting very well. He also did some sprints. That’s the best news of the day. I’m cautiously optimistic that things are going well and he will be back shortly. But we can’t know that yet.”