UCLA effectively took the crowd out of the game by the end of the first half against Oregon State on Saturday. By the time there were five minutes left in the game, people were streaming for the exits of Pauley Pavilion.
It’s not often that a team can dominate a game so thoroughly that it actually causes its own fans to lose interest.
It’s also not often that a team can dominate a game so thoroughly that its second- and third-string players actually extend the lead over an opposing team.
But I guess that’s the nature of 47-point victories.
It takes a certain type of person to really appreciate the blowouts. It’s the difference between fans of a team and fans of a sport. Fans of a team want to see 47-point blowouts every game; fans of a sport want to see good games.
One of my friends mentioned to me on Friday that he was thinking of going to the Oregon-USC game rather than the UCLA-Oregon State game. This did not make sense to me.
I enjoy good basketball. A basketball game that comes down to the wire is probably more exciting than the endgames of most other sports, simply because it happens at such a fast pace. That’s why March Madness is so popular.
But I don’t really care how good a game is; if UCLA is playing some D-III school while Florida is playing North Carolina, I’ll be watching UCLA crush the University of Southwestern Montana College of the Arts at Big Timber (or play them close, depending on whether it’s an early season non-conference game). It’s just the way I tick.
All that is to say I wouldn’t have traded UCLA being up 48-18 at the half and 82-35 at the end of Saturday’s game for any game not involving UCLA. There’s something exceedingly glorious in a drive and dish from Joey Ellis to Nikola Dragovic for two points, something pure in coach Ben Howland continuing to implore his team of walk-ons and what was probably a team manager or two to play defense, something funny in Ellis jacking a 3 with 20 seconds to go and Dragovic providing the calming presence to hold onto the ball for the last 15 seconds.
Still, I can’t help but think that if Sasa Cuic had started for the Beavers, it would have changed the entire complexion of the game.
Instead of a 47-point victory, it might have been more in the neighborhood of 40.
It’s really hard to draw anything away from blowouts because you’re generally too busy making stupid comments like “Matt Lee really needs to be better at dribble penetration come tournament time” (or maybe that’s just me). Still, encouraging signs from the game include:
Luc Richard Mbah a Moute, having read and digested every word in my last column, continued to play well, again not missing a shot. He will probably not miss another one the rest of the year.
Darren Collison had 10 assists in 24 minutes, which is a ridiculous stat for which I have no frame of reference.
Arron Afflalo was so money and he didn’t even know it.
The only problem I find with blowouts is that, after one, I expect them. I firmly expect a 30-point victory over USC on Wednesday. I expect Lee and Ellis to be throwing down tomahawk dunks on Taj Gibson. I expect DeAndre Robinson to break Gabe Pruitt’s ankles off the dribble. I expect Ryan Wright to catch the ball.
USC’s no better than Oregon State, right?
E-mail Woods at dwoods@media.ucla.edu if you think he should have tried to write something negative about Saturday’s win.