Sometimes Reeves Nelson just can’t decide what position he wants to play.
In a short stretch to start the second half, the ever-active sophomore forward led a fast break and dished out an assist to a cutting Lazeric Jones. Then, he stuffed what appeared to be a surefire Pepperdine dunk. Finally, he finished a three-point play to give the Bruins a double-digit lead, one that they wouldn’t relinquish in defeating Pepperdine 79-69 in an NIT Season Tip-Off opening-round game.
“I really have a lot of confidence in Reeves with the ball in his hands,” coach Ben Howland said.
Nelson’s play was part of a 26-2 run by UCLA (2-0) that spanned both halves, and propelled the Bruins from being down eight points to being ahead by double-digits.
Four nights after getting off to a blistering start against Cal State Northridge, UCLA was less energetic and had trouble finding a rhythm. In the early going, the outside shooting of sophomore forward Tyler Honeycutt was the only thing keeping the Bruins in the game against Pepperdine’s zone defense. Honeycutt hit a pair of early three-pointers and led all scorers with 12 points in the first half.
Following the game, the Bruins attributed some of their slow start to being out of sync as a result of the night’s schedule, which had them playing the second game of a double-header and thus unable to go through their standard pre-game regimens.
“Our routine was kind of messed up,” Nelson said.
After the Waves (0-2) built their lead to 34-26 ““ their largest of the night ““ the Bruins put together a 10-0 flurry to go into the half up two. They continued their scorching play into the second, finally capitalizing on fast-break opportunities and clamping down on Pepperdine’s dribble penetration.
“We were getting too lazy on defense,” Honeycutt said. “Once we started getting stops we got easy transition points, and they weren’t able to get back into the zone.”
Nelson finished with 20 points on eight-of-10 shooting from the field. He also had 11 assists and received a loud ovation from the home crowd when he was subbed out with two and a half minutes to go.
Much to the delight of the Pauley Pavilion crowd, freshman center Joshua Smith began to assert his will about midway through the second half. Smith scored on four consecutive possessions, often having to grab multiple rebounds before finishing. All 13 of his points came in the second half as the Bruins fed him the ball time and again.
“I was just more aggressive (in the second half),” Smith said. “In the first half I wasn’t really asking for the ball and demanding it. The more we get it inside, the more opportunities will open up.”
With the win, UCLA advances to the second round of the tournament Tuesday night against Pacific, a 64-53 winner over Nevada on Monday. In their win, the Tigers got 15 points from senior forward Sam Willard and pulled away in the second half after trailing by one at halftime.
The winner of that matchup will advance to the semifinals in New York City next week.
UCLA will be without junior guard Malcolm Lee, who left the game in the first half with a left-ankle injury and did not return. He was taken to the hospital, but X-rays were negative.
Without a top perimeter threat, UCLA will likely see plenty of the zone defense that Pacific flashed during its game and that Pepperdine excelled at in the first half.
“Hopefully we’ll handle that better (on Tuesday),” Howland said.