NEW YORK “”mdash; UCLA is in danger of leaving New York City winless as the Bruins trail the Georgia Bulldogs 30-25 at halftime.
For the second straight night, No. 11 UCLA started slowly, falling behind by 11 early after the Bruins fell into an eight-point hole on Monday.
UCLA closed the half on a 6-0 run to cut into Georgia’s lead.
Freshman phenom Shabazz Muhammad got the first start of his collegiate career because redshirt junior forward David Wear is sitting out with a sore back, an injury he sustained on Monday. Muhammad finished the half with seven points. Fellow freshman Kyle Anderson leads the Bruins in scoring with eight.
Just as Georgetown’s zone defense bothered UCLA on Monday, the Bruins are having issues cutting into Georgia’s zone. Coach Ben Howland tried to fight fire with fire by uncharacteristically switching to a zone midway through the first half. Although the Bruins posses a size advantage over the Bulldogs, Georgia outrebounded UCLA in the first half, 16-15.
Compiled by Sam Strong, Bruin Sports senior staff.