A career-high 28 points didn’t phase junior guard Brian
Morrison.
Nor did draining six critical three-pointers or converting a
pair of mesmerizing coast-to-coast lay-ups.
But nine rebounds?
“That’s something special,” said Morrison
after UCLA’s 84-70 victory over UC Riverside Wednesday night
at Pauley Pavilion.
It appears coach Ben Howland’s emphasis on defense and
rebounding is already rubbing off on the Bruins (2-0) after just
two regular season games. Morrison, who admittedly was excited
about a blistering 11-for-15 night from the field, credited his
success to his teammates setting good screens and getting him
wide-open looks at the basket.
“They definitely opened up shots for me,” he said.
“Coach ran a few plays for me, and I knocked down my looks.
It was exciting.”
It had to be, considering the nightmarish two years Morrison has
endured. He was a role player on the 2001-02 North Carolina squad
that lost 20 games before transferring to UCLA in time to sit on
the bench throughout last season’s 10-19 catastrophe.
But since Howland arrived in Westwood last April,
Morrison’s career has been on the upswing. He has established
himself as a fixture in the UCLA starting lineup at shooting guard,
dazzling the coaching staff with his explosive athleticism and
marksmanship from the perimeter.
Both of those aspects of his game were on display against the
Highlanders (0-4). With the Bruins nursing a tenuous one-point
halftime lead, Morrison helped spark UCLA’s decisive run,
burying four second-half three-pointers and penetrating the
Riverside defense at will.
Twenty of Morrison’s 28 points came in the second half as
the Bruins built a double-digit lead with 12 minutes remaining in
the game.
“It was a pleasure to watch him tonight,” junior
Cedric Bozeman said. “He was really confident. I just tried
to get him the ball whenever he was open.”
Morrison’s shooting was so torrid that three of his four
missed shots came on one frenetic possession. Midway through the
second half he pulled down the rebound of his own errant
three-pointer, drove to the basket, missed a lay-in, and secured
the board again, only to have his third shot blocked.
He later drew Howland’s ire again in the waning moments of
the game, draining an open 15-footer instead of running time off
the clock.
“Sometimes, he got a little haywire out there,”
Howland said. “He took a couple of crazy shots, but overall
he had a good game. He’s aggressive. He plays with high
energy. He doesn’t look like he’s tired out there
ever.”
Morrison’s performance overshadowed UCLA’s dramatic
improvement in several key aspects of the game. After Howland
emphasized rebounding all week in response to the poor showing
Saturday against Vermont, the Bruins responded.
Capitalizing on its size advantage, UCLA outrebounded the
Highlanders 39-24, with seven-footers Ryan Hollins and Michael Fey
pulling down seven and six rebounds respectively.
“To outrebound them by 15 was outstanding,” Howland
said. “That was one of the keys to winning.”
Howland also credited an improved defensive effort in the second
half, as UCLA limited the Highlanders to 36.5 percent shooting from
the field compared to an incredible 65 percent for the Bruins.
While being serenaded by the UCLA crowd during a second-straight
win and a huge offensive outing was exciting for Morrison, by the
end of the night he was already looking ahead to UCLA’s
matchup with No. 9 Kentucky on Saturday.
“We beat Riverside, but we should beat Riverside,”
Morrison said. “This was just a temporary
satisfaction.”