Author Archives: Sam Strong

We take a trip into both postgame press conferences after UCLA’s hard fought 66-59 win over St. John’s.

The game was especially important for the Bruins because former UCLA coach Steve Lavin was coaching from the other bench at the helm of the St. John’s Red Strom, a team that recently beat No. 5 Duke.

The game was a slug fest as the Red Storm scratched and clawed their way into the game in the second half, totaling 23 fouls in the game. The Bruins let them hang around, going 27 of 41 from the free throw stripe.

After one half of play, the hype surrounding Steve Lavin’s return to Pauley Pavilion has far exceeded the quality of the game.

UCLA took a 29-26 lead into the locker room despite a sloppy first half. Seven turnovers and rushed passes typified the first half of play for the Bruins (15-7, 7-3 Pac-10). In their second pre-noon game of the season, the Bruins slept walked out of the gate, much like they did against Stanford two weeks ago. St. John’s (13-8. 5-5 Big East) took an early 13-4 lead, forcing UCLA coach Ben Howland to burn a couple of early timeouts.

UCLA countered with a 7-0 run, sparked by freshmen Joshua Smith and Tyler Lamb. Smith finished the half with 12 points, including four monstrous dunks that were born of crafty passing to penetrate St. John’s zone pressure defense. Lamb was UCLA’s second leading scorer with six points coming on two big 3-pointers.

UCLA prevailed in the crosstwon rivalry for the first time in five games Wednesday night by defeating USC 64-50.

The win brings UCLA to 15-7 overall and 7-3 in the Pac-10, alone in third place behind Washington and Arizona which are tied for first.

The Bruins were led by freshman center Joshua Smith who finished with 15 points and six rebounds. Junior guard Malcolm Lee scored 13 points and held USC’s second leading scorer, Jio Fontan, scoreless.

The UCLA men’s basketball team may finally be prepared to hold serve on its home floor in the crosstown rivalry, something it hasn’t done since 2009.

The Bruins took a 36-35 lead into the locker room at the half.

UCLA started off hot, converting on their first five field goal attempts and jumping out to an early six point lead. The Bruins pushed the lead to nine ““ their largest of the half ““ with 9:33 remaining, forcing USC coach Kevin O’Neil to call a timeout. The Trojans chipped away at the lead, though and closed the half on a 9-2 run.

Here is the rest of the interview with UCLA’s five-star quarterback commit Brett Hundley. Hundley, from Arizona’s Chandler High School.

Part one of the Q&A ran in Tuesday’s Daily Bruin and can be found here

UCLA coach Rick Neuheisel announced the signing of 16 incoming freshman Wednesday at a press conference.

The class consists of 10 offensive players and six defenders.

Quarterback Brett Hundley, from Chandler, Arizona is the Bruins’ lone five-star recruit according so Scout.com. UCLA also picked up a late commitment from wide receiver Devin Lucien our of Crespi Carmelite High School in Los Angeles.