Bruins bear a beating with a 93-64 loss to the Cincinnati Bearcats

At the 13:16 mark of the first half, the Bruins boasted an eight-point lead.

The Bearcats bounced back – and then some.

In its first true road game of the season, UCLA men’s basketball (7-4) lost 93-64 to Cincinnati (10-2) on Wednesday night. The Bearcats responded to the Bruins’ fast start by putting together a 28-4 run of their own, burying the Bruins in their worst lost since Dec. 20, 2014 against Kentucky.

This is UCLA’s second straight loss – the second time this season that the Bruins have lost back-to-back games.

The Bearcats outrebounded the Bruins by 13, outscored them by eight in the paint, and outshot them by 12 percent from the field and 22.5 percent from 3-point range.

UCLA started 7-of-11 from the field, but went 3-of-14 to close out the first half. Sophomore guard Kris Wilkes had 12 points in the first frame, while the rest of the Bruins combined for 19.

Wilkes finished the game with a team-high 21 points.

Heading into halftime, the Bearcats built a 48-31 lead in their second-best offensive half of the season. The only time this year that Cincinnati scored more than 48 points in the first half was against Arkansas-Pine Bluff on Nov. 27.

The Bearcats’ 93 points were also the second-most the Bruins have allowed all season, and the 29-point lead Cincinnati held was the largest deficit UCLA has seen this year.

Sophomore guard Jaylen Hands dished out a season-high 12 assists, but he went 1-of-5 from the field, with all of his field goal attempts coming from behind the arc.

Freshman center Moses Brown scored two points on 1-of-2 shooting in the first period, but ended the game with 12 points and six rebounds. Redshirt freshman Cody Riley started on the other block and notched an 11-point, 10-rebound double-double.

UCLA will head to Chicago to take on No. 15 Ohio State on Saturday in the CBS Sports Classic.

 

Women’s basketball sees season-high shooting in its win over Oklahoma State

Cori Close said the team’s mentality throughout the past week revolved around two words.

“Fun and focus,” the coach said. “(I told them,) ‘Let’s work on having more fun together, working on plays with each other.’ … I really thought they lived that.”

UCLA women’s basketball (5-5) shot a season-high 52.5 percent against Oklahoma State (7-2) en route to a 71-59 win Sunday to put itself back at .500.

The Bruins blew its lead 40 seconds into the third quarter when the Cowgirls knotted the score at 33. But UCLA held Oklahoma State scoreless for about six minutes and strung together a 14-0 run to give the Bruins a 47-33 advantage – a lead it held for good.

UCLA outscored Oklahoma State 20-7 in the third quarter. Close said the determinant key of the lopsided scoring margin was rebounding after the Bruins outrebounded the Cowgirls 40-23 on the game.

“Rebounding gives us so many more shots on the goal and really demoralizes the other team,” Close said. “If we can continue to hunt for other shots that are high percentage, not only are we going to make more but we are also going to rebound more.”

Redshirt senior forward Lajahna Drummer notched her first double-double of the season with 12 points and five offensive and five defensive rebounds.

“I get a lot of offensive rebounding, but I could do better defensively,” Drummer said. “So going in, that was my focus – to try to balance it out.”

Senior guard Kennedy Burke led the Bruins with 20 points and went 9-of-14 from the field, including a buzzer-beater layup assisted by sophomore forward Lauryn Miller to end the third period. Burke returned after sitting out the Fresno State game due to an undisclosed injury.

“I was pretty happy (with my game today) because, even though the circumstances for me weren’t that great, I just took it day by day,” Burke said. “I knew I was going to be 100 percent today.”

Sophomore forward Michaela Onyenwere added 16 points to the Bruins’ score on 6-of-12 shooting. Close said she was pleased with her performance.

“(Onyenwere has) really worked on expanding her toolbox and her game,” Close said. “She’s a consistent outside shooter now. She attacked people off the bounce from the high post today.”

The Bruins had a season-high 50 points in the paint, attributing to 70 percent of their total scoring. Close said UCLA’s success was the result of a total team effort.

“To say that we pounded them in the paint when we don’t really have a true post player – we’re doing that with a lot of guards and a couple forwards,” Close said. “That’s (redshirt freshman guard) Lindsey (Corsaro) getting into the paint as much as it is (Onyenwere) getting points in the paint.”

UCLA will take on Illinois-Chicago with an opportunity to get back to a winning record in its penultimate nonconference game.

Men’s basketball loses battle of the Bruins in upset loss to Belmont

Missed free throws and poor late game execution plagued the Bruins.

UCLA men’s basketball (7-3) suffered a 74-72 upset loss to Belmont (8-1) at Pauley Pavilion on Saturday afternoon, handing the Bruins their first home loss since Jan. 13. Coach Steve Alford said the team lacked effort, but he took full responsibility for the outcome following the game.

“I didn’t like our energy, I didn’t like our attention to detail, our enthusiasm,” Alford said. “That falls squarely on my shoulders. I did a really poor job of getting them ready because I thought in our eight, nine, 10 games now, that was the most lethargic, less energy effort.”

UCLA led for over 32 minutes in the contest, but could not execute on the offensive end down the stretch, converting on just nine of its 24 attempts from the free-throw line in the second half. The Bruins also made just two total field goals in the final eight minutes of the game.

Sophomore guard Kris Wilkes said the offense has to do better job of creating opportunities for itself rather than always relying on the guy with the basketball to make a play.

“We’ve got to rotate the ball, move without the ball,” Wilkes said. “Every time somebody passes the ball we all just sit and look at each other. I mean, you can’t score, you can’t get open when you’re doing that.”

The Bruins took a three-point lead into the half after Wilkes poured in 19 points on 8-of-10 shooting, but after scoring just one point in the second half, Wilkes said he too felt partly responsible for the team’s diminished effort late in the game.

“I’ll take a lot of responsibility – I know (Alford) probably said he’d take a lot of responsibility – but really I think with me not playing at a high intensity, that kind of filters out to other players on the team,” Wilkes said. “I have to come to play every half and the whole game.”

UCLA’s lack of effort was not exclusive to the offensive end, however. Belmont scored the game-winning field goal on a backdoor cut with less than three seconds remaining, a play it had been running with continued success in the closing minutes.

Alford said he and his staff did their best to prepare the Bruins for the backdoor cut leading up to the game, but admitted that his team’s inexperience could have been the reason for the consistent breakdowns during crunch time.

“It’s a young group, so maybe we are putting too much on them as far as scouting reports and those types of things,” Alford said. “But I thought we covered the back door and I would guess we gave up three or four back doors in the second half alone, not to mention the last play of the game.”

Despite the frustration of Saturday’s loss on both ends of the ball, UCLA will have to regroup before heading out on the road to face Cincinnati (9-1) and Ohio State (9-1). Redshirt junior guard Prince Ali said the pair of upcoming nine-win matchups will be a good test of resilience for the Bruins.

“We’re about to play two really good teams, especially coming off of what just happened,” Ali said. “So it’s going to show how tough we are, just going out there and just competing.”

The Bruins will tip off against the Bearcats at 6 p.m. on Wednesday night.

Movie review: ‘Mortal Engines’ retreads tired tropes of far superior classics

“Mortal Engines” tries to be the steampunk version of “Star Wars,” but still falls short.

First-time director Christian Rivers borrowed heavily from the same character sheets and story beats as the global science fiction franchise when making this film, and it shows. This isn’t necessarily his fault; Rivers was previously a storyboard artist and visual effects coordinator for nearly all of producer Peter Jackson’s projects, from “Dead Alive” to “The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies.” The fantasy influences make “Mortal Engines” visually spectacular, but narratively subpar. Adapted from a young adult novel of the same name, the film runs into a recurring issue: There are so many characters and such an extensive story that it would have been better served as a television series rather than a two-hour movie that has lost all potential depth and nuance.

Admittedly the setting is intriguing, featuring a naturally grown-over Earth still rebuilding itself nearly a millennium after a global conflict called the Sixty Minute War left the planet devastated. Although typical settlements still exist, there are also “traction cities,” large mechanized communities that move across the landscape and consume the resources of smaller cities. Think “Howl’s Moving Castle,” but more vicious.

It’s on one of these traction cities that the audience is introduced to Hester Shaw (Hera Hilmar), a mysterious girl who is on a mission for revenge. On the giant roaming city of London, she attempts to assassinate her target Thaddeus Valentine (Hugo Weaving), the de facto leader of the London ship, who she blames for the death of her mother. Young archaeological apprentice Tom Natsworthy (Robert Sheehan), a plucky but inexperienced hero, ends up thrust into the wilds outside of London alongside Hester when Thaddeus pushes him overboard. Hester and Tom are saved by another tropelike figure: Anna Fang (Jihae), an outlaw leader of the “resistance” group in this world, who rescues them both with her airship in a yawn-inducing fight scene. Once revealed that Thaddeus is building a large old-tech weapon in order to plunder a stationary city of its resources, it’s up to the film’s heroes to stop him.

Some of this may sound familiar. A sinister villain with a world-ending weapon? Check. Skillful young apprentices shepherded by an outlaw in a fast ship? Double check. A resistance force trying desperately to fend off the overbearing influence of villains who speak with English accents? The force should be strong with this one.

But it truly isn’t. It is neither surprising nor entertaining when the audience figures out that Hester’s mother left her with the ultimate key to stopping Thaddeus’ weapon. Learning more about Hester’s parentage is similarly uninspiring. Making these undeniable connections to “Star Wars” only serves to show how unable “Mortal Engines” is to stand on its own.

Hester is the classic “chosen one” archetype, only in this film it isn’t some metaphysical expertise or sage mentor that forces her to be the protagonist of the film. Hester doesn’t have to make a choice about how she can best fulfill her destiny and stop the bad guy: She just has to show up.

The final showdown of the film also echoes the Death Star run from the first “Star Wars” film. The ragtag group of resistance pilots must face a barrage of enemy fire and plant precise shots of their own in order to successfully stop the attack on their home. Only this time, instead of X-wing fighters, there’s a conglomeration of steam-powered airships and old-timey Gatling guns. It is frustrating that a viewer could pick out so many iconic scenes from a classic space opera in what is supposed to be a young adult steampunk story.

There are some redeeming qualities about “Mortal Engines,” even if they don’t make up for the neutered story. The character Shrike (Stephen Lang), an armored zombielike creature with glowing green eyes, is an imposing figure, and his pursuit of Hester throughout the movie makes him seem villainous, but that’s only his robotlike nature. His character arc is by far the most interesting and heartfelt of the entire film, and not nearly enough time was spent on his backstory. There’s subtle humor poking fun at current pop culture icons, and enough charm to keep audiences invested in the story for a short time.

But ultimately the film suffers from the same problem that so many fantasy movies before it have endured: It is hampered by its format and is comparable to too many original films without being original enough itself. Hester may be “the chosen one” in this story, but “Mortal Engines” will likely be just another small blip on the box office radar.

Movie review: ‘If Beale Street Could Talk’ paints visual poetry woven with incisive critique

“Moonlight” was only the beginning for director Barry Jenkins.

Almost two years after his second feature film’s best picture win, Jenkins’ name has resurfaced in the Oscars conversation following the release of his highly anticipated new film “If Beale Street Could Talk.” Adapted from James Baldwin’s 1974 novel, the film is a delicate period romance and a poignant depiction of racial injustice that showcases Jenkins’ penchant for poetic visual storytelling. Although his third feature film is more flawed than its predecessor, “If Beale Street Could Talk” is an undeniably beautiful portrait of a couple torn apart by a corrupt criminal justice system.

The film chronicles the relationship between 22-year-old Alonzo (Stephan James), who goes by Fonny, and 19-year-old Tish (KiKi Layne) as they navigate life and love in 1970s Harlem. The picture-perfect love story is almost immediately shattered, however, when Fonny is incarcerated on a false rape accusation. After Tish discovers she’s pregnant, her and her family band together in a desperate effort to clear his name.

Tish and Fonny’s relationship is told primarily via flashbacks interwoven throughout the present-day turmoil. Tender moments – ranging from house hunting to their first time having sex – are juxtaposed with the bleak reality of the current situation. Jenkins intentionally paints the fragments of their past as picturesque to illustrate the idyllic future that racism could potentially deny the young couple.

While the flashbacks fulfill a pointed purpose, the utopic framing of the past sacrifices some of the authenticity of their relationship. No relationship, nor any single person, is perfect, and both Tish and Fonny lack the flawed complexity of fully fleshed out characters. The two leads frequently come off as one-dimensional, characterized primarily by the love they feel for one another. As the story effectively highlights issues of racism and imprisonment, the characters’ personalities feel secondary to their circumstance.

One of the more compelling characters is Tish’s mom Sharon, played masterfully by Regina King. In an unjust world that seems pitted against Tish and Fonny, Sharon is a steadfast force of compassion while refusing to give in to a system that victimizes her family. She celebrates when her teenage daughter announces her out-of-wedlock pregnancy and she travels to Puerto Rico in the hopes of convincing Fonny’s accuser of her mistaken identification. King deftly balances Sharon’s gentle demeanor and the fire burning just below the surface, infusing the character with a level of empathy that is rarely achieved in fiction.

Visually, the film is stunning, incorporating vibrant splashes of yellows, greens and reds in both the costumes and the set design that radiate warmth despite the dire situation. The flashbacks are accompanied by sweeping, graceful camera movements that reflect the intimacy between the characters and breathe life into their romance. Conversely, the present-day scenes feature more stagnant camerawork that matches the realistic tone. Centrally framed close-ups in which the characters look simultaneously at and through the camera establish a vulnerability signature to Jenkins’ work.

Jenkins is as much a poet as he is a filmmaker, and “If Beale Street Could Talk” seamlessly cuts from past to present like free verse poetry. Tish narrates both time periods, and although the voiceovers showcase the depth of Baldwin’s prose, they feel unnecessary at times. Jenkins is more than capable of telling a visual story without relying on voiceover, and the narration distracts from the subtle emotions captured on screen. In spite of its shortcomings, the film avoids the constraints of other formulaic Hollywood dramas due to the absence of a rigid plot structure. The film is less concerned with plot and more focused on evoking emotion through nonlinear storytelling, which provides a refreshing viewing experience.

Much of the film’s emotional impact stemmed from the story’s political relevance, even nearly 50 years after the novel takes place. “If Beale Street Could Talk” is both a moving love story and a richly layered look at how the American criminal justice system works against black men. It is a fragile, melancholic romance that rejects the despondency of tragedy – a social critique that refuses to preach. But although the critique was powerful, Tish and Fonny were repeatedly rendered hollow by the emphasis placed on their starry-eyed romance. Nevertheless, the film embodies both the struggle and the perseverance that Jenkins, like Baldwin, argues are fundamental aspects of the black experience.

The film opens with a direct quote from the book: “Every black person born in America was born on Beale Street,” cueing the audience in to the symbolism of the title. Beale Street represents the black voices that are too often silenced, and the film serves as a 119-minute snapshot of what they would say if given the chance.