UPDATE:  Finally had a chance to correct the math.

Happy Thanksgiving.  Before I go to the Turkey, family and football.  Instead of a roundup, I thought I would take advantage of not having to work to do something a bit different.  How each player effected the game in the time they played, the old +/- .  The numbers confirm the obvious but they also show some interesting trends and one shock.

• Lazeric Jones -12
• Malcolm Lee -19
• Joshua Smith +13
• Reeves Nelson -24
• Tyler Honeycutt -9
• Jerime Anderson 0
• Brendan Lane -17
• Tyler Lamb +4
• Anthony Stover +4

What can we take we take from those numbers?

Defense is key. Smith is the man.

Nelson and Lee had terrible first halves .  For Nelson it was negative 22?  That right we lost the first half by 22 points when he was in the game.  In the second half Nelson played much better and his -2 for that half is a bit deceptive because the minus came at the very end when the game was over.  But the point stands, Nelson had a lax first half on D and Offense and he killed us.  Nelson needs to play with more consistent effort.

But it is not as simple as just benching Nelson.  The problem is his backup was almost as bad.  Lane was consistently negative in both halves.  Lane was out muscled inside and it showed.   

This shows the problem with stats.  On the stat sheet Nelson and Lane had some good numbers. 

On the flipside the number that sticks out (other than Smith) is Lamb.  CBH compared Lamb to AA.  Well his offensive is nowhere close but his defense obviously had a positive effect.  (Stover played too few minutes to be a real judge.) 

The shocker to me was Anderson.  Anderson did not hurt UCLA when he was on the court.  If I recall correctly the last time we did this stat he killed us.  This is one game and I am not sure what to make it.  I did notice Anderson really making an effort on the defensive end.  I still think he is a better 2 guard than PG but Anderson played all right last night. At a minimum, Anderson deserves credit for his effort.

Let me add Lee.  Lee number's where also surprising.  He was negative 20 in the first half.  He was a ghost in that half but I did not realize he was that bad.  Hopefully the ankle was part of the problem.

And let me close with Smith.  Wow.  Watching the game, I kept thinking get Smith the ball.  But it is more than that.  Everything changed for the better last night when Smith was in the game.  He is a force with his presence on defense.  Smith made everything better.  He needs to stop making silly fouls.  We need him in the game and this really proves it.

Go Bruins!