Bruins Use Efficient First Half to Beat UC Davis 74-67
by Tydides on Dec 13, 2010 9:39 PM PST
in Basketball
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PrintThe Bruins came out running and firing on all cylinders, abusing the Aggies inside, and apart from our perimeter defenders losing track of their guys whenever the ball would go inside, the defensive effort was generally solid. We saw some better help defense than we've seen all season on the interior at least, and UCLA rode Tyler Honeycutt and Malcolm Lee's hot start en route to a 40-27 lead at halftime. (box score)
Unfortunately, the story this season for the Bruins again played itself out in the form of inconsistency. The energy that had the Bruins diving on the floor for loose balls seemed to abandon them, and they appeared content to play the rest of the game to a draw with Davis, and that's exactly what they got. While they did a relatively good job on Joe Harden, they looked to borrow a page from our football team this year, letting an unknown off the bench in Josh Ritchart go off in the second half for 23 points to make things a little interesting. While the Bruins weren't really threatened in the second half, it would be nice to put two solid halves together again like they did in Lawrence.
Despite Honeycutt's start, and his double-double (10 points, 12 rebounds, 5 blocks), he did miss a number of layups that need to be converted, which showed up in his 4-16, 25% FGs line. At least he didn't have to carry the load himself. Malcolm Lee's 15 points were also a welcome sight for this team, 9 of them coming from 3 point baskets.
The rebounding edge skewed in our favor as well (44-28) as it should against a team like Davis without the size and bulk inside that we have, but once again our free throw shooting leaves much to be desired (9-17). This is especially disappointing coming from Lazeric Jones (3-6), whose aggressiveness on the ball is likely to earn him more trips to the line as the season wears on.
The win moves the Bruins to 5-4 on the season, and sets up a must win game on Saturday against BYU. The Cougars are the last chance for UCLA to get a "good" win on their tournament profile. If the Bruins think that one good half is going to be good enough to take a win from BYU, they will be sadly mistaken. There's no time to savor any kind of win. Not this year. If CBH wants to maintain the faith of Bruin fans going forward, he will find a way to make this team a tournament team, and that starts on Saturday. I guess the good news here is that CBH gets four full days to "coach 'em up", and the man does have a pretty good record the more time he gets to prepare.
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Great Summary
We need 40 minutes against BYU a half game won’t do it.
by DCBruins on Dec 13, 2010 9:50 PM PST via mobile reply actions
7, huh? That much? Mmmmm...
At least it’s a win and Lee showed up.
Can this team win on the road in the PAC-10?
Let’s hope so.
I don't think the score tells the story
We got complacent in the second half and one of their players went on a three point shooting tear to close out the game. That was the difference between a 7 point game and a 20 point blowout. I don’t think we’ll have the opportunity to relax next game.
It reminded me of WSU in 07-08
when we dominated the game (we didn’t dominate tonight though, and Davis wasn’t a top 5 team, you know, minor differences) but then Derrick Low went off and hit something like 5 or 6 3’s in the last 2 minutes to bring the game within single digits. We definitely had this game in hand, and played what was probably the best half we’ve played all season, but the second we would let up, Davis was there to cash in with some good shooting.
We're havin' too much fun today. We ain't thinkin' 'bout tomorrow.
by Steve Bruin on Dec 14, 2010 12:25 AM PST up reply actions
Check the game thread
I referenced that game right when that UCD kid started nailing threes left and right. I was actually at the Wazzu game and I’ve never seen anything like that before or since. I went back and checked the numbers from that game, it was seven threes in a minute and a half.
Actually, I'm pretty pleased with today's performance.
Other than really a few times where we just neglected to either stop the ball in transition, or just forget to rotate on the perimeter, most of UC Davis’ threes came under pretty close defense. They just made those shots. Not much you can do there, much like vs. WSU back in ’08.
Tyler Honeycutt missing layups was a problem, but I don’t think he’ll be that… cold very often.
Another thing is that, Jerime Anderson, despite all the flak he’s taken from UCLA fans, especially here, I’ve seen (and rightfully so)… really has stepped it up recently. Last 2 games, 11 Assists, 1 TO. While he’s not the PG, he’s still facilitating plays, and it’s nice to see.
While that doesn't mean I'm happy with a 7 point win over a team,...
That we could have beat by 20+, I’m not unhappy.
Ok win vs. less than ok team
We looked like athletic basketball players for parts of the game.
TH played a bad game. He shot poorly and turned it over on high risk low reward passing. I hope I am imagining it, but he constantly looks like he’s trying to be cool, including in the huddle. If your star doesn’t buy in, you are in trouble. This team needs everyone to buy in.
JS played another good game. He’s consistent as the tide, in fact he’s a tidal waive.
ML had a very good game, including 3-5 from 3. I take back that he’s a horrible offensive player. He’s a horribly inconsistent offensive player.
JA had his moments. ZJ played more like a veteran, although he turned it over squeezing between two players again.
RN had a decent game and did Brendan Lane. Tyler Lamb and Matt Stover made decent contributions.
They were on the verge of blowing UCD out, but let them back in. The did not defend the three well, and they were beaten on the drive by a bunch of white guys.
But they competed, and showed some progress. Saturday will tell us something, although I expect that we will be inconsistent all year, because our defense is below par.
I’ll bether on Sat. Go Bruins.
He's not as good as Jay Feely.
On Sunday, that guy had 5 FG’s (one from 55), 3 PAT’s, scored a TD on a fake FG, and made a tackle on a kickoff. He singlehandedly outscored the Broncos by 12.
Jay Feely. You can’t stop him. You can only hope to contain him.
greg in denver, UCLA guy for life - BruinsNation.com
JA has looked like a new player the last couple of games.
I thought he might have turned a corner versus VCU, but then he had an awful stretch that made me think I had PTSD because I was having nightmarish flashbacks to last season. Kansas he was inconsistent, and though not terrible against Montana, he didn’t do anything to make you think he deserved to be on the court. The last two games, though, he’s played within himself, played solid D, taken good shots, and made smart passes, in the process impacting the game positively. Hopefully he can continue to build on these performances and become a solid contributor.
We're havin' too much fun today. We ain't thinkin' 'bout tomorrow.
One strong half
We shot 80% FT’s in the first half and had 6 TO’s.
We ended the game with 53% FT’s and had 17 attempts. Davis only got 4 attempts and made 3.
By 10 min’s into the second half, we had another 6, and finished the game with 14.
The story of this game was our rebounding. We probably won’t have the physical edge we
had last night, again.
When we had the lead, we played like pussy cats, not barn cats.
Pussy cats play with the mouse and it often gets away. Barn cats eat the mouse.
We need to finish off our opponents, not let them stay in the game until the end. This has been a problem with our teams the last couple of years.
A win is a win. But, I’m no more confident about this team than I was after the Montana game.
sjh
+1
This game didn’t make me feel any worse, but it didn’t make me feel any better. The close score was a product of UCD’s good outside shooting. But they had too many easy baskets.
Agreed.
I was at that game. I welcome wins, but too many holes were let open, especially in the second half.
by Bruin805-310 on Dec 14, 2010 11:02 AM PST up reply actions
Ugly win!
too many turnovers when it looked like we were gonna put the game away in the second half! Lackluster defense and the inability to finish!
I like that the team s looking to push the ball after a miss but i would like to see them find a guard to handle the ball instead of bigs running it and turning it over.
"Success is never final, Failure is never fatal. It's Courage that count's" - John Wooden.
Why do you want that?
One of the big reasons we struggle is that our guards are not great at handling the ball or making good decisions. Frankly, I’m no more confident in Zeke/Anderson on the break than I am Honeycutt or Nelson.
+1
Both Honeycutt and Nelson are proficient at bringing up the ball on the break.
Wish we had guards to do it because that would leave Honeycutt and Nelson free to take the pass and “finish”.
We’d be in deep stuff if we had to rely on our guards to start and feed on the break.
sjh
I am
i would rather see the bigs running and finishing then trying to lead the break!
"Success is never final, Failure is never fatal. It's Courage that count's" - John Wooden.
And I want a million dollars
But just like I’m not going to get what I want, we’re not going to magically “find” a guard to do that. So how about we concentrate on how we can maximize what we have on this team instead of this team with unknown guard X that we’ve only been looking for the past two years.
I'm not coaching the team
i just gave my opinion on what i would like to see!
"Success is never final, Failure is never fatal. It's Courage that count's" - John Wooden.
You and Tydides are right
It would even be better if the guards, Zeke, JA, took off and filled lanes, when Nelson or Honeycutt get the rebound. They break would go much faster via a pass then having someone push it by dribbling the entire way. They could always hold up at the three point line if the break didn’t develope, so they could get back quickly on D in event of turnover.
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