UCLA Basketball Roundup: Worthy of a Kiss?
by DCBruins on Mar 6, 2011 4:43 AM PST
in Basketball
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PrintIt is said it is better to win ugly then loss pretty. Yeah, but I felt a lot better after the Kansas loss than the win over Washington State. As Tydides said before the game:
I’m more nervous if WSU is undermanned. Last game notwithstanding, our more "inconsistent" players seem to play better if they perceive a game to be a big one.
Tydides turned prophet. How did CBH get these Bruins to wake up after a first half that Jon Gold described as:
Playing with the energy of a water buffalo after a Thanksgiving dinner, the UCLA basketball team did not sleepwalk through the first half. They Bruins were downright in a coma.
UCLA started the half 5-of-16 shooting, finished 7-of-25, including 0-for-8 from 3-point range, and Washington State hit the backdoor cut like a layup line, taking a 32-19 lead into halftime. The Bruins' 19 points were their second lowest halftime total of the season, better only than the loss at Cal, when they had 18.
CBH didn't dump on the Bruins but did scare them:
Yet UCLA trailed by 15 points in the first half and by 32-19 at halftime.
"I talked about what was at stake, that we have to win this game," Howland said of his halftime talk. "I told them I want you to come out and play with the passion and intensity like this game is either going to get us in or get us out of the NCAA Tournament."
Apparently that worked. Of course it helps that the Cougars were playing without their starting backcourt and had in the lineup a red shirt graduating junior who rarely played.
More after the jump.
First, give credit to Washington State; in a sense, I think their fans have more to be proud of after the loss:
"Give all the credit in the world to Washington State for the way they came out and completely dominated the first half with all the adversity," UCLA coach Ben Howland said.
Bone said fatigue "could have been" a factor in WSU's lackluster finish. The Cougars played only seven players, including walk-ons Ben Loewen and Will DiIorio. . .
The Cougars have no seniors, but Loewen started on Senior Day because he is a redshirt junior who does not plan to play next season. The scrappy, rarely used guard from Spokane did not score in a career-high 21 minutes. . . .
DiIorio, a freshman out of Bainbridge High, played a season-high 18 minutes off the bench. DiIorio's one basket accounted for his first two points since Dec. 10.
Of course those two points by Diliro were more than the UCLA bench scored in this game (counting Smith as a starter), with Anderson, Lamb, Lane, and Stover scoring 0 in 49 minutes.
Part of the reason for the first half domination was the Bruins were unprepared for the new offense that desperate WSU unveiled and almost won with.
The Cougars, unveiling a variation of the Oregon offense and taking the Bruins by surprise with backdoor layup after backdoor layup, sprinted to the 26-13 lead, swallowing UCLA's offense whole. The Bruins started 2 for 12 from the field, finished the half 7 of 25 - including 0 for 8 from 3-point range - and the walk back to the locker room wasn't a jaunt so much as a full-on sprint. "It was one of those games where we weren't prepared; they had just put in Oregon's offense," UCLA junior forward Tyler Honeycutt said. "Same thing with Cal - we weren't able to adapt. We just wanted to get out of the first half and be able to come into the locker room and talk about it." Howland's halftime speech must have been a dandy. Reverting back to the inside-outside game that has served the team well during a 13-3 regular-season finish, UCLA tied the score at 35 on a Honeycutt 3-pointer with just more than 12 minutes left in regulation. Reeves Nelson's offense was key in leading us to victory but the end it was Malcolm Lee who was the leader. Lee did his usual great job on defense, holding the best player on the Cougars' squad, Faisal Aden to 4-17 shooting and, although not shooting well from the field being clutch from the line. Lee did all this with a bad knee: Washington State (19-11, 9-9) had the ball with the score tied at 54-54 in the final minute of overtime when Honeycutt read a play and knocked the ball to teammate Reeves Nelson, whose pass to Lee resulted in Lee being fouled underneath the Bruins' basket with 6.9 seconds remaining. As a result of all this UCLA earned the #2 seed in the Pac-10 tournament: UCLA will open play in the first game of Thursday's evening session (6:00 pm) versus the winner of Wednesday night's game between No. 7 seed Oregon and No. 10-seed Arizona State. As the guy who picked UCLA to finish second in the preseason BN poll I should feel good but after last night the guy who picked us 8th, while wrong, has something to crow about. One thing is sure, CBH was very happy last night. So happy he kissed a reporter. After the Bruins started this season 3-4, Howland did an interview with L.A. Daily News reporter Jon Gold, who asked if the Bruins could go on a roll and finish with 22 wins. Howland told Gold if that happened, he'd kiss him. Saturday, reminded of the conversation, he delivered. I know some will question Ben Ball after last night's win, some like CBH, will be ecstatic with the Bruins ability to comeback and win 19 games after a 3-4 start and last year's debacle. While the game was certainly not "kiss worthy," maybe the whole season, warts and all, was. I guess it is appropriate to close with a quote from the most controversial player, Reeves Nelson, in a Peter Yoon article, that maybe everyone can agree with: The poor first half Saturday continued a season-long trend of UCLA being unable to play well for 40 minutes and ultimately that cost them the conference title. A Feb. 20 loss at California and Thursday's loss at Washington, the most haunting in the minds of the Bruins. Go Bruins.
Lee, whose two free throws with 8.9 seconds left in regulation had sent the game into overtime, made two more from the line to give UCLA a 56-54 lead. Anderson then forced a turnover in the backcourt when he deflected a ball off Washington State's Marcus Capers with 5.6 seconds to go.
The Cougars fouled Lee again and he made two more free throws, his clutch foul shooting more than offsetting a two-for-10 performance from the field.
"I wanted the ball in that situation," said Lee, who is scheduled to undergo an MRI on the knee he injured when he landed hard late in regulation. "I knew I could knock them down."
"And I mean that kiss," Howland said after planting one on Gold's forehead. "I am so happy, you have no idea."
"It makes you look back and second guess losing at Cal and not executing up at Washington," Nelson said. But I think that if we can’t be first we’d rather be second. We’re going to do everything we can in the short amount of time we have and try and get as good as we can and try to win the Pac-10 tournament and see what we can do in the NCAAs."
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The kiss is sweet, Joshua's comments are not.
I loved watching the kiss video. Loved seeing CBH so happy for a moment and really let his guard down. Also I love the relationship he and Gold have. Again, I am really glad that Gold is following the Bruins.
As for Joshua’s assuming we’d be in the tournament…wow! I guess I was stunned to read that. They really were taking this for granted and didn’t care all that much I guess. They lucked out being able to come back. Even if you play brilliantly in a second half (which they did not), you can’t always control whether you can pull it off. That he said that really makes me feel that some player leadership needs to be missing among the guys. They lucked out because with suc beating u dub, our guys would have been a 3 seed in the pac 10 and would have played a team that hadn’t played the night before. As the 2, they get a team that has played the night before. Come on guys…every game matters.
Go Bruins!
Lee and Zeke.
I am also very concerned with their condition. I hope their able to get enough rest this week to get the knee and wrist right. Without them at near full strength I fear it could be really ugly. On the other hand, something in me has a great feeling for this team, even with all of the uglies. I am really looking forward to the Pac-10 and will be cheering as loud as I can for them. It will also be nice to watch the tournament selection show this year and actually care about it! Last year was just too horrible!
Go Bruins!
I feel like you might be adding words to Josh's quote that weren't there
It seems like your reading “I kind of felt like we were already in the tournament [so we didn’t have to play hard in this game]” when he actually said “I kind of felt like we were already in the tournament.” I think that CBH and Josh say essentially the same thing (I’m pretty sure we’re in but you never know) only CBH does it through a filter of coachspeak/head coach paranoia.
I am adding to his words.
However, the fact that he said them and that CBH felt it necessary to remind them that they might not be in at the half, makes me think that some of them might have had it in their heads that they didn’t have to win to get into the tournament. That CBH, anyway, felt that thought needed to be straightened out leads me to believe that he also felt there was a motivational problem (which usually translates into effort or lack of it). He obviously thought they needed to be reminded in order to change something going into the second half. If you think the whole problem is x’s and o’s (which was part of the problem), why even bring it up. To motivate, I suppose. And he obviously thought they needed it, more than just x’s and o’s.
Go Bruins!
I HATE FSN!!
I bitched at the beginning of the game thread that my local FSN was showing MVC tournament games and wouldn’t show the Bruins until 1am. So, I avoided sports last night and fired up my recording of the game this morning…to be greeted by the last 35 minutes of St. Louis Blues hockey, then the start of Pac-10 hoops – $c vs. UW, despite the on-screen guide saying it should have been our game. FWIW, I’ll fire off a nasty email to whatever executive emails I can find, but even though the game sounds like it sucked I’m pissed.
Roses are red, violets are blue...f*** $C.
by KSBruin on Mar 6, 2011 6:26 AM PST via mobile reply actions
Where is the offense
There is little movement (ok, both Washington teams spent lots of time in the zone) or ball reversal to the weak side. Where has Honeycutt gone on offense?
Big surprise ...
Arizona State finished last, having picked 4th place by the media in preseason poll.
Frustrating to watch
The offense execute the dreaded pass around the perimeter for 28 seconds and then scramble for a shot before the shot clock expires game plan. If I could stomach watching this putrid game again, I’d like to go back and count the number of our possessions in which the ball did not penetrate the 3 point line ever or until less than 10 seconds remained on the shot clock. There were a few in which we didn’t get closer than 28 feet for 25-30 seconds. Those who say Howland basketball is hard to watch had a field day yesterday.
For the first 12 minutes of the 2nd half, we actually penetrated with dribbling and passing and got a ton of easy baskets. Then, with the lead, we reverted to the pass around and a prayer. When we penetrate, we get easy scores (like the Arizona game). When they don’t, it’s not pretty.
Which is the better shot?
You’re playing golf on a new course where you don’t know the distance to the hole.
1. Shot one – You hit a nasty slice to the left. It rolls along the ground, bounces off a tree, deflects toward the green, hits a golf cart, rolls onto the green about a foot away from the hole.
2. You hit a perfect shot that hits a foot away from the hole, but lands on the first ball and careens into a nearby water hazard.
In my book, I’ll take shot #2. Good shot bad luck is better than bad shot good luck because it means I executed well, just got unlucky. But hopefully I’ll take that good execution to the next holes. I fear the Bruins are #1, they confuse activity with achievement, they think failure to prepare if better than preparing to fail.
These Bruins are still a mess. On one level, I’m happy to get a win, but on another level, I’d rather have the feeling that things are moving in the right direction. We’ve won a bunch of games recently, but it still feels random. The effort gets turned on and turned off, and there is no focus. Not what you really want to see this time of year.
the golf analogy doesnt fit
Going on the road at the end of the conference season is about as hard as it gets. Purdue lost to lowly Iowa and duke was blown out by the goats just to name a few. We did not play well but we came back and won and during selection time ws matter more than skill
by charnaw on Mar 6, 2011 9:54 AM PST via mobile up reply actions
Worthy of a kiss? Not really...
This season’s success probably is more Ben Howland than the players. Like Nelson said, if they executed like they should have against Cal and Washington, the Pac-10 title would be theirs. Unfortunately the players lost focus or didn’t play hard the full 40 minutes. So I hope the team has learned from their mistakes from the regular season and can flip the switch for the post-seasons now.
Come on now
I am not much of a basketball fan, but I saw all the previews. I don’t think many were predicting UCLA to be battling it out for the PAC-10 title this year. To a casual viewer like me, this year seems like a big improvement over last.
Hopefully they will take each NCAA Tourney game
as a big one. If they don’t they will certianly only have one.
The hot and cold offensive starts...
So yes, Washington State was scoring baskets on the back door passes, but really… this team basically just goes cold on offense, and that’s what has put us in the hole these past few games on the road. You can preach going inside to our big men, as well they should, but if they’re double or triple teaming the inside man, you can’t simply force it in when they’re looking for you to pass inside… you have to make some outside shots to make them respect it, or take some drives inside.
When we have good wins, it’s not only because we’ve been getting our inside shots, but it’s also because we’re hitting some from the outside as well, I think… and those guys, from the starting squad, are Zeke, Malcom and Tyler. And man, were they cold. That, I believe, has always been the difference between a good start and a cold one. Zeke, in particular, I’ve been worried about, because he usually has been able to hit those mid-range jays, as well as the open three, but he’s just been tanking the past few games, and has almost completely lost his ability to effectively drive inside. Couple that with Malcom being cold and Tyler not getting any open shots and you get the ice storm that let Washington State eventually build that lead.
The defense is what has allowed the Bruins to stay in and pull out wins down the stretch, so hopefully they keep their heads up and keep playing that hard ‘D’ for those games like the Washington State game. This team still has some growing to do, but I, for one, has been happy with their development to this point. Look forward to catching a game at Staples, and Go Bruins!
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