Bruins took care of business of last night disposing a pesky Beavers team which gave them all they could handle for the first 10 minutes. Yet Diane Pucin is back to her old self whining about the way the Bruins won another game. Shipp had a classic simple response (posted on BBR) to all the whining:
"Any win is a good win," UCLA's Josh Shipp said. "We're not out to impress people. We're just out to win ballgames."
And that's what they did last night. Bruins came out a little flat early on last night, but made the necessary adjustments during half time, and as they have done throughout this year, wore down their opponent with their depth and defense in second half, putting together another double digit win. This win was their first true road win of the season. Here is Dohn's report:
[A]s has been the season-long mantra, the top-ranked Bruins dominated the second half with inspired defense, and eased past the lowly Beavers 71-56 at Gill Coliseum to remain one of two undefeated teams in the nation.
Josh Shipp's 18 points paced UCLA, which was on an opposing team's home court for the first time, although the Bruins did not come across a hostile crowd as the 6,834 in attendance were quiet throughout. The Bruins (14-0, 3-0 Pacific-10) and Clemson are the only perfect teams remaining after USC dropped Oregon.
"It was our first true road game and we didn't get off to the start we would have liked, but I think we came out in the second half and pushed the tempo a little bit and got some turnovers and extended the lead," Shipp said. "I think a lot of guys were excited and made a lot of turnovers that were unnecessary.
"We came in (to the locker room) and talked about it and buckled down in the second half."
Arron Afflalo added 14 points and Luc Richard Mbah a Moute (11 points), Darren Collison (11 points) and Lorenzo Mata (10 points) all reached double figures.
DC didn't have his best game though. He was struggling in the first half not handling the Beavers full court pressure too well. From BBR:
Josh Shipp's 18 points paced UCLA, which was on an opposing team's home court for the first time, although the Bruins did not come across a hostile crowd as the 6,834 in attendance were quiet throughout. The Bruins (14-0, 3-0 Pacific-10) and Clemson are the only perfect teams remaining after USC dropped Oregon.
"It was our first true road game and we didn't get off to the start we would have liked, but I think we came out in the second half and pushed the tempo a little bit and got some turnovers and extended the lead," Shipp said. "I think a lot of guys were excited and made a lot of turnovers that were unnecessary.
"We came in (to the locker room) and talked about it and buckled down in the second half."
Arron Afflalo added 14 points and Luc Richard Mbah a Moute (11 points), Darren Collison (11 points) and Lorenzo Mata (10 points) all reached double figures.
Point-guard Darren Collison struggled against the full-court pressure applied by the Beavers in the first-half. In addition, Oregon State's Josh Tarver's defensive pressure seemed to bother Collison at times and take him out of his rhythm. Tarver had three steals by halftime while Collison had five turnovers in the game.
Although Collison finished with 11 points and 6 assists, it was certainly not one of his better games. Either it was the result of Collison having a sub-par performance or Oregon State' defense - or perhaps both, the Bruin offense sputtered without Collison directing it efficiently.
UCLA had an uncharacteristic nine turnovers by halftime with seven of them off steals by Oregon State.
Shipp carried the Bruins with his scoring in the first half leading the Bruins to a 6 point lead at half time.Although Collison finished with 11 points and 6 assists, it was certainly not one of his better games. Either it was the result of Collison having a sub-par performance or Oregon State' defense - or perhaps both, the Bruin offense sputtered without Collison directing it efficiently.
UCLA had an uncharacteristic nine turnovers by halftime with seven of them off steals by Oregon State.
And as mentioned above Bruins turned it on right from the get go in second half. Once again amazing what adjustments in the locker room can do to a team after half time. Instead of playing tentative, sloppy, Bruins kicking it into a different gear right from the opening tip off building a double digit lead, which they maintained pretty much throughout the second half. Here is the OC Register on Bruins taking care of business:
The Bruins (14-0, 3-0 Pac-10), while far from spectacular, pretty much went about their business in beating down the Beavers in front of 6,834.
The Bruins struggled some against the zone defense, but they used their own defense to set up some easy baskets in transition. They pressured the Beavers into some horrendous shots and just sat back and watched a few times as OSU badly whiffed on some easy shots.
The Beavers hit just 22 of 57 shots (38.6 percent) and scored 26 points in the second half when pushed the Bruins their lead to 17 points.
Speaking of taking care of business, one guy who certainly did job was Lorenzo Mata. Mata keyed the second half surge. I thought his knocking down those 2 FTs early in the second half was one of those subliminal signal that Bruins are just going to close out the deal that carried them through rest of the game.The Bruins struggled some against the zone defense, but they used their own defense to set up some easy baskets in transition. They pressured the Beavers into some horrendous shots and just sat back and watched a few times as OSU badly whiffed on some easy shots.
The Beavers hit just 22 of 57 shots (38.6 percent) and scored 26 points in the second half when pushed the Bruins their lead to 17 points.
Now the Bruins head to Eugene to take on the wounded the Ducks, who are going to come out on fire and give Ben Ball warriors everything they can handle.
Let's hope the second half surge from Thursday night carries the Ben Ball warriors through Saturday afternoon.
They just need take care of business and as Shipp mention not worried about impressing Diane Pucin and rest of the haters outside Bruins Nation.
GO BRUINS.