Not a lot to say about this one - though we will have more to discuss on this game and the current state of the program tomorrow and in the coming days. The Bruins made their first stop in the northwest this year in Corvallis, being all too polite the guest in losing to Oregon State, 87-84 (boxscore), though the game really did not feel that close at the end. The Beavers entered this game leading the conference in scoring, and the Bruins struggled to change that scoring habit.
The Beavers scored the first 8 points of the game, and while the Bruins held tight and were able to keep pace through the remainder of the first half - trailing by 1 point at the midway point, that second half saw the Beavers pull off a second run starting around 6 minutes into the half that UCLA could not answer. For the game, Oregon State shot 58% from the field; and while UCLA was able to nearly match that offensive figure, the Beavers were able to get their opportunities against this year's iteration of Howland's man-to-man D, and get to the line often - but not in an obvious SPTR fashion - and just seemed to outwork the Bruins at times, and certainly outlasted them.
On the plus side, the Wear's had a reasonably solid and consistent game; the twins each scored 16 in 30 minutes of play, with Travis grabbing 5 rebounds. Lazeric Jones led the Bruins with 17 points tonight (on 6-17 shooting), while dishing out 8 assists - Jerime Anderson led the team with 9 assists tonight. Have to say that Tyler Lamb had a rough go of it tonight. Fouling out of the game while scoring 8 point on 2-7 shooting isn't so hot by itself, but defensive struggles really did not help his - or the team's - cause tonight. For Oregon State, Jared Cunningham extended his Pac-12 leading scoring average with a game high 21 points tonight (10-12 from the line), while Devon Collier pitched in another 20 points for the Beavers.
As I mentioned in the opening, we will have more wrapping up of this game in the morning, and more extensive thoughts on the program coming up in the near future. For now, we are faced with a UCLA squad with a 3-3 record in a mediocre at best Pac-12, with a game in Eugene less than 48 hours away. Congrats to Oregon State for their win tonight and best of luck to them against Southern Cal on Saturday. Until then, this is your postgame thread.
GO BRUINS!