UCLA 83, Weber State 60: Bruins Sleep Their Way Through Dull Win Over Big Sky Opponent

UCLA beat Weber State 83-60 tonight. The Bruins ran their record to 10-2 with their tenth win. Weber State fell to 2-5, 0-4 on the road.

Thanks to the Pac 12 Network (which I don’t even get – I had to watch on a bootlegged feed), I don’t really know what happened at the beginning of the second half, but it sounded like the momentum from Kyle Anderson’s end of the first half three point shot carried over after the halftime. "The Bruins are rockin’ and rollin’," said the always hip Roberts as the Bruins ran the lead out to 74-44, a 30-10 run. (It didn’t help that I switched from hard cider to bourbon at halftime and took a sip every time Roberts made a mistake. (The game came back on TV with 3:40 left in the game but by that time it didn’t matter. I stuck with Chris and Tracy – better than courtside seats.)

Nothing I saw or heard tonight taught me much about this team. It still looks/sounds like a team that will beat the weaker teams on the schedule, but nothing that happened suggested we’ll beat the tougher squads. Offensively, we have a lot of raw talent – Anderson, LaVine, Powell, Adams – but a lot of work needs to be done on defense and the boards. It doesn’t help that the head coach is still giving too many minutes to players and player-combinations that are not particularly effective, while stronger groups fight for minute.

Kyle Anderson had his sixth double-double of the year, his 23 points a new career high (it might just be a season high -- Chris and Tracy can't make up their minds). He also had 10 rebounds and six assists. Tony Parker had a nice night as well, scoring 15 points off the bench while pulling down 5 rebounds. Parker is going to be a key player when we play Arizona because a few of UCLA’s other regular frontcourt players don’t rebound and defend all that well.

The first half ended with that buzzer beater by Anderson, who it from the right side after the Bruins had played for the last shot. Anderson’s trey masked a poor performance by UCLA down the first half stretch. After building a 15-point lead (39-24) at the 3:35 mark on a LaVine jump shot, Steve Alford’s squad lost focus and Weber State went on a 10-2 run before Anderson knocked down his three.

Weber State jumped out to an early 5-point lead at 16-11, beating UCLA down the court for transition baskets while holding the Bruins to one shot on their end of the floor. But center Kyle Tresnak picked up two quick fouls and undersized Wildcats began to have trouble with Tony Parker. UCLA outscored Weber State 28-8 at one point to go from down five to up 15. During the run, Weber State continued to get good looks at the basket, but couldn’t hit open shots.

The Bruins looked much better after the first wave of substitutions, when Zach LaVine, Tony Parker and Bryce Alford came into the game.

This was only the seventh game of the season for Weber State, who won 30 games last season.