UCLA Basketball Passes an Early Test: Bruins Beat Coastal Carolina 84-71

We thought the game against Coastal Carolina would be a good test of our guards.  UCLA passed with a 84-71 win.

The first half Powell dominated but not in the normal way, shooting 3-7 from three.  Hamilton looked nice going to the rack and also hit a couple threes.  He was solid on D.  Two guards passed the test.  Bryce may not have been bad in the first half but he was certainly not good.  He was 0-4 but did have 5 assists and two turnovers  (could have had more on some awkward passes to Parker).

The bench hurt, especially Welsh who was a team worse -6 when he was in. (Although I liked Bail on D).  Looney had 7 rebounds and Parker had 8, Welsh had 0 and was being beat by Coastal’s bad center.  Parker was a half high +10 because his inside presence changed the game on D.  (However  he hurt on offense as everyone tried to pass to him on the break.  Tony is not the guy to pass to on the break.)

Basically Powell and Hamilton scored and Parker and Looney dominated on defense inside for a 32-28 lead.

Second half UCLA pounded it into Parker to start but turned the game around at the 14 minute mark on a 23-8 run led by Looney.  Looney was unstoppable and turned the game around.  Then the game became garbage time.  Even the bench got into the act.  About the only bad thing was Norman Powell fouling out.

The takeaways are pretty simple.   Kevon Looney is looking like the star. He was a stud as the box score shows. Isaac Hamilton is looking good.  The bench is shaky.  Bryce and Tony had their moments both good and bad.  On the good, Bryce with 17 second half points and Tony with his second career double double.

A satisfying but not spectacular win.