UCLA 81 - Morehead State 70: Bruins Squeak By Eagles

Good:

Zach LaVine - He's a sparkplug out there, and is singularly responsible for injecting energy into this team off the bench. He had a hot start and a quieter second half, which has been a trend with him, but he is clearly a necessity in the regular rotation.

Jordan Adams - He had 30 points. That's a career high. That gets you on the good list.

Kyle Anderson - He had a triple double. That also gets you on the good list.

Travis Wear - Maybe I'm just inclined to give him more of a break because he's been out, but given the discussion that has taken place about this team about who "deserves" minutes out there, Travis earned what he got out there tonight. No, he didn't stop Posthumus. Neither did anyone else, and he was as disruptive as we've seen him on defense. Yeah, that's a low bar, but it's something.

1-2-2 three quarter court zone - First time I've seen this. Maybe I'm just not paying enough attention, but it's interesting. Unfortunately it's not a press or a trap because certain people aren't athletic enough on the edges to make that happen, but at least it's another look to throw at an opponent.

First four minutes of balford - Yeah, you read that right. He had probably four straight minutes where he wasn't terrible. He passed up shots. He looked to distribute to his more talented teammates (namely LaVine). He almost fooled us, and then...

Bad:

Balford (outside the first four minutes) - Got roasted on D, turned the ball over because he for some reason called for it with his back to the basket, got trapped on the baseline, hoisted bad shots, laid on screens, got frozen out on multiple possessions by the other guys (which was particularly telling), got swatted on a 1 on 0, turned the ball over in the backcourt when Morehead was applying token fullcourt pressure. The sad part is none of this is surprising. Maybe if he played those first four minutes and ONLY those first four minutes...I think someone has been calling for that all season long.

David Wear - You know all that stuff I said about balford? This was the first time all season he wasn't the worst player out there tonight. That honor goes to David Wear. I probably don't have to tell you why if you followed this team at all last year, but Chad Posthumus had 21 points on 8-11 shooting and 18 rebounds and a lot of that was him abusing Wear inside. That and the return of the bad 3 point shots and the patented "Wear" and you've got an all around stinker.

2 Wear Lineup - The downside of Travis returning? The 2 Wear lineup is back. And it's just as we all remember it.

Norman Powell - Back to jacking up 3s. Please go back to putting it on the floor, Norman.

Tony Parker - The foul trouble is back. DCBruins said he would get a test. He failed this one.

Ugly:

We struggled to put away Morehead State.