UCLA 95 - Northwestern 79: Bruins Blow Out Shorthanded, Undermanned Wildcats

Uh, yeah there are few mins left in the game but there is no point to wait for the official score. We will fill in the blanks in this post when the numbers become final. As expected Bruins ran another pathetic and undermanned basketball team out of the gym in Vegas tonight as UCLA blitzed Northwestern by a score of 95-79. Here is the boxscore.

DC Bruins had already noted that Northwestern was going to be nothing more than another cupcake even though they are a space-filler for the Big-10's basketball league. And, they were playing without their best player Drew Crawford.

This game was over in the first few mins as the Bruins raced off to a 12-1 lead. Bruins took full control of the game in first half racing to a 15 point lead and never relinquished it, thanks to no defense from Northwestern, and just sick, torrid shooting from pretty much the entire team.

At the half the Bruins were leading by 51-38, as the Bruins made 76% of their FG attempts, while shooting a sick 81.8% (9 for 11) from the 3-point line. We actually shot 66% from the FT line (4-6). LOL But, then again there was no need to get to the FT line.

Bruins basically coasted early in the second half, trading baskets with the Wildcats before pulling away. The outcome was never in doubt.

Kyle Anderson had another effortless game, filling up his stat-sheets with 16 points, 9 assists, 9 rebounds, and 4 streals, once again coming close to a triple-double. This paragraph is basically becoming a boiler-plate part of our post-game recaps.  Jordan Adams was also steady with 18 points, while Zach LaVine (Shabbazz WHO?) was his usual spectacular self, finishing with 18 points.

Norman Powell picked up two early fouls in the first half (well, he is the only person in the program who attempts play a semblance of defense) and as a result was limited to less than 5 mins in the firs half.(I think). As a result Balford once again got gobs of playing time and took full advantage of Chris Collins' joke defense (must have really learned something from his court-slapping years in Durham) and made all his wide-open shots. He actually led the team at half time with 11 points (making 4 of his 5 shots including converting all 3 of his bombs from behind the 3 point line). He finished the night with a career-high 18 points. Clearly, he is on his way to become UCLA's version of Mark Price.

There is not much to take away from these types of games against cup-cakes. No doubt the Bruins look to have a better flow on offense and better team chemistry on the court from Howland's later years. But, (and this is a HUGE BUT) Bruins don't play any kind of defense and at times have been atrocious against these cupcake clowns without any elite talent. Plus, even with a new coach, Tony Parker continues to be mystery. He looked to be in a funk and almost out of it all night. No idea what is going on with him.  Maybe I am reading too much into it because refs. also screwed up the flow of the game by calling a lot of ticky-tack fouls. Who knows.

We will have a little better idea of where this team is in about couple of weeks. Still, I am sure Chianti and his fans are popping the wine cork celebrating a predicted 7-0 start to TARA's first season in Westwood.  Chianti and donuts on the House.

GO BRUINS.