UCLA Basketball: Bruins Blast Stanford, 92-70, in Bartow’s Debut

New year, new coach, new beginnings? That’s what UCLA fans were hoping for as the UCLA Bruins started Pac-12 play against the Stanford Cardinal Thursday evening at Pauley Pavilion.

First Half

Two things were very clear early. UCLA was trying to feed the post and they were not going to settle for outside shots. UCLA’s first 12 points came in the paint, as their first points outside the paint came at 14:20 when Jaylen Hands hit a three-point shot to put the Bruins up 15-12.

UCLA continued the onslaught in the paint, as they pretty much refused to shoot anything from the outside and, with Stanford going on a 7:24 second scoreless drought, the Bruins were able to extend their lead and went up 30-16 at the 7:46 mark.

However, the Bruins couldn’t sustain things as the Cardinal began to outwork and outhustle UCLA and went on a 10-0 run to pull within four at the 4:57 mark.

David Singleton’s three-point shot stemmed the Cardinal run and the Bruins were able to finish off a pretty familiar up and down first half of UCLA basketball with a 38-32 lead.

UCLA dominated the first half in the paint scoring 30 of their 38 points in that area and ended the half shooting 46% from the field.

Second Half

While one of the positives from the first half was the Bruins only had four turnovers the entire half, the second started of differently. The Bruins had five turnovers in the first six minutes of the second half and the Cardinal turned those turnovers into six early points.

UCLA was able to go on a 9-2 run and went up 57-44 at the 10:25 mark after Kris Wilkes hit a three point shot, as Wilkes’ scoring picked up in the second half.

The Bruins were able to pull away with back to back dunks by Wilkes and Ali to go up 72-54 at the 5:57 mark and they didn’t look back.

UCLA finished of the Cardinal and beat Stanford 92-70 for the 13th time in a row at Pauley Pavilion.

The Bruins simply dominated this game in the paint, as they outscored the Cardinal, 56-30, and shot 51% from the field for the game.

The Cardinal were led in the game by KZ Okpala’s 22 points. UCLA was led by Moses Brown’s 17 points and 10 rebounds. Jaylen Hands also poured in 15 points for the Bruins.

The Bruins return to action this Saturday, January 5th at Pauley Pavilion as the UC Berkeley Golden Bears visit Pauley Pavilion. Game time is 1:00 pm PT. The Bears lost to Southern Cal tonight, 82-73.

UCLA Player Grades

Moses Brown: A
It’s fun to watch this Moses Brown, but this Moses Brown also only happens when his teammates look for him. He simply dominated around the rim tonight.

Jaylen Hands: A-
Hands had a solid game. He played within himself, and looked to get his team involved. Only one turnover, that has to be his focus!

Prince Ali: C+
Prince had some nice plays in this game. He still had some head-scratchers, as at one point he head-faked behind the arc, got his defender out of position, but then stepped back to allow the defender to get right back into position again.

Kris Wilkes: C+
Two points in the first half is just not acceptable for your best player. And not that scoring is everything, but he also only had one rebound. He came on strong in the second half, but the Bruins need two strong halves.

Jalen Hill: C
Hill grabbed seven rebounds but did little else for the Bruins.

Chris Smith: C-
His poor shooting has to improve. It improves with Smith focusing more on getting to the basket, and figuring out how to score and shoot from the elbow when teams go into the zone against the Bruins.

Jules Bernard: C+
Jules was his regular aggressive self scoring seven points and grabbing five rebounds.

David Singleton: B+
It’s clear that David needs to stroke it when he’s open. He has a nice stroke and actually made a couple of big shots tonight if there could be big shots in a 92-70 drubbing.

Cody Riley : C+
Riley is another player that needs to find a way to score a little more. He has a great shot, and is always active around the rim.

Alex Olesinski: INC
Not enough playing time for Olesinski to give him a grade. I am sure that as the Pac-12 unfolds his minutes will increase, but it’s hard to see them increasing significantly.