Quick UCLA-NMSU write-through
For eight games, UCLA could not shoot its way out of a barrel with five shotguns and a rocket launcher.
The Bruins were hitting field goals at a .415 clip, and even some of its best players were to blame.
Senior forward Nikola Dragovic, .241 percent. Sophomore guard Malcolm Lee, .379. Point guard Jerime Anderson, .348. Three starters, combining for 66-of-199, or just over 33 percent.
On Tuesday, the barrel exploded.
The Bruins built a 34-point lead early in the second half and rolled to a 100-68 win over New Mexico State On Tuesday night at Pauley Pavilion.
UCLA shot 37-for-66 from the field, and 7-for-14 from the 3-point line, knocking down 19-of-31 shots in the first half. The only place the Bruins struggled was from the free-throw line - as they have all season, at just 56.5 percent - hitting just 19-of-30.
Lee led five scorers in double-figures with 20 points on 7-of-8 shooting and added eight rebounds. Freshman forward Reeves Nelson had 16 points and eight rebounds off the bench, while Roll and freshman forward Tyler Honeycutt added 14 each.
The Bruins seemed as if they were just waiting for the slump to end.
"I really believe our team is a good shooting team," Anderson said in a Monday afternoon conference call. "Mike (Roll) and Nikola can shoot. (Lee) can shoot the ball really well, he just hasn't gotten many open shots. We have a lot of good shooters. We need to transfer it to the games right now. That's what the main thing is."
Finally, it happened.
But UCLA's dominating performance was not only on defense.
The Bruins limited New Mexico State to 38.9 percent shooting from the field and held leading scorer Jahmar Young, who came in averaging 19.9 points per game, to just 13.
Anderson summed up UCLA's defense in a 72-54 loss to Mississippi State on Sunday, but he could have been talking about the Bruins' entire season.
"It's a little surprising because I thought that we were working pretty hard in practice getting ready for teams defensively," Anderson said. "Scouting teams, we go over all the offense they run and how to defend it. But we've missed some assignments here and there and have too many breakdowns right now."
Never were the Bruins better than on a New Mexico State possession with just under 13 minutes left in the second half.
UCLA jammed the inside, put pressure on the perimeter and forced three bad passes before knocking it out of bounds with 18 seconds left on the shot clock. The Aggies inbounded the ball and UCLA continued to hound them, forcing a turnover that led to an Anderson 3-pointer to go up 39.
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