The Early Words: UCLA-Kansas Gamer
There was a time when a Sunday afternoon matchup between UCLA and No. 1 Kansas was a marquee affair, a must-see matchup that could challenge most NFL games.
Don't hearken back to the days of Alcindor and Walton and Wooden.
Don't travel in time to Reggie Miller's heyday, or to the championship run of the mid-90s.
No, just last year, a Bruin-Jayhawk battle would have commanded the attention of the country, with NBA prospects on both sides of the court and Final Four dreams dancing through the minds of UCLA and Kansas fans alike.
Not now, not with these Bruins.
With a 73-61 loss to the Jayhawks on Sunday in front of 10,451 at Pauley Pavilion, UCLA slips to 2-5, its worst start since 2002-03.
While the Bruins made top-ranked Kansas work for the win - though the Jayhawks largest lead was 17 points, most of the game was within the eight-to-10-point range - turnovers and poor shooting ultimately spelled doom.
How about this lowlight-reel: During a three-plus minute stretch midway through the first half, the Bruins turned the ball over five times and missed three shots before senior Nikola Dragovic hit a jumper with 10 minutes, 56 seconds left in the half.
When the ugly spurt started, UCLA was down one point.
When it ended, Kansas led by nine.
"Our guys were really rushed," head coach Ben Howland said, "and that hurt us because it dug a big hole. We were sped up in the beginning of the game and 10 early turnovers showed that."
The Bruins clawed back early in the second half, shrinking the Jayhawk lead to four with just more than 17 minutes to play. But Kansas head coach Bill Self called a timeout and the team never looked back, turning the four-point advantage into a 12-point lead less than four minutes later.
"I thought we played well, definitely a step in the right direction," senior guard Michael Roll said. "We cut it to four and we were right there. The ending score is kind of a different story than the game. We were right there.
"They're just a big team and that's what they geared toward."
A formidable block of 6-foot-11 center Cole Aldrich and twin sophomores - 6-foot-9 Markieff and 6-foot-8 Marcus - toyed with the Bruins' undersized frontcourt.
Though Aldrich and Marcus Morris were held in check, combining for just 11 points, Markieff Morris shouldered the burden, leading the team with 19. Freshman sensation Xavier Henry added 16 points for Kansas and senior guard Sherron Collins added 14 for the Jayhawks.
Aldrich, a preseason All-American, was hounded by freshman center Reeves Nelson for much of the first half, before Nelson was poked in the eye early in the second half and exited the game, playing just nine second-half minutes.
Nelson, making his first start for the Bruins in the place of sophomore center Drew Gordon - who left the team earlier in the week and will transfer after the quarter - had nine points and nine rebounds and held Aldrich to just seven points. After the game, Nelson was taken to the Ronald Reagan UCLA Medical Center after complaining about poor vision.
"I thought Reeves Nelson did a good job tonight," said Howland of Nelson, who was suffered a hyper-extended knee during Tuesday's practice. "He showed a lot of heart and toughness, both before and after his injury. He's had a tough week, but he showed a lot of character to get back in the game."
any new updates on reeves?
Nice to have 10,451 at the game.
loved the support by ATV
Reeves got a lot of heart. Reminds me of the tenacity, intensity, and heart of an Alfred Aboya. He's just not as athletic but much more skilled. He's going to be around the program for sometime and I'm happy for that. Go Reeves! Go Bruins!
UCLA played with heart. They were sloppy and took some bad shots and were clearly over matched, but were far from embarrassed. The most embarrassing thing was the small crowd. #1 comes to town and we can't even fill the place. ugh! L.A. is what it is.
It's clear that we play better against man to man defense. Rest assured, other coaches notice that too. Drago played better. Honeycutt looks pretty good considering his first start was in a week of turmoil and #1 came to Pauley. He is obviously very athletic.
Keefe saw diminished minutes as the game went along. I think we will continue to see that trend as long as Nelson and Honeycutt keep producing.
BOBO! he played. A lot! he played pretty well at times and sloppy other times. He clearly has a bright future and will give us some great size and length in the future. Gotta get him to be more aggressive on the defensive end. Rip down rebounds like RN!
UCLA has a lot of talent. CBH will get it done.
UCLA will turn this around, I have confidence in our baby Bruins!
Great commentary BruinBurd. That's probably because I agree 100%. I, too, think the Bruins are going to turn out better than most people think. I think Morgan could be decent. I hope he becomes a lot better, but right now he reminds me of Brad Wright who was not great but not terrible either. Even though Lee is a shooting guard maybe they should try him more at the point. It looks like he is a better point guard than Anderson.