UCLA rebounds from Washington loss, takes out OSU 65-56

Against Washington on Saturday in a 97-68 loss, the UCLA men’s basketball team wilted.

Against Oregon State on Thursday, the Bruins sagged, too.

Only this time, they were ahead by 10 and not down by 20, and UCLA held on as the Beavers mounted a late-game charge to defeat Oregon State 65-56, in front of 7,589 at Pauley Pavilion.

Early in the game, the Bruins were running and jumping with energy, defending with tenacity and passing with precision.

In other words, everything they didn’t do against the Huskies on Saturday.
“When we lose like that, it really shows you we’re inconsistent and what we need to work on,” said freshman forward Tyler Honeycutt, who had 18 points, 10 rebounds, five blocks, four assists and three steals. “But when we do work on those things, we play pretty good basketball.”
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UCLA up 10 at half

Tyler Honeycutt grabbed an errant Roeland Schaftenaar 3-pointer at the end of Oregon State’s shot clock, threw a deep outlet pass to Malcolm Lee and Lee dunked it home as the first half expired to put UCLA up 36-26.

Honeycutt wasn’t just rebounding and passing, though.

The freshman forward had 13 points on an array of shots, including a thunderous tip dunk and a big 3-pointer as the Bruins put on a show with their hustle.

UCLA looked like polar opposites from the effort on Saturday at Washington, as the Bruins took charges, dove for loose balls and played a harrying zone defense to stifle the Beavers, who are shooting just 11-for-26 and have nine turnovers.

No in-game chat tonight

Hey guys,

I went to Chatroll to set up an in-game chat, but there’s a new step required that involves registering a web site, and I’m not sure how it works. I’ll get this solved before Saturday so we can have a chat then, and I’ll try to get a guest to join to make it up.

Oh, and the solo podcast should be up tomorrow. Not easy to talk for 35 minutes straight. Let me know if you enjoyed the podcast Q&A portion, and maybe we can make that a regular feature with Ben and me.

Thanks for understanding,
Jon

EXCLUSIVE: A quick chat with Sidney Wicks, new NABC HOF inductee

I was able to spend a few minutes on the phone with UCLA legend Sidney Wicks, who was just inducted into the National Association of Basketball Coaches Hall of Fame, and he had some great things to say about his career, his teammates and his coach.

Wicks was a three-time national champion, a two-time All-American and the 1970 NCAA Final Four most outstanding player. He went on to a 10-year NBA career, in which he was named to the All-Star team four times and the 1972 NBA rookie of the year.

Check out our interview after the jump…
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