More thoughts from last night

Before I posted videos with Ben Howland and some players, including my first video interview with Anthony Stover – who is an awesome kid, I found out – here are some more thoughts…

* I was a little surprised that both point guards played such extensive minutes, and I think it’s crucial, at least early on without a clear-cut winner, to play both so much. Lazeric Jones had 20 minutes, Jerime Anderson had 17, and I think the battle has pushed both of them to better performance. If Howland handed one of them the keys now, I think the other would start to fade. Neither played spectacularly last night – both were above-average offensively and had a few defensive issues – but it appears that they’re in better shape than last season at the point.

* Not sure how they can continue to maintain that they’re a good 3-point shooting team, then go 3-for-21 from 3-point range, and then still maintain that they shoot better in practice. We can’t watch practice, besides the one that was open to boosters and media, so I guess we need to take their words for it. I don’t see it, though. Many of the guys were wide open for 3-point attempts and missed badly. Tyler Honeycutt airballed a shot. Reeves Nelson continues to shoot threes like he’s Steve Kerr when he has the range of Miranda Kerr.

* The UCLA defense has a long, long, long way to go. Basically, it’s in Iceland right now. Some truly poor rotations, some bad help defense, and really, a simple inability to stay in front of the man. Now, the positive from this is the fact that UCLA came away with 25 turnovers, and they certainly were harassing Westmont guards. But what happens when they try to man-up on Isaiah Thomas or Ty Abbott?

* Really, really impressed by Anthony Stover and Tyler Lamb. Stover was incredibly active defensively – the four blocks don’t tell the story – and Lamb made up for some freshman lapses with poise and solid make-up defense. Lamb had a really pretty pick-pocket steal, ran back on offense and got a reverse layup and foul, all in about 12 seconds. But, he was also abused twice on backdoor cuts that showed his age.

* I need to see more of Matt Carlino to determine if he can find a true spot in the rotation this year, but from the looks of last night, it’s a no.

* Malcolm Lee’s statline – 12 points, seven assists, zero turnovers – was telling to me. I watched Lee act almost exclusively as a facilitator, really choosing pass over shot. That wasn’t the case last season. If UCLA holds true to this up-tempo game, Lee will need to continue to look pass first, and if he keeps his turnovers down, that’s pretty impressive.