Reeves Nelson bounded down the court with the greatest of ease, just a few steps behind Tyler Honeycutt but in perfect position.
On a body covered in tattoos, the only one missing was the Superman shield.
Nelson came from nowhere to tip in Honeycutt’s missed shot from the free-throw line with two
seconds left, giving UCLA the 86-84 win over Cal on Thursday night at Pauley Pavilion.
After freshman Allen Crabbe hit a 3-pointer with 13 seconds left to tie the game for the Bears, who came back from a 15-point deficit with nine minutes to play, Honeycutt took the inbounds pass and sprinted down the court.
The Cal defense collapsed on the Sylmar product near the free-throw line and Honeycutt was forced into an awkward shot attempt.
But there, to the rescue as he had been all night, was Nelson.
“They hit a three to tie it and I saw Honeycutt dribbling, and I knew he was probably going to take the shot,” Nelson said. “It just popped in my head to run in on the offensive glass if he missed it. The ball came out on the right side.”
It was that kind of night for Nelson, and he needed it.
The UCLA sophomore power forward had 24 points and 10 rebounds, none more important than the last. This, after finishing with zero points and three rebounds in only 15 minutes in the team’s 67-59 win over Oregon last Saturday, his first scoreless game as a Bruin.
With freshman center Joshua Smith sent to the bench for the entire second half for precautionary reasons – Smith banged his head and neck on the floor in the first half and will be reevaluated today – UCLA needed every last basket from Nelson.
“I’m really excited that Reeves is the one that tipped that in,” UCLA head coach Ben Howland said. “For him to get that tip, to not give up, to not quit, to run the floor and get that play, that was exciting.”
Nelson made nine-of-13 field goal attempts with an array of low-post moves but did most of his work in transition. Nelson had three steals himself that led to transition dunks, and his cunning-and-running kept the Bears at bay even when they made their charge.
And Cal did attack.
UCLA trailed just once – the first basket of the game, as the Bears led 2-0 – but the Bruins let Cal keep it close, watching an 11-point lead with just over four minutes left in the first half dwindle to six at halftime. The Bruins were similarly frenetic in the second half, building a 15-point lead with nine minutes left but needing clutch free throws from junior point guard Lazeric Jones and sophomore small forward Tyler Honeycutt to ice the game when Cal crept back late in the game.
Jones finished with 24 points and Honeycutt with 15, his most productive output since UCLA’s 86-79 win over No. 16 BYU in the Wooden Classic, when he finished with 17 points.
Honeycutt’s ailing right elbow must not have been too bothersome on Thursday.
The Sylmar High product hit four-of-six 3-pointers, including eight in the first half, two days after having X-rays on his elbow, which has been bothering him for nearly two months.
Honeycutt banged the elbow on the Allen Fieldhouse court during the first half of the Bruins’ 77-76 loss at Kansas on Dec. 2, though he finished with 33 points, including 17 in the second half. After that game, Honeycutt’s scoring average was 17.7 points per game; in the next 10, Honeycutt averaged under 11.
“It felt good; I’ve been playing through it this whole time, and it hasn’t bothered me,” Honeycutt said. “Maybe a little bit, but I just wasn’t taking as many shots. I’m not going to keep my average keeping that many shots. ”
With Honeycutt hampered and Nelson’s confidence down after the scoring shutout – and Smith’s early injury, too boot – the Bruins had plenty to worry about on Thursday. Most troubling entering the game, however, was Cal’s Allen Crabbe.
Crabbe came into the game on a tear, averaging 20 points over his previous four contests, including a 30-point explosion on Jan. 13 in a 88-81 win over visiting Washington State. Malcolm Lee held Crabbe in check for most of the game, though, limiting the sensational freshman to just four points before fouling out with 3:20 left in the game.
Crabbe made the most of his opportunities late, however, finishing with 17 points as the Bruins continued to give the Bears the ball back.
“I don’t even know what I was thinking,” Lee said of the final three minutes, “it just went so fast. That three minutes seemed like it was 15 minutes. I was just hoping every time he shot it would miss.”
Nelson was relieved but humble after the game, waiting patiently to visit his family downstairs. With younger brother Raymond on his official visit with the UCLA football team – a tight end, Raymond has verbally committed to the Bruins – the elder Nelson said the game was not about salvation, even after the scoreless performance.
“I didn’t really look at it as an opportunity for redemption,” Nelson said. “I’m not perfect. Everybody has an off game. But I tried to come out and do what I normally do and it worked out for me.”