UCLA runs away from Chaminade in 92-60 win
UCLA opened the second half with a 32-11 run and held Chaminade without a field goal for more than seven minutes and the Bruins cruised to the 92-60 win at the Maui Invitational.
After taking hurried and awkward shots for much of the first half, UCLA's backcourt moved around the perimeter much more efficiently in the second half, and it showed.
A Jerime Anderson layup at 17:12 sparked a backcourt bonanza, as UCLA guards Anderson, Lazeric Jones, Tyler Lamb and Norman Powell scored 30 of the team's next 31 points.
Jones led the Bruins with 19 points and seemed to find his stroke in the second half, finishing 8-of-18 shooting and doling out seven assists to two turnovers. Anderson added 18 points, four rebounds and three assists, and Lamb contributed 15 points, five rebounds and three blocks.
The guard success allowed Joshua Smith some freedom late in the game, and he finished with 12 points and eight rebounds.
The Bruins also did a much better job on the perimeter defense than in their 0-2 start, limiting the Silverswords to 17-of-57 shooting and 4-of-18 shooting from 3-point range.
The Good:
Turn on TV late and see UCLA hoops up by 30.
The Bad:
Find out AZ gets RichRod ... ouch! By having the nutsack to fire a coach mid-season, I knew they'd land a ringer that was possibly on our radar screen, too.
The Ugly:
Go to this site to learn that Reeves was actually in the doghouse again before even leaving the mainland.
The Best:
My son rewinds game to point out Jon Gold interviewing the twins on ESPNU. "Hey Dad, it's that Two Fat Guys Talking Guy!" In flip-flops, no less. Shirt untucked. Did you have a slice of pizza in the off-hand? Jon, you are so refreshing ... never stop doing this!
1st half was embarassing and possibly the ugliest basketball I've ever seen UCLA play. 2nd half was better as Z and Jerime started to hit 3s but, this is Chaminade a Div II school.
Just watched first half of Kansas vs. Georgetown and they look in mid-season form.
UCLA is soooooo slow and non-athletic compared to these 2 teams. Ben better play zone tomorrow and hope their shooting is off. So far, Kansas has few weaknesses - great defense, good inside/out game, ally - oooops over the top, great passing, and great on the break. UCLA's defemse continues to be horrible and I can't believe this team was sooo overated.
They definitely miss the quickness of Honeycutt and Lee. With UCLA's recruiting class and Drew next year they'll be much improved. 2011 is going to be ugly.
Although I like Zeek, he is invisible on the court.
I saw a glimpse of a leader last night in Jerime Anderson at both ends of the court (just a glimpse that I hope turns into an unquenchable habit). The defense stiffened when he came in and his perimeter shooting gave us the half time lead and it carried over to the second half. He also took some drives to the middle opening up some outside shots. The glimpse I saw was on defense and the way he carried himself with a sense of purpose and urgency that I wish would infect the entire team.
This team has the talent, they are lacking between the ears. Jay Bilas said it best referring to Josh Smith: "He has the tools and knows how to play the game, the questions is does he love the game enough to get his body in shape (not exact quote).
For all the talk about our size down low, Howland teams will go as far as the backcourt will take them. The 2 opening losses at a lifeless Sports Arena and a dubya over D-II Chaminade aside, we'll get a good barometer of where we stand the next two nights with the ESPN cameras on and playing against top 15 competition.
Someone needs to put Josh Smith on a treadmill till he passes out, revive him, hydrate him, and then repeat til he loses 40 pounds and can run down court for ten minutes without walking. Seriously, does this kid have any pride or motivation?
Did Reeves Nelson play?
Reeves did play. Howland brought him in about 3 minutes into the 2nd half. His energy sparked the blowout in the 2nd half.
Damn power outage kept me from watching most of yesterday's game, but from what I did see, Chaminade is not nearly at the level of MTSU, so tonight's game will be a true gauge of where we are right now.
Agree with Sandiegobruinfan that as our guards go, so goes our team. Our 3-guard lineup with Lamb (or Parker) at the 3 may be a good look especially when team speed is a liability as long as we can continue to rebound, but bottom line is they need to be able to hit with consistency from the outside to allow Smith and Nelson to operate inside.
Did we play any zone yesterday? By the time I was able to tune in, I only got to see one possession with the starting lineup out there, but it looked like we were playing a more help/switch oriented man defense. Any observations on changes in defensive strategy would be appreciated.
why didn't parker play?
I read Parker injured his knee but there were no details. I hope it's not serious. (He had injured his knee before the season but I'm not sure if it's the same knee or injury.)
Parker sprained his knee in practice.
Kansas Game!
The Wear twins are just plain AWFUL!! Its too bad that these kids have 3 years to play at UCLA. Howland has no balls to sit these no defense, turnover machines. Lane should just hang it up and play volleyball, since CBH has given up on him. Zeke is another Drago. Worse guard UCLA ever had and CBH will continue to give him huge minutes. Done with this crap.
Another embarrassing loss. Where is Howland's great coaching now? Everyone is enamored by Howland's three straight Final 4s, which was indeed a great achievement by the TEAM. And all the NBA talent that UCLA sent was all due to the great coaching, right? Sure, coaching has some weight, but most of it is sheer athletic ability, skill, and extremely hard work. The talent level that Howland had was an anomaly for Howland's recruiting abilities. All that NBA talent is not going to fall on Howland's lap again, at least not in bunches like that. Shabbaz might as well go to UNLV if he wants more post-season success and air time.