Halftime from the Honda Center: UCLA leads Penn 39-35

ANAHEIM — The Bruin Road Show’s first half in Anaheim – also its first without last year’s leading scorer and rebounder, junior forward Reeves Nelson – went relatively well as UCLA leads Penn 39-35 at the Honda Center.

UCLA looked energized on defense but was slow to rotate at times, giving up five 3-pointers. Coach Ben Howland turned to a zone when redshirt sophomore center Anthony Stover came into the game after sophomore center Josh Smith picked up his second foul midway through the half.

UCLA hit on 6-of-11 3-pointers but that may not be a good thing with the obvious size advantage the Bruins have. There haven’t been a lot of good looks in the post. Smith got the ball a handful of times down low but botched two of them although he did clean one of them up and finished it with a 3-point play the old fashioned way.

Senior point guard Lazeric Jones leads the Bruins with 14 points. Senior Jerime Anderson has eight.

Pregame from Anaheim: Bruins look for third win of season v. Penn

ANAHEIM — Sam Strong (otherwise known as the other fat guy) here at the Honda Center. I realize it’s been a busy day for UCLA fans with the football hiring of Jim L. Mora but we’re about 30 minutes from tip as Ben Howland’s Bruins look for their second D-I win this season.

The court looks about the same as it did for previous Wooden Classic games but they’ve added the circular UCLA logo at center court.

I don’t know much about Penn other than that the Quakers are 5-5 on the year lost to the only ranked team they’ve played. Penn lost to then-No. 17 Pitt 78-58 on Nov. 25 in the Philly Hoop Group Classic.

Ben Howland said yesterday that he thought getting the Reeves Nelson monkey off the team’s back would be a positive for UCLA. We’ll see shortly.

A reminder to follow me on twitter @SamStrong for in-game updates.

Game is on Fox Sports West with Joel Meyers and former Bruin Don MacLean on the call.

Depth chart released

UCLA released a “tentative” depth chart today. Here’s an update on some of the interesting position battles.

*The strong guard spot lists Chris Ward or Albert Cid.

*Cory Harkey remains ahead of Joseph Fauria at tight end.

*The wide receiver position opposite Rosario lists Shaq Evans or Randall Carroll.

*Cassisus Marsh is ahead of Nate Chandler at right defensive tackle.

*Glenn Love beat out Jordan Zumwalt at sam linebacker.

*Dalton Hilliard beat out Dietrich Riley at strong safety.

“He was just really consistent,” Neuheisel said of Hilliard. “I think coach Tresey has shared with all of those kids that they’re all going to play. This competition doesn’t need to stop just because we’re going to play a game.”

*Jeff Locke is listed to kickoff, punt and hold with the place kicking spot listing all three candidates.

*Josh Smith is your kickoff return man while Taylor Embree is slotted to handle punt returns.

I asked special teams coach Angus McClure if Embree is the “safe” choice for returning punts.

“A lot of people are running what you call a shield punt in college football,” McClure said. “A shield punt is spreading everybody out and they don’t block. They release the guys downfield. You need a guy that’s sure handed because the coverage team is there much quicker than the traditional punt. You need a guy that has sure hands that can catch the ball in traffic. You don’t have more time to gather yourself anymore, the shield punt has changed a lot.”

Asked if Jordan James or Shaq Evans have sure enough hands, McClure said he expects two out of those three (James, Evans, Embree) to see action returning punts.