Post updated Jan 25 2010 10:08 PM Pacific
Bruins roll at Pauley, will try to lose baggage on road
Victory keeps them in Pac-10 race, but they're 1-5 away from home and must travel for five of next seven games.
By Chris Foster
The Los Angeles Times
January 24, 2010
UCLA Coach Ben Howland said he wasn't even sure who his team was going to play next.
"Oregon State, Oregon?" Howland said.
Bruins forward Nikola Dragovic had the answers and the significance at his fingertips.
"We need to win on the road," Dragovic said. "We have five of the next seven on the road. It's going to be tough. But I believe we'll know what kind of season we'll have once these games are over."
The Bruins will toddle down the Oregon trail this week, toting along Saturday's 74-62 victory over Washington State. The first indication of whether they'll be road warriors or worriers will come Thursday at Oregon, but their travel advisory will be to play as they did Saturday at Pauley Pavilion.
The Bruins played defense. Going zone may not be Howland's basketball philosophy, but it is his mantra this season, especially after the Cougars shot 35.6% from the field.
The Bruins played offense. There was beauty, Dragovic's high-arching jumpers, and the beast, Reeves Nelson's muscular, direct-to-the-hoop approach. Dragovic had 16 of his 18 points in the second half, Nelson 14 of his 19.
Now the Bruins (9-10 overall, 4-3 in the Pacific 10) take this act on the road, with their season at a crossroads. They are two games out of first place and two games out of last in the conference. They're also 1-5 in games played away from Pauley Pavilion.
"I already told the guys that Pac-10 gyms are really loud," said Dragovic, who made three of four three-point attempts. "We're going to have to be loud on the court, especially in our zone."
"Zone" and "UCLA" traditionally don't belong in the same sentence, but this season is a new chapter for the Bruins, and Howland.
"It was actually very poor coaching on my part for not recognizing earlier," he said. "It's not something we want to do, but it's something we need to do in order to be competitive and win games."
That decision is made easier when the Bruins perform as they did Saturday.
Washington State (14-6, 4-4) came in ranked 27th nationally in field-goal percentage. The Cougars made 21 of 59 shots Saturday and went more than seven minutes in the second half without a field goal.
"We have limited things we can do," Howland said. "We want to keep it compact. The bottom line is we want to make you beat us from the perimeter and try to get to the shooters as best as we can."
That can be a dicey philosophy when facing Washington State's Klay Thompson, who came into the game averaging 22.8 points, sixth nationally.
"Any time we saw him on the court, running anywhere, we yelled out where he was and closed him off," UCLA forward Tyler Honeycutt said.
Thompson was five for 17 from the field Saturday and finished with 13 points.
"We wanted to be all over him," Howland said. "We didn't want him to drive. We didn't want him to shoot. We wanted him to get rid of the ball."
Washington State missed seven consecutive shots, three by Thompson, during a key stretch early in the second half. UCLA went on a 16-3 run to lead, 48-33, with 11 minutes left.
The 6-foot-8 Nelson, who came off the bench to make six of eight shots and seven of 12 free throws, scored eight points in that stretch, bulling his way to the basket, where he got layups or was fouled.
"If they're going to try to guard me one on one, I'm just going to use the abilities God has given me and not take 'no' for an answer," Nelson said.
The Bruins also got a career-high nine points from former walk-on Mustafa Abdul-Hamid, whose buzzer-beater knocked out Washington on Thursday. He made three consecutive shots, two of them three-pointers, in the first half.
"He's definitely earning his keep," Howland said, smiling.
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UCLA men's basketball cuts off Washington State scorer Klay Thompson
UCLA tops off a winning weekend at home after Klay Thompson unable to infiltrate Bruin defense
By Blair Angulo
The Daily Bruin
Jan. 25, 2010 at 1:05 a.m.
A weekend that began with a buzzer-beater ended with another. Not that the second one mattered.
The latter, nailed by Washington State’s Klay Thompson as time expired Saturday, only made the game’s final score more respectable, shrinking UCLA’s margin of victory to 12 points.
With Bruin players walking toward the sideline for the customary postgame handshake, Thompson stopped at the left baseline in front of his team’s bench and hit a jumper from about five feet. The ball swished through the net while the red light flashed on the backboard, indicating the game’s conclusion.
Then Thompson hung his head and dragged his feet all the way to the back of the Cougars’ handshake line.
It was that kind of day for Thompson, son of former Los Angeles Lakers forward Mychal Thompson. Klay Thompson came into the game as the nation’s third-leading scorer with an average of nearly 23 points.
“We know he’s a great shooter,” freshman forward Tyler Honeycutt said. “Especially in our zone, anytime we saw him running anywhere, we yelled out where he was and closed him out for the shot.”
Thompson shot an uncharacteristic 5-for-17, including 2-for-9 from 3-point range. He finished with 13 points.
He had a first half to forget, missing six of his eight shots and even failing to draw iron on one attempt. UCLA’s student section didn’t let him forget it for the rest of the afternoon.
This was the same player who scored 43 points in a game earlier this season.
Thompson was unable to do what Washington’s Quincy Pondexter, USC’s Dwight Lewis and Stanford’s Jeremy Green had done before him – infiltrate the Bruins’ 2-3 zone defense.
Pondexter scored 23 points Thursday while Lewis and Green torched UCLA for 24 and 30, respectively, on consecutive weekends.
“That’s really saying something about our defense and how much we were aware of him,” coach Ben Howland said. “He’s a future NBA player, so that was big for us.”
UCLA held Thompson to just five points in last year’s Pac-10 tournament quarterfinals. He had scored 15 the last time he visited Pauley Pavilion.
“Klay (Thompson) had trouble hitting from three,” Washington State coach Ken Bone said. “He’s a better shooter than 3-for-9. When that happens, other guys have to step up and make shots. It’s just not about one player.”
Cougar guard Reggie Moore was the only one who stepped up in Thompson’s place. Moore scored a game-high 24 points and made six 3-pointers.
The rest of the Cougars, including Thompson, were 12-for-42 from the field (29 percent).
UCLA held Washington State to just 35.6 percent shooting – the Bruins’ season-best.
“We’re making others take difficult shots,” sophomore guard Malcolm Lee said. “They’re getting out of their comfort level. The zone made a big contribution to our two wins this weekend. Hey, we’ve got to keep playing it.”
Howland admitted that he should have gone to the zone awhile ago.
“It was actually very poor coaching on my part for not recognizing it earlier,” Howland said. “It’s not something we want to do, but it’s something we need to do for us to be competitive and win games.”
Playing the zone didn’t necessarily mean easing up on Thompson.
“We wanted to be all over him,” Howland said. “We didn’t want him to drive, we didn’t want him to shoot. We wanted him to get rid of the ball.”
And that scheme worked. That is, until the game’s final shot.
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UCLA basketball: Second half push gives Bruins victory
By Chris Foster
The Los Angeles Times
January 23, 2010 | 3:15 pm
Reeves Nelson scored 19 points, 15 in the second half, as UCLA defeated Washington State, 74-62, this afternoon at Pauley Pavilion.
UCLA (9-10 overall, 4-3 in Pacific 10 Conference play) took control of the game with a 14-4 run in the second half. Nelson scored eight points during the rally.
The Bruins led by as many as 15 points in the second half. They had not led by more than six points in any game since beating Arizona State on New Year’s Eve.
UCLA’s three previous conference victories were by a total of four points, including a 62-61 victory over Washington on Thursday night when Mustafa Abdul-Hamid sank jumper from the top of the key at the buzzer.
Abdul-Hamid chipped in again Saturday, hitting three consecutive shots in the first half -- two of which were three-pointers -- to give UCLA a 26-21 lead with five minutes left in the first half. Abdul-Hamid finished with a career-high nine points.
Washington State came into the game 27th nationally in field goal percentage, but shot 36% against the Bruins.
UCLA’s 2-3 zone clamped down on Klay Thompson, the nation’s sixth leading scorer, averaging 22.8 points. He scored 13 points, making only five of 17 shots.
Nikola Dragovic had 18 points to lead the Bruins. Reggie Moore had 24 points to lead the Cougars (14-6, 4-3).
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UCLA beats Washington State for first Saturday win of season
By Jon Gold, Staff Writer
The Los Angeles Daily News
Updated: 01/24/2010 12:54:39 AM PST
Forget Sunday, Bloody Sunday: Saturdays have become the day of reckoning for the UCLA men's basketball team this season.
The Bruins have followed convincing performances in recent weeks with lackadaisical Saturday efforts, the back ends of two-game spurts leaving UCLA unsatisfied and embarrassed.
A Thursday win over Arizona State? A Saturday loss to Arizona. A Wednesday win at Cal? A Saturday loss at Stanford.
Then there was the debacle of last weekend's 21-point loss to USC, clearly the low point in a season of ups and downs.
That all ended Saturday, as UCLA followed a buzzer-beater win over Washington on Thursday with a 74-62 win against Washington State on Saturday at Pauley Pavilion.
The Bruins controlled the game from the opening tip - the Cougars never took the lead - and led by as many 15 points in winning on a Saturday for the first time this season, after five losses.
"I can definitely tell you it wasn't the partying - we don't go out the night before games," said freshman forward Reeves Nelson, who led UCLA with 19 points in 25 minutes. "Just today, we kind of drew the line and said we need to stop taking teams lightly - the lesser of the two teams in the public's eye - lightly. Before we ran out, we got in our little huddle and I said, `We need to just not take no for an answer, play our best, play our hardest.'
"In a little more colorful language, but they got the message."
The Bruins sent the message to Washington State early, but Reggie Moore must not have gotten the memo.
Moore was the only thing keeping the Cougars afloat as UCLA (9-10, 4-3 Pacific-10 Conference) clamped down the post with a 2-3 zone for nearly the entire game. The Bruins forced Washington State into a season-high 28 3-point attempts, and the Cougars (14-6, 4-4) only converted 10, with Moore hitting 6 of 10.
UCLA held Washington State star guard Klay Thompson - who came into the game as the nation's third-leading scorer at 22.8 points per game - to just 13 points on 5-of-17 shooting, including just 2 of 9 from 3-point range.
"We'll still play some man-to-man, but we're going to have to play zone defense based on what we did this weekend," UCLA coach Ben Howland said. "The last two games, (we played zone) the whole time. Even against Arizona State and Cal, primarily. What it does is helps our guys be able to stay in and play more minutes."
Using just a seven-man primary rotation for the second straight game, the Bruins' commitment to the zone kept legs fresh and minds sharp.
The difference was most notable for Nelson and senior forward Nikola Dragovic, who combined for 31 second-half points, after just six in the first.
Dragovic exploded in the second half for 16 points, making 3 of 4 3-pointers, including a dagger with less than four minutes left that gave UCLA a 14-point lead.
Dragovic and Nelson picked up where guards Malcolm Lee and Mustafa Abdul-Hamid left off.
Abdul-Hamid had eight points in the first half, including a pair of 3s, and Lee had seven as Washington State clogged the post defensively.
It was in stark contrast to a week ago, when the Bruins were overmatched, outhustled and downright embarrassed by the visiting Trojans.
"We're not good enough to not bring our `A' game every game," said Abdul-Hamid, two days after hitting a buzzer-beater to beat Washington.
"It's something we should've learned the very first game of the season, should've learned in the exhibition game, should've learned in Portland. If we're going to be out here and we're going to win, we have to bring it."
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UCLA 74, WASHINGTON STATE 62
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Dragovic, Nelson lead UCLA to 74-62 victory
seattlepi.com
Last updated January 23, 2010 4:37 p.m. PT
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
LOS ANGELES -- Ben Howland's teams have always been known for playing a physical man-to-man defense.
How times have changed.
UCLA used an effective zone defense, and Reeves Nelson and Nikola Dragovic scored eight points each during a decisive second-half run to spark the hot-shooting Bruins to a 74-62 victory over Washington State on Saturday.
The Bruins are 52-2 against the Cougars in Los Angeles and lead the series 96-14.
UCLA (9-10, 4-3 Pac-10) led by two points early in the second half before outscoring the Cougars 16-3 to make it 48-33 with 11:14 remaining. Washington State (14-6, 4-4), which never led, didn't get closer than seven points after that.
"All four of those games (Pac-10 wins), we were in zones," Howland said. "It's just better for us. We'll still play some man-to-man. We've got to keep working at it; we can get a lot better with this zone."
When asked the last time a team of his has played so much zone, Howland quickly replied: "Never."
His teams have a 329-163 combined record in his 15-plus seasons as a college coach.
"I think this is easier for us," Dragovic said of the zone. "I think we're a lot more comfortable now. We practiced (the zone) a lot more over the last two weeks. I don't care what we do as long as we win."
Nelson, a freshman, scored all but four of his 19 points in the second half, and Dragovic had 16 of his 18 after halftime for the Bruins, who have won two straight after losing three of four including one-sided setbacks at home to Arizona and Southern California.
"We beat a very good team today," Howland said. "Our team has to play exactly as we have been playing to be successful."
Reggie Moore led Washington State with 24 points - one shy of his career high. Klay Thompson, who brought a conference-leading 22.8-point average into the game, was 5 of 17 from the field for 13 points.
The Bruins shot 73.7 percent (14 of 19) in the second half and 59.1 percent overall (26 of 44) while Washington State shot 35.6 percent (21 of 59).
About the only problem area for the Bruins was foul shooting - they made only 16 of 28 from the line, including 13 of 24 after halftime.
"Those last 199 seconds seemed like an eternity," Howland said. "We have to get better at closing out games from the foul line."
Nelson and Dragovic combined to score only six points before the helping the Bruins break the game open. The Cougars, who rallied from a 15-point second-half deficit to beat Southern California 67-60 on Thursday night, were unable to come back this time.
"UCLA was impressive today," Washington State coach Ken Bone said. "They did a nice job in the zone defense. They got the ball inside. They just played a great game.
"It's hard to make up a 14- to 15-point deficit. It was hard to make a run against them. Klay had trouble hitting from three. When that happens, other guys have to step up and make shots."
A 3-pointer by Moore with 1:55 remaining trimmed UCLA's lead to 67-60, but the Cougars couldn't get any closer.
Moore kept Washington State in the game during the first 10 minutes, scoring all 12 of his team's points, but the Cougars trailed by four. Moore didn't score again until early in the second half.
Mustafa Abdul-Hamid, whose buzzer-beating jumper gave UCLA a 62-61 victory over Washington on Thursday night, scored the Bruins' first eight points during a 12-4 run that extended their lead to 30-21. The Cougars then got 3-pointers from Nikola Koprivica and Thompson to draw within three points at halftime.
UCLA guard Jerime Anderson (hip flexor), who has made 13 starts, sat out his second game and backup center J'mison Morgan (strained right quadriceps) missed his fourth.
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Nelson, Dragovic key UCLA's decisive second-half run
ESPN Los Angeles
January 23 2010
Associated Press
LOS ANGELES -- Reeves Nelson and Nikola Dragovic scored eight points each during a decisive second-half run that sparked UCLA to a 74-62 victory over Washington State on Saturday.
The Bruins (9-10, 4-3 Pac-10) led by two points early in the second half before outscoring the Cougars 16-3 to make it 48-33 with 11:14 remaining. Washington State (14-6, 4-4), which never led, didn't get closer than seven points the rest of the way.
Nelson scored all but four of his 19 points in the second half, and Dragovic had 16 of his 18 after halftime for the Bruins, who have won two straight after losing three of four.
UCLA is 52-2 against Washington State in Los Angeles and leads the series 96-14.
Reggie Moore led Washington State with 24 points -- one shy of his career high. Klay Thompson, who brought a conference-leading 22.8-point average into the game, finished with 13 points.
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