Malcolm Lee still unsteady at the point

UCLA sophomore guard Malcolm Lee

UCLA MEN'S BASKETBALL: Lee having trouble making his point
By Jon Gold, Staff Writer
Wittier Daily News
Posted: 02/09/2010 10:43:07 PM PST


LOS ANGELES - UCLA sophomore Malcolm Lee, still integrating into the point guard role with sophomore guard Jerime Anderson working his way back from a hip flexor and groin issues, took responsibility for the Bruins' 72-58 loss to Cal on Saturday at Pauley Pavilion.

UCLA jumped to a 14-point lead midway through the first half, then put things in cruise control. Only one problem: the Bears went into overdrive.

California grabbed the momentum and didn't let go and went into halftime up seven.

Lee blamed himself for the offensive inconsistency during the 28-point turnaround as UCLA played without a sense of urgency, took ill-advised shots and failed to remain patient.

"I do need to take control as the point guard," Lee said. "I need to just be one step ahead of the game. I need to control the pace, and I think I could've done that better. Time, place, shot clock, all that stuff - just having a good feel of what we need and what we don't need."

Lee's teammates weren't as quick to blame their off-guard turned point guard and understood Lee is transitioning to a starting role and the offense as a whole fluttered.

"We're going to have to keep the pedal down 100 percent the whole game," Bruins guard Michael Roll said. "We had a big lead last game, and we kind of got complacent. We didn't keep attacking; we got a little stagnant. That's why our offense lagged so much. You can't let up ... you can't play hard for 10 minutes and
get a big lead and then for the next 10 minutes just be happy with it."

UCLA has won three consecutive games once this season. It has won four of six, but the two losses have stung - the Cal loss and a 71-66 overtime defeat to Oregon in which the Bruins led by as many as 13.

"We'll get off to a good start and get our momentum going, and then the other team gets their momentum going," freshman forward Tyler Honeycutt said. "Basketball is a game of runs, and we went on a run and they went on a run and we weren't able to stop theirs. We just couldn't stop them from scoring."

Bumps and bruises

Freshman forward Reeves Nelson, who suffered a concussion early against Cal, was cleared for non-contact drills on Tuesday and is expected to play against USC on Sunday.

"It was suggested at halftime, and he went through all the different tests and everything checked out normal," coach Ben Howland said. "I asked him point blank, `Are you OK?' and he said yeah. I don't know if he started to notice it a little more after the game."