UCLA forward Reeves Nelson, left, celebrates with teammate Joshua Smith after dunking during the second half of the Bruins' 86-79 victory over 16th-ranked Brigham Young on Saturday at the Wooden Classic. (Wally Skalij / Los Angeles Times / December 18, 2010)Freshman Josh Smith has become a key piece in Bruin basketball puzzle
By MATT STEVENS
The Daily Bruin
Published December 18, 2010 in Men's Basketball, Sports
Updated: 43 minutes ago
ANAHEIM — The team might remain an enigma, but Joshua Smith is trying hard to become part of UCLA’s identity.
The UCLA men’s basketball team added the latest up to an up-and-down season on Saturday, nabbing its biggest win of the season over No. 16 BYU at the John Wooden Classic. The 86-79 win came just five days after UCLA squeaked past UC Davis and two weeks after the team narrowly fell to then-No. 4 Kansas, only to lose days later to Montana.
No one quite knows what to expect from this 6-4 squad on a given afternoon. But increasingly, UCLA is relying on one of its newest members.
“Josh (Smith) is such a presence inside,” coach Ben Howland praised.
Or to put it another way: “He’s as difficult a matchup as we’ve had,” BYU coach Dave Rose concurred.
The freshman center Smith was the difference on Saturday against the Cougars.
But Smith once again found himself in foul trouble, unhappy with a blocking call that sent him to the bench with four fouls and 15:26 still remaining in the game.
He slapped away the towel he was offered, and punched his chair, hard.
With the big man on the bench, UCLA’s 10-point lead shriveled to two in almost exactly five minutes. In that span, sophomore Tyler Honeycutt and junior Lazaric Jones both picked up their fourth foul while the Cougars orchestrated a 9-0 run.
Momentum was shifting away from the Bruins.
So back came Smith, four fouls and all, 10 minutes still to play.
And his teammates wasted no time feeding the center. Smith got an easy bucket in the paint on his first trip down the floor to snap the run. Then the 300-pound first-year hustled back down the court and took a charge – a risky move that very well could have resulted in his fifth and final foul.
Instead it was an offensive foul – the fourth on BYU’s best player, Jimmer Fredette, who proceeded to trudge to the bench.
After Jones nailed a three on the Bruins’ next possession, UCLA fed the post again as Smith continued to deliver.
With no answer for the big man, Smith was bear hugged as he tried to finish a layup underneath.
Smith didn’t like the aggressive foul. Teammates had to separate him from his aggressor prior to free throws.
So he responded by scoring again from the paint the next time down the floor to stretch the Bruins’ lead back to eight.
“After my last game with four fouls, I had a good talk with my dad,” Smith said. He said it looks like you’re not having fun out there. … So when I was playing with four fouls, I tried to play like I had zero.”
The Bruins wouldn’t look back after Smith’s burst of scoring. Sophomore Reeves Nelson’s career-high 23 points, along with 17 from Honeycutt and Smith’s 15, helped seal the Bruins’ first win over a ranked team this season.
“This is big for us,” Howland said. “It was a great overall team effort.”
By necessity, eight of Howland’s nine scholarship players saw double-digit minutes, and six played 20 or more.
Howland admitted after the game that he had asked the team to practice with Coach Wooden in mind. UCLA played one of their worst games of the year against at last year’s Classic with the legendary coach in his box.
“I was really looking forward to meeting him,” Smith said.
Wooden didn’t get to see UCLA’s performance this time around. And he never got to meet Smith. But Howland seemed sure that Wooden would have been pleased.
“We played for Coach today,” Howland said. “We wanted him to be proud of our team.”
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UCLA guard Malcolm Lee, top, dunks as Brigham Young guard Charles Abouo looks on during the first half of the John R. Wooden Classic NCAA college basketball game in Anaheim, Calif., Saturday, Dec. 18, 2010. Photo APSomething's missing at Wooden Classic, and it's not just Coach
Even with a UCLA victory, the Wooden Classic doesn't have a special feel, and it could be in jeopardy.
By Bill Plaschke
The Los Angeles Times
8:49 PM PST, December 18, 2010
The Wooden family and UCLA players lingered together at midcourt, draping arms, pumping fists, feeling Coach, everybody quick, nobody hurrying.
"Every game, he is with us," Bruins center Josh Smith said after UCLA's 86-79 upset of No. 16 Brigham Young on Saturday. "It feels good to win this for him."
No UCLA basketball celebration is as emotional as the party thrown when the Bruins win the game at the event named after John Wooden, but this one tugged the blue hearts particularly hard.
It was the first Wooden Classic since Wooden's death in June.
And it might be the last.
"Oh, I really, really hope that isn't the case," UCLA Coach Ben Howland said.
Believe it. This wonderful annual tribute at the Honda Center may have happened for the final time, the Wooden Classic being 17 years old and sadly all worn out, the contract expiring this year with no certain hope of renewal.
"We're still talking, but we're optimistic" said Greg Wooden, Coach's oldest grandson.
No comment, said the Anaheim Arena Management organizing group, whose actions spoke louder than words.
This being the first major Southern California event linked to Wooden since his death, you might think there would be a commemorative program honoring his life. There was not. There was no program at all, only a simple scorecard.
"That was disappointing," said Nan Muehlhausen, Wooden's daughter.
This being the one tournament in Southern California that contains Wooden's name, you might think that name would be emblazoned on a logo on the court. It was not. It looked like just another game.
"That was a shame," Greg Wooden said.
Finally, with UCLA playing in the only game this season that is convenient for their Orange County fans, one might think the place would be nearly full. It wasn't, with announced attendance only 12,499, and bunches of empty seats everywhere.
Part of the apathy was the vanilla first-game matchup of St. Mary's and Long Beach State. The event was also hurt by the rain. But goodness, UCLA can't even fill a house against a nationally ranked opponent on the one day honoring basketball's greatest coach?
"We would really like a bigger crowd here, but we know we have to bring in the top teams to make that happen," said Greg.
But it's not happening and, as the Wooden Classic is currently constituted, it might not happen.
With more teams using their holiday time to play in tournaments in which they can play more than one game — eight teams played three games each in the recent 76 Classic at the Anaheim Convention Center — the Wooden has become a scheduling dinosaur. It's also difficult to draw fans to a venue that is not known for basketball, especially when it can be a 90-minute drive from the Bruins' biggest fan base.
The John Wooden Tradition game in Indianapolis — the other Wooden game — has been canceled for this season. Could the Wooden Classic be next?
"'That can't happen," Howland said. "We have to keep doing whatever we can to honor Coach."
The Classic's best hope for survival in Anaheim is that Henry Samueli, a huge Bruins booster who even has a campus building named after him, owns Anaheim Arena Management and might push to make the changes to make this a relevant event again.
But maybe it's time to leave Anaheim. Why not find another organizer and move it up to Staples Center? Or it put in the potentially remodeled Forum? Or rest it a year and then make it the centerpiece weekend in the new Pauley Pavilion?
Teams are often reluctant to play in the Classic because, even in Anaheim, they figure it is a UCLA home game. So give them another game, two games each for four teams over a December weekend, the winners and losers on Saturday play each other on Sunday.
"Whatever it takes to keep this going," Howland said.
A continued resurgence by his young team would help. Did you watch them knock around the previously unbeaten Cougars? Could you believe this was the same Howland team that finished 14-18 last season and was embarrassed by Mississippi State in this game?
"We're young, but we're starting to get it," said Howland, who is not prone to hyperbole. "If we play hard the way we can, we can beat anybody on a given night."
Check out Tyler Honeycutt, a sophomore with NBA skills and smarts, sinking big three-pointers with a shrug. Check out Reeves Nelson, last year's tough guy becoming a more complete player, throwing down a monster dunk in crunch time. Check out Malcolm Lee, who played bump-and-grind defense on Jimmer Fredette, the BYU star scoring 25 points but knocked off balance enough to miss every big shot.
Finally, check out Smith, a huge freshman who stretches his jersey to the screaming point, the big kid taking charges and making free throws and doing things that oversized freshmen don't do.
When asked about Wooden, Smith shook his head and said softly, "I never got a chance to meet him."
But through his teammates' efforts and the Wooden family's excitement, he saw Coach on Saturday. We all did.
At any cost, in any gym, it is a vision worth keeping.
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UCLA forward Reeves Nelson, top, gets a rebound against Brigham Young guard Brock Zylstra during the first half of the John R. Wooden Classic NCAA college basketball game in Anaheim, Calif., Saturday, Dec. 18, 2010. Photo APUCLA beats No. 16 BYU 86-79 in Wooden Classic
By BETH HARRIS, AP Sports Writer
2 hours, 3 minutes ago
ANAHEIM, Calif. (AP)—John Wooden is gone, although his memory remains strong for the UCLA Bruins.
Having already dedicated their season to the legendary coach, they wanted to win their game at the Wooden Classic in his honor. The doubleheader named for him was the last time he saw the Bruins in person a year ago, when they lost to Mississippi State by 19 points. Wooden died in June at 99.
“We played for Coach today,” coach Ben Howland said. “We wanted him to be proud of this team and I know he is.”
Reeves Nelson scored a career-high 23 points and UCLA defeated No. 16 BYU 86-79 on Saturday, handing the Cougars their first loss.
The Bruins’ jerseys have a patch with Wooden’s famous “Pyramid of Success” on them.
“It’s like every game he’s with us,” said Smith, a freshman who never got to meet Wooden.
The Bruins (6-4) earned their first quality win of the season after road losses to ranked teams Villanova and Kansas. Tyler Honeycutt added 17 points and Joshua Smith had 15 points and eight rebounds despite both being in foul trouble in the team’s third straight win.
“We had come close a few times against other good teams,” Nelson said. “It feels good to show when we’re at our best we can beat any team.”
Jimmer Fredette led the Cougars (10-1) with 25 points while in foul trouble and committed seven of their 19 turnovers. Brandon Davies added 18.
“It’s tough to handle. You don’t want to lose ever,” Fredette said.
UCLA ended a five-game skid against ranked teams with its first win since beating Washington in 2009. The Bruins improved to 10-4 in the doubleheader that attracted 12,499 to Honda Center.
The Bruins opened the second half on an 18-11 run that produced their largest lead, 61-48, capped by Honeycutt’s 3-pointer.
Shortly before, Smith picked up his fourth foul, allowing the Cougars to take away UCLA’s inside game and the Bruins began missing from the perimeter.
“I was on a good streak in games where I wasn’t getting in foul trouble,” he said. “I came to the bench and I wasn’t too happy.”
The Cougars scored 11 straight points to get to 61-59.
UCLA answered with six straight points of its own, with foul-plagued Lazeric Jones and Smith combining for all of them to keep the Bruins ahead 67-59. Fredette sat down with his fourth foul after missing two straight baskets.
“UCLA was physical and strong,” BYU coach Dave Rose said. “We really didn’t have an answer for their size. That’s as physical as we’ve been guarded with size all year.”
The teams traded baskets down the stretch, with Davies scoring eight straight points for the Cougars. Smith went back to work inside, alternately scoring or drawing a foul.
The Cougars got no closer than five, on Fredette’s final basket with 1:29 left.
“They like to pressure the whole game,” he said of the Bruins. “They just made shots and plays.”
BYU raced out to a 16-6 lead to start the game, with Fredette scoring eight points. The Bruins clamped down on him while using a 23-5 run to take a 29-21 lead. Nelson and Honeycutt had six points each in the spurt while BYU sputtered on turnovers.
The Cougers ran off six straight points to close within two before UCLA closed the half on a 14-10 run, including consecutive 3-pointers by Jones and Jerime Anderson, to lead 43-37. Fredette scored BYU’s final six points of the half.
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The Fabulous Forum
The who, what, where, when,
why — and why not — of L.A. sports
UCLA basketball: Bruins pull off 86-79 upset of Brigham Young
By Ben Bloch
The Los Angeles Times
December 18, 2010 | 5:05 pm
UCLA's search for a quality victory reached fruition Saturday.
The Bruins responded to several second-half pushes by No. 16 Brigham Young to pull out an 86-79 victory in the Wooden Classic at the Honda Center, handing the Cougars their first defeat of the season.
BYU (10-1) cut a 13-point deficit to two midway through the half, then cut a 10-point deficit to five in the final two minutes before UCLA's Reeves Nelson took a pass from Tyler Honeycutt along the baseline and went in for a one-handed dunk with 1 minute 4 seconds left.
Nelson finished with a career-high 23 points and Honeycutt had 17.
The Bruins played the final 15:26 with Joshua Smith having four fouls and the final 10:47 with Honeycutt having four fouls. Neither fouled out.
Smith was a one-man force after re-entering the game with about 10 minutes to play, tipping in his own miss and taking a charge on Brigham Young's Jimmer Fredette that represented the senior guard's fourth foul.
Fredette finished with 25 points. Smith had 15 points and eight rebounds.
The victory snapped a string of five consecutive losses to ranked teams for UCLA (6-4). The Bruins' last win over a ranked team was against No. 22 Washington in 2009 at Pauley Pavilion. Saturday's result also gave the Bruins' NCAA tournament hopes a major boost.
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Bruins hand BYU first loss, 86-79
By Martin Renzhofer
The Salt Lake Tribune
Published Dec 18, 2010 06:00PM
Updated 1 minute ago Updated Dec 18, 2010 09:38PM
Anaheim, Calif. • Brigham Young lost to more than just a UCLA team that has been, at best, inconsistent. Saturday afternoon in the Honda Center, the Cougars were done in by a physical Bruin team that was also inspired.
UCLA’s effort in its 86-79 victory in the John R. Wooden Classic was fueled by wanting to do well for “Coach.”
“We’re happy to win this game, being its the first time we had this and Coach was not here with us,” UCLA coach Ben Howland said. “It was really important to the players. They really carried his memory. We played for Coach today. We want him to be proud of this team and I know he is.”
Wooden, who died in June, would have been pleased at how UCLA (6-4) shrugged off an early BYU burst and forced its will in handing the 16th-ranked Cougars (10-1) their first defeat.
In evaluating UCLA’s victory, two numbers jump out for the Cougars — five and 19. BYU could not handle the Bruins’ constant pressure and physical nature, and that was illustrated with 19 turnovers compared to just five assists.
“We really didn’t have an answer for their size,” BYU coach Dave Rose said. “We played really hard and competed to the end. We needed to make a few more plays.
“Defensively they did a really, really good job of making it hard in our half-court offense. Most of the baskets we scored, guys had to make plays.”
Coming into the game, Rose was concerned about how his Cougars would rebound with the bigger Bruins and how they would deal with the physical play. Except for spurts, BYU did neither.
Although BYU guard Jimmer Fredette finished with 25 points, 17 came in the first half. He also turned the ball over seven times with just one assist. UCLA guard Malcolm Lee was responsible for making Fredette work for everything.
“It’s tough to handle,” Fredette said. “You don’t want to lose, ever. I don’t think anyone thought we’d go undefeated. [But] we expect to go out and perform and we didn’t.”
BYU made some adjustments in the second half. Jackson Emery and Brandon Davies, held to four total points in the first half, finished with a combined 33. UCLA, however, had an answer for every Cougar run.
Still, midway through the second half, BYU managed to cut a 13-point deficit to 61-59. Then Fredette picked up his fourth foul. Meanwhile, UCLA freshman center Joshua Smith, also with four fouls, took a charge, forward Reeves Nelson, who finished with 23 points, asserted himself and the Bruin advantage quickly ballooned once more.
“I came to the bench and I wasn’t too happy,” Smith said about the fourth foul. “I just cleared my head.”
The hulking 6-foot-10 Smith gave BYU matchup nightmares. He finished with just eight rebounds, but Smith also kept the ball alive as the Bruins snatched 16 offensive boards.
BYU started fast. In the first five minutes, the Cougars converted 7-of-9 shot to zoom in front 16-6. However, a more physical UCLA increased its defensive pressure and outscored the Cougars 37-19 to take a 43-37 lead into halftime.
“Our front line had 55 points and 20 rebounds,” Howland said. “When we get that kind of productivity out of our front line, it really helps. And we did a good job getting out in transition.”
Howland believes that when UCLA plays with energy and aggressiveness, the Bruins can beat anyone in the country. BYU would not disagree.
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UCLA’s physical play exploits BYU’s lack of depth
By Martin Renzhofer
The Salt Lake Tribune
Published Dec 18, 2010 09:10PM
Updated 1 minute ago Updated Dec 18, 2010 09:10PM
Anaheim, Calif. • Brigham Young’s 86-79 loss to UCLA exposed the Cougars in the paint and off the bench.
In winning their first 10 games, the Cougars (10-1) masked injuries and lack of depth.
“We need to get everybody healthy,” BYU coach Dave Rose said. “We figured out ways to win but haven’t come together as a cohesive group because we’ve had a lot of adversity.”
It hurt BYU that post Noah Hartsock, still feeling the effects of being out with a concussion, was unable to make a lasting contribution. He played only 11 minutes.
“I thought Noah was in pretty good shape to start the game,” Rose said. “As the game progressed, he was kind of a step slow. I was proud of him. It was a really good workout for him tonight.”
BYU forward Chris Collinsworth, struggling the past three weeks with an ankle sprain, played 20 minutes and managed seven rebounds and four points.
Even if the Cougars had been healthy, it appeared as if it would have been difficult for them to match the physical play of UCLA (6-4). The two teams were whistled for 48 combined fouls.
“They were as physical a team as we’ve guarded with size all year,” Rose said. “[We’re] not strong enough with the ball.”
UCLA coach Ben Howland had a different point of view about the perceived physical play.
“I didn’t see it being any more physical than any other game we played,” he said. “I felt it was good basketball.”
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Recap: U-C-L-A vs. B-Y-U
By Sports Network
The Sports Network
The Kansas City Star
Posted on Sat, Dec. 18, 2010 07:23 PM
Reeves Nelson scored a career-high 23 points and UCLA handed No. 16 BYU its first loss of the season, 86-79, in the John R. Wooden Classic.
Tyler Honeycutt added 17 points and eight rebounds, while Josh Smith recorded 15 points and eight boards for the Bruins (6-4), who have won three straight since a four-game slide.
"This was a great win for us against an outstanding BYU team," UCLA head coach Ben Howland. "They were high in the RPI and were undefeated coming in. We had a good week of practice leading up to today's game. We really executed at both ends of the floor. We did a much better job of attacking the zone."
The win also gave UCLA a 12-11 edge in the all-time series between the two teams.
Jimmer Fredette led all scorers with 25 points for BYU (10-1), which was coming off a dominating 87-65 performance over another Pac 10 team, Arizona, last Saturday. Brandon Davies chipped in with 18 points, while Jackson Emery netted 15 points.
"It was a very entertaining game and our guys played really hard," BYU head coach Dave Rose said. "I give a lot of credit to UCLA. They were physical, strong and played well. We didn't really have an answer for their size. I was really proud of how hard our team played. We played really hard and competed until the end. We needed to make a few more plays."
UCLA took its biggest lead, 61-48, with an 18-11 run to open up the second half. Honeycutt finished the rally with a three-pointer.
The Cougars then went on a streak of their own by scoring 11 straight points to pull within two at the midway point of the second half. Emery ended the rally with a 3-for-3 performance from the free throw line.
A game full of streaks continued with the Bruins' six-point spurt to take a 67-59 lead.
During the next six minutes, the teams traded baskets and BYU was only able to cut the deficit to five with a minute and a half to play after a Fredette layup. Nelson answered with a dunk on the ensuing possession and a pair of free throws by the Bruins kept them ahead the remaining minute of the game.
BYU, behind eight points from Fredette, nearly tripled UCLA's score only five minutes into the game at 16-6.
However, the Bruins answered back with an 18-2 run put them on top midway through the opening half. Honeycutt led the scoring barrage with six points, while Nelson made four straight free throws to cap it.
Fredette had six straight points for the Cougars during the final 90 seconds of the half to cut UCLA's halftime lead to 43-27.
Click on boxscore to enlarge (courtesy of Yahoo Sports)
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