pic credit: Mark J. Terrill / Associated Press / November 4, 2009)
Well, it's all over town. This will be a long season for the Bruins. UCLA barely escapes Concordia from the NAIA 62-61 at Pauley. No homecourt advantage was visible that night. A few articles on the game.
Bruins get a win and a reason for worry in exhibition game
Concordia, an NAIA school from Irvine, leads for most of the game before losing. 'We were lucky to win,' UCLA Coach Ben Howland says.
By David Wharton
The Los Angeles Times
November 5, 2009
The rumble that filtered through a sparsely populated Pauley Pavilion on Wednesday night was the sound that worry makes.
The sound of bewildered fans watching UCLA trail deep into the second half.
A sound that turned to cheers -- part joy, part relief -- only in the final seconds as UCLA barely escaped against little-known Concordia, 62-61, in the first exhibition game of the season.
That would be Concordia of Irvine. A team that normally plays in the NAIA.
"Obviously, we have a lot of work to do to be able to compete at all in the Pac-10," Coach Ben Howland said. "We were lucky to win."
It might have been worse. The Bruins might have lost if not for an unlikely hero.
Mustafa Abdul-Hamid, a former walk-on pressed into action at point guard, suffered through seven of his team's 20 turnovers before nailing a three-pointer with 16 seconds remaining.
"Negative thoughts weren't going through my head," he said. "It was just about making the next play."
The Bruins knew coming in that they face a rebuilding job, with four starters gone from last season. Their early practices had been hampered by no fewer than six players sitting out with injuries.
And Howland knew that exhibition losses are not unheard of, No. 25 Syracuse falling to Division II LeMoyne on Tuesday.
But this was not the start that he and his players envisioned.
More than anything, Concordia used its small, quick guards to attack a perceived weakness in UCLA. The Bruins are thin in the backcourt, and were especially so on Wednesday with point guard Jerime Anderson recovering from a sore groin.
Taking his place, Abdul-Hamid and Malcolm Lee looked flustered against Concordia's pressure. At the other end, they could not stop the Eagles from penetrating, and UCLA's big men offered little help.
The result? Concordia guard Justin Johnson raced to 21 points, opening up room for Brandon Hucks and Ben Smith, who had 10 and eight, respectively.
The trio kept its team ahead for almost the entire game, until the final three minutes when UCLA started making clutch shots.
Nikola Dragovic, who had 12 points, sank a twisting layup and Drew Gordon, who led UCLA with 17, scored on a spinning move. Then came Abdul-Hamid's shot.
Concordia still had time to score but UCLA held on with scrambling defense under the basket.
"It was a good sign that we came back," forward James Keefe said. "But, as a team, we did not want it to be this close."
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Concordia throws scare into UCLA
UCLA 62, Concordia 61 The Bruins trail the entire second half until hitting a three with 16 seconds remaining.
12:42 AM PST on Thursday, November 5, 2009
By MICHAEL BECKER
The Press-Enterprise
LOS ANGELES - The UCLA men's basketball team hopes to be among the best in the Pac-10 Conference. But on Wednesday, it seemed better suited for the Golden State Athletic Conference.
The Bruins suffered a scare in their first exhibition game of the season at Pauley Pavilion but held off NAIA school Concordia, 62-61.
The Bruins trailed the entire second half until guard Mustafa Abdul-Hamid hit a straightaway three-pointer with 16 seconds remaining. Concordia guard Terrence Worthy missed two off-balance layups close to the basket with just seconds left on the game clock, and the Bruins avoided their most embarrassing exhibition defeat since falling to Branch West Basketball Academy in 2002.
"Obviously," Coach Ben Howland said, "we have a lot of work to do to be able to compete at all in the Pac-10 this coming season."
Center Drew Gordon came off the bench to lead the Bruins with 17 points, and former Riverside North guard Malcolm Lee had 11 points but fouled out with about four minutes remaining. The Bruins trailed by eight points with eight minutes remaining in the game but scored 19 of the final 29 points to hold off the Eagles.
"I don't think anything surprised me," Abdul-Hamid said. "They played hard. Coach told us from the get-go they were good. They did a great job -- they're basketball players."
Those who say exhibition games do not matter did not witness what happened two days ago and 3,000 miles to the east, where Division II Le Moyne stunned Syracuse on the Orange's floor. It was a season-making game for tiny Le Moyne and a devastating way to open the year for Syracuse, which was ranked in the preseason Top 25 but will surely fall if only because of the notoriety it will receive.
Such is the situation for big-name programs in exhibition games: fans expect nothing short of a blowout.
What many at Pauley Pavilion didn't know was that Irvine-based Concordia, which has an enrollment of 2,400, is no patsy. The Eagles, a member of the Golden State Athletic Conference, entered this season hoping to reach their fourth consecutive NAIA national championships.
The Eagles were so confident they could hold their own against big-time programs that they scheduled UCLA and UC Irvine back-to-back.
The Eagles showed no fear in the first half, running up a 31-28 lead at halftime. UCLA made 44 percent of its shots in the first half but turned the ball over 10 times and looked disjointed and uncomfortable with two starters sitting on the bench recovering from injuries.
Concordia guard Justin Johnson had 17 first-half points and finished with 21 points.
UCLA NOTES
Senior guard Michael Roll (right ankle sprain) and sophomore guard Jerime Anderson (pulled groin) did not play. Anderson is expected to make his debut in the Nov. 10 exhibition against Humboldt State.
Nikola Dragovic did not start as punishment for missing a mandatory team meeting last week.
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Bizarre basketball game makes season hard to predict
By Sam Allen
Daily Bruin
Nov. 5, 2009 at midnight
They had UCLA uniforms, but they weren’t playing UCLA basketball. They ran beneath the bright lights at Pauley Pavilion, but they didn’t look like a Bruin team. The game was an exhibition – it won’t even count toward their record – but they made it feel like a Pac-10 thriller.
As it unfolded Wednesday night, UCLA’s wild 62-61 win over Concordia didn’t really make much sense.
It was a completely confusing scene.
Concordia was confident. The team from the small, NAIA school in Irvine arrived here with swagger. They frustrated the Bruins with their defensive pressure. Offensively, the Eagles knew which players to pick on. Their bench erupted with each bucket. A small section of their fans jumped and screamed.
And the Bruins were sleepwalking. As a team, they committed 20 turnovers and missed 10 of their 19 free-throw attempts. Down the stretch the Bruin offense struggled to execute its basic sets, coach Ben Howland said.
Sophomore Malcolm Lee suffered a serious case of brain cramps. Lee, considered the team’s rising star at shooting guard, fouled out on a silly play with four minutes left.
When the whistle blew, he dropped to his knees and buried his head inside his white, stretched jersey.
“How stupid could I be?” was his only thought, he said.
Those last four minutes after he left were even more bizarre.
Point guard Mustafa Abdul-Hamid nailed a 3-pointer to put the Bruins ahead with 16 seconds left. It was the same Abdul-Hamid who had committed seven turnovers earlier in the game.
“We were lucky to win this game,” Howland said.
I’m not trying to push the panic button. This was November college basketball. The Bruins are trying to run complex schemes, and they’ve had little time to master them. They were also shorthanded, playing without starting point guard Jerime Anderson and sharpshooter Michael Roll.
I just thought it was a really weird night, and one that makes the regular season harder to predict.
I don’t know about Lee, I don’t know about the big men, and I don’t know about the freshmen, who Howland said were too flustered defensively down the stretch.
After this wacky game, only one thing was certain. The Bruins have a lot of work to do.
Afterward, as I wrote, one UCLA player’s father walked up past the press box. He stopped and said jokingly, “it wasn’t a Syracuse,” referring to the No. 25 Orangemen, who lost Tuesday to a Division II school.
And he was right. The Bruins did survive. It’s just hard to be certain they will again next time.
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In UCLA-Concordia squeaker, Bruins' backcourt needs the most oil
With defenders knocking at their knees, the Bruins' offense couldn't seem to find a rhythm in 62-61 win. Ben Howland says getting Michael Roll back will help.
By David Wharton
The Los Angeles Times
November 6, 2009
In the wake of UCLA's close call against Concordia -- a 62-61 exhibition victory at Pauley Pavilion on Wednesday -- Coach Ben Howland and his team had some thoughts about backcourt play, perhaps the most troubling aspect of a bumpy night.
The Bruins looked disorganized on offense for much of the game, unable to establish a rhythm against smaller, quicker defenders. Even after timeouts, they failed to execute several sets in the final minutes.
Fans might have been reminded of the loss at Washington last season.
"Just our lack of ability to handle the pressure of their defense," Howland said. "We need to screen in the backcourt for our guard. That's my fault."
Concordia's Justin Johnson, listed at 6 feet 2 but looking shorter, led all scorers with 21 points and had a pair of steals. Terrence Worthy, at 5-9,also created problems.
"There's something about those little guys," UCLA guard Malcolm Lee said. "They just get in you, get around your knees."
Lee and former walk-on Mustafa Abdul-Hamid were forced to handle the point because Jerime Anderson was still nursing a groin injury. It was an especially tough outing for Abdul-Hamid, who made the winning three-point shot but also had seven turnovers and sounded like he had been put through the grinder.
"I don't think I've ever played 36 minutes," he said. "I think high school games are 32, so I was a little bit fatigued."
Lee, a shooting guard expected to spell Anderson at the point this season, did not fare much better, finishing with 11 points, two assists and three turnovers.
"Last time I really handled the ball was in high school, and I usually did better than that," he said.
The backcourt issue won't fade away, not with Darren Collison and Jrue Holiday gone to the NBA and UCLA left with only three bona fide scholarship guards.
Howland spoke of getting Lee more time at the point in practice. He also looked forward to the return of Anderson and shooting guard Michael Roll, a senior who might have helped the Bruins avoid some of their 20 turnovers.
"Just having Roll in there would have been a calming influence," Howland said. "Knowing what he's supposed to do, it would have been easier."
Little big men
Though UCLA fans might not have known about Concordia before Wednesday night, the Irvine school is a powerhouse in the NAIA, whose best teams equate to about the NCAA Division II level.
In the last seven years, the Eagles reached the NAIA championship game three times, winning the title in 2003.
Howland gave credit to their preparation.
"They ran the same play, just the old-school hit the high post with two guys split up high, and they scored on it, like, four or five times," he said. "We looked at some film from last year but they did different stuff."
Nevertheless, Concordia is a small school -- enrollment 2,400 -- with a schedule that includes the likes of Hope International, Point Loma Nazarene and Cal State Monterey Bay.
Even UCLA forward Drew Gordon, who knew a bit about the Eagles, was surprised.
"Two of my friends from high school play on that team, so we've been kind of going back and forth," he said. "I didn't expect them to be quite as good."
In the paint
If the Bruins were looking for a bright spot, they could focus on the offensive play of their frontcourt.
Though the big men failed to supply defensive help at times, they pushed UCLA to a 41-21 edge on the boards. Gordon led all players with 11 rebounds and James Keefe had six.
Gordon scored a team-high 17 points. In all, UCLA had 32 points in the paint and eight off second chances.
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