Lee a difference-maker for UCLA

Oregon guard Jay-R Strowbridge, right, drives toward the basket as UCLA guard Malcolm Lee defends during the first half of the Oregon game.

Lee a difference-maker for UCLA
By Jon Gold Staff Writer
Posted: 02/11/2011 02:48:54 AM PST
Updated: 02/11/2011 02:49:05 AM PST


Malcolm Lee has become such a defensive stopper lately that UCLA head coach Ben Howland has taken to giving tremendous praise to his junior shooting guard.

Howland called Lee one of the best perimeter defenders in the country for the work he's done in recent weeks against BYU's Jimmer Fredette, Cal's Allen Crabbe and Oregon State's Jared Cunningham.

On an off-night defensively Thursday, though, Lee was just about the only offensive factor for the Bruins.

That'll do.

Lee had 25 points on 10-of-19 shooting to lead UCLA to a 64-54 win over Oregon in front of 7,406 at Pauley Pavilion, the Bruins' 14th win in 17 games.

"That was an absolutely huge win for us tonight," Howland said. "I was really, really worried about this game, with the emotion of the two games last week (wins over USC and St. John's). I was worried about Oregon."

UCLA needed the continued offensive explosion from Lee, who's averaging 17.3 points over his last six games and got little help early on.

The crowd was sparse, so the backboards certainly didn't appear to be rocking. Nor did they appear two feet higher or six feet farther back.

But UCLA and Oregon could not hit a pigeon with a bazooka early in Thursday's Pac-10 matchup, the game hovering in the 30s with 10 minutes left and the teams combining to make just 27 of their first 75 shots.

Then the game within the game started and the Bruins made their push. They eventually sailed past the Ducks behind Lee and backcourt mates Lazeric Jones and Jerime Anderson.

After UCLA trailed 39-37 with 10:13 left, Anderson had a quick seven points to spur a 27-15 run the rest of the way. The backcourt accounted for 23 of those points.

Anderson and Jones each finished with 10 points, and Jones added six assists and three steals. Anderson also had three assists and a blocked shot.

"We got layups in the second half, attacking their press," Howland said. "We did a better job attacking their press, getting the ball, getting to the basket. And Jerime had a huge three for us.

"Oregon is a problem, I'm just telling you."

The game was eerily reminiscent of the teams' first matchup in mid-January, when Oregon jumped to an early lead, led by three at halftime and watched UCLA come back.

The only difference? This time, the Ducks had Joevan Catron.

When the teams met earlier, Catron was out with a strained calf muscle, but he made his presence known Thursday. Catron had eight first-half points as Oregon jumped to an eight-point lead.

"He's their best player, their inside threat and a matchup nightmare," Howland said. "He has all sorts of game around the basket - up-and-under moves, spin - and he's shooting the ball well."

Catron's production was to be expected, though. He entered the game averaging more than 16 points per game.

Jay-R Strowbridge's performance, though, was a bit more surprising. Strowbridge, guarded by Lee for much of the game with starting guard Johnathan Loyd sidelined for much of the first half with foul trouble, had 10 points in the first half on 4-of-5 shooting but finished with just 14 points.

"(Malcolm) brings it every night defensively, he's just tremendous," Howland said.

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UCLA's Lee keeps opponents grounded
Published: Feb. 9, 2011 3:02 p.m.
BY SCOTT M. REID
THE ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER


LOS ANGELES – A few times each week Army assistant coach Shandrika Lee-Gerch texts or e-mails her younger brother Malcolm Lee constructive criticism and words of encouragement, usually accompanied by a quote from a famous athlete like Michael Jordan or a Bible verse or a line from the younger sibling's favorite song as a boy, R. Kelly's "I Believe I Can Fly."

I believe I can fly
I believe I can touch the sky
I think about it every night and day
Spread my wings and fly away
I believe I can soar

The song is both inspirational and somewhat ironic given that Malcolm Lee, a junior guard at UCLA, has grounded so many of college basketball's shooting stars this season.

The first thing Lee does after each game is check the box score. Not to see how many points he scored but to see what his opponent's totals are.

"Always check the other person first," Lee said.

Lee has rarely been disappointed by what he's found.

He has clipped the wings of just about everyone he's been assigned this season, from Wooden Award front-runner Jimmer Fredette of Brigham Young to Washington State's Klay Thompson, the Pac-10's leading scorer, to Cal freshman phenom Allen Crabbe. He has established himself as the conference's premier backcourt defensive players.

"And not just in the Pac-10," UCLA coach Ben Howland said. "I would say Malcolm Lee is one of the best, if not the best, perimeter defenders in the whole country."

Howland's claim is just as unlikely to be repeated by Lee as it is to be disputed by opposing coaches in the Pac-10. Lee is the antithesis to the stereotypical in-you-race, trash-talking, defensive stopper.

"When you think of defensive guys, you think of guys like (Dennis) Rodman," Lee-Gerch said. "That's not Malcolm. Malcolm's a quiet kid, a very studious kid. Mouthing off just doesn't go with his personality."

Instead Lee would rather let his game do the talking, and so far this season it has spoken volumes.

Some examples:

• Lee's performance against Fredette was the difference in the Bruins' 88-79 upset of previously undefeated BYU on Dec. 18. Lee held Fredette to 2 of 8 from behind the 3-point arc, just one assist while forcing seven turnovers. The Bruin's performance was highlighted in a recent Sports Illustrated story headlined "The Jimmer Blueprint: How To Contain BYU's Scoring Machine."

"I know how Jimmer Fredette feels," UCLA point guard Lazeric Jones said, "because I was Jimmer Fredette that week in practice against Malcolm."

• Lee held Thompson to 6 of 17 from the field in an 80-71 UCLA victory Dec. 29. Thompson had just two field goals in the game's final 14 minutes.

• Oregon State guard Jared Cunningham entered the Beavers' Jan. 13 game with UCLA averaging 19.1 points and shooting 47 percent from the field, 57 percent from the 3-point line in OSU's previous six games. Lee held Cunningham to 1 of 9 from the field, 1 of 4 from the 3-point line for five points.

"Malcolm Lee is just a 6-5 guy who can guard a 5-8 guard or a 6-4 guard or a 6-7 forward," Oregon State coach Craig Robinson said. "That guy is extremely athletic and long. His length is the kind of thing that can bother a lot of different guys."

• Like Cal freshman Crabbe. Crabbe's performance in UCLA's 86-84 victory Jan. 20 perhaps best illustrates just how valuable Lee is to the Bruins. Crabbe averaged 20 points per game in the four games leading up UCLA game. But smothered by Lee, he was able to get off just two shots for two points in the first half. "Malcolm took it personally," recalled Cal coach Mike Montgomery. Crabbe had just four points when Lee fouled out with 3:20 left. The Cal frosh scored 13 points with Lee on the bench, nine in the final minute to spark a Golden Bear comeback.

UCLA's dependence on him on the defensive end has impacted Lee's offensive game. Averaging a team-high 35.5 minutes per game in Pac-10 play has at times left Lee drained. Even so, he is averaging 13 ppg, putting up 23 in a 68-57 victory against Stanford on Jan. 22 and scoring 21 against Washington State's Thompson.

"I think Malcolm would be an even better shooter if I wasn't grinding him for 36 minutes a game," Howland. "It's just hard for me to take him out because you know his guy is going to struggle to score when he's in there."

Lee developed his defensive skills as a kid in Moreno Valley.

"Growing up I used to play a lot of one-on-one," Lee said. "Because in one-on-one, it's just you and (an) opponent so you have no help. ... You have to hold your own or you will get exposed."

And nothing missed the watchful eye of his big sister. It was Lee-Gerch who first noticed her brother's work ethic.

"Playing defense on any level, it's about will," she said. "A lot of it comes down to will and sacrifice."

And even as a young boy, Lee's determination was evident.

When he wasn't trying to keep up with Shandrika, eight years older than Malcolm, in the family driveway, he was following her to late night workouts at an open gym at nearby UC Riverside.

"We'd shoot sometimes until 1 o'clock in the morning," Malcolm said.

He was a regular at Pepperdine games when Shandrika was a standout for the Waves, taking over the court as soon as the final buzzer sounded.

"I'd run out on the court right after the game was over," Lee said.

"He's 8, 9 10 years old and they would have to kick him off the court," Lee-Gerch said. "It was like 'OK, we're turning off the lights now.'"

Lee-Gerch kept the light burning in her brother.

"It helped me a lot because she was always on me," Lee said. "(She was) the one person that really pushed me, other than my dad. She didn't tell me the stuff I wanted to hear. She told me the stuff I needed to hear."

A decade later she's still doing the same thing, sending baby brother words to live by. And soar. In recent weeks, he has repeatedly revisited the R. Kelly lyrics sent to him by the woman who first gave him wings.

Lee was asked if he found any irony that his favorite song was about flight and yet he had denied so many just that.

He laughed.

"I'm trying," he said.