UCLA Concludes Four-Game Homestand with Oregon State

UCLA Concludes Four-Game Homestand with Oregon State


The Bruins lead the all-time series with Oregon State 88-33 and have won the last 12 meetings with OSU.


Feb. 11, 2011
from the Official UCLA Men's Basketball website


LOS ANGELES -





GAMEDAY CENTRAL

DATE: Feb. 12, 2011
SITE: Pauley Pavilion (12,819)
TIP-OFF: 1:06 p.m. (PT)
TV: FSN and Prime Ticket
TALENT: Barry Tompkins (play-by-play), Don MacLean (analyst) and Rebecca Haarlow (sideline)
RADIO (UCLA Sports Network from IMG College): AM 570 KLAC
SIRIUS SATELLITE RADIO: 91
SIRIUS XM SATELLITE RADIO: n/a
TALENT: Chris Roberts (play-by-play) and Tracy Murray (analyst)
SERIES: UCLA leads 88-33


IN THE POLLS

UCLA is unranked in the AP Top 25 and the ESPN/USA Today Coaches Poll (Feb. 7) and received nine votes in the coaches poll and five in the AP poll. The Oregon State Beavers (9-14, 4-8) are unranked in both polls, and didn't receive any votes in either poll.


SERIES VS. OREGON STATE

This is the 122nd meeting between UCLA and Oregon State with the Bruins leading the series 88-33 (.727). The Bruins have won the last 12 meetings overall, including a 62-57 win at OSU earlier this year (Jan. 13). The Bruins blew a 17-point second-half lead, then scored the game's final seven points to defeat Oregon State. Lazeric Jones and Reeves Nelson had 13 points each for the Bruins, which led 47-30 after Nelson's basket with 15:57 remaining. Roberto Nelson had 13 points off the bench for Oregon State. Joshua Smith tied the score with two free throws, and Jones hit the go-ahead basket for UCLA with 39 seconds left. Led by Tyler Honeycutt's 18 points and 10 rebounds, UCLA beat OSU in Pauley Pavilion last year 65-56. Honeycutt also had five blocks, four assists and three steals against the Beavers. Nikola Dragovic had 14 points while Malcolm Lee had 13 points for the Bruins. Calvin Haynes led OSU with 14 points while Joe Burton had 13 points and 12 rebounds for the Beavers. UCLA Head Coach Ben Howland is 14-3 all-time against the Beavers and 7-0 against Oregon State in Pauley Pavilion.


BRUINS' INJURY REPORT

Lazeric Jones sprained his left wrist in the second half of the Bruins' home win over USC (Feb. 2). He finished the game and was taken for X-Rays immediately after the contest. The X-Rays were negative. He had 10 points and six assists against Oregon (Feb. 10). Brendan Lane's grandmother, Adelija Banevicius, passed away at the age of 82 the morning of UCLA's win over St. John's (Feb. 5) where she lived in Westborough, MA. He missed the Oregon game, but should be available when the Bruins host Oregon State (Feb. 12).

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Oregon, Oregon State basketball previews

from StatesmanJournal.com
11:29 PM, Feb. 11, 2011

Oregon State men

SCHEDULE: 1 p.m. today at UCLA.
TV (Oregon): FSN (Comcast 34)
RECORDS: OSU (9-14, 4-8), UCLA (17-7, 8-3).


UPDATE: OSU's road struggles continued Thursday with a 67-56 setback at USC. The Beavers are 1-8 away from Gill Coliseum this season, including an 0-5 mark in conference games.

Jared Cunningham (13.7 ppg, 2.9 steals), who is fifth in the nation in steals, was the only OSU player in double figures against USC. He scored 11 points. Omari Johnson (7.8 ppg, 6.5 rpg) added seven points and a team-high 10 rebounds.

The Beavers have lost five of their past six games and are ninth in the Pac-10. OSU must improve its shooting to have any chance at UCLA, which has won four games in a row and is 13-2 at home.

OSU made just 1 of 11 3-pointers against USC and shot 40.4 percent overall.

UCLA is second in the Pac-10, one game behind No. 15 Arizona. Five Bruins are averaging in double figures, led by Reeves Nelson (13.9 ppg, 8.8 rpg). Malcolm Lee (13.5 ppg) scored 25 points in Thursday's 64-54 victory against Oregon.

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UCLA BASKETBALL NOTEBOOK: Bruins snagging boards, wins

By Jon Gold, Staff Writer
from the dailybreeze.com
Posted: 02/11/2011 10:07:27 PM PSTUpdated: 02/11/2011 11:23:48 PM PST


UCLA has been dominating the boards recently, and the fact has not been lost on coach Ben Howland as the Bruins prepare for today's 1 p.m. matchup with Oregon State.

UCLA outrebounded Oregon 40-28 Thursday night in a 64-54 win at Pauley Pavilion, after beating St. John's on the glass by 12 and USC by 14 in consecutive wins.

Sophomore forward Tyler Honeycutt had 13 rebounds and sophomore forward Reeves Nelson had nine Thursday, but perhaps that was to be expected, seeing as the two rank fifth and third, respectively, in the Pacific-10 Conference in rebounding.


Not quite so expected?

Redshirt freshman center Anthony Stover, only recently inserted into the starting lineup for foul-plagued Joshua Smith, had eight boards and two blocks in 14 minutes.

"Honeycutt and Reeves in particular have been really consistent on the glass, and they're two of the best in the league," said Howland of his two sophomore forwards. "But I was really pleased by Anthony Stover's eight rebounds (Thursday). That's a huge factor going forward."

Howland was also pleased by Stover's post defense, particularly against Oregon forward Joevan Catron.

The reigning Pac-10 player of the week scored 15 points in 31 minutes, going 5-for-13 shooting, with only four rebounds.

"He's much more of a presence," Howland said. "He might be our best post defender, period. He did a great job last night. He did a nice job defending the big kid in the post, Catron; that guy is a hard matchup."


Nelson D-ing up

Howland also lauded Nelson's defensive effort in recent games, as Nelson has seemed to take it up a notch after a showdown with USC's Nikola Vucevic at the end of UCLA's 64-50 win over the Trojans on Feb. 2 at Pauley Pavilion.

"That was big down the stretch, no question," Howland said. "He took him one-on-one, just taking it on as a personal challenge. That's how you should approach it every time you're out there."

Nelson's improved defense, combined with the slow but steady maturation of Smith and the perimeter defense of Malcolm Lee, has the Bruins on a hot streak. They've won eight of their past nine games and 14 of 17.

"We're getting better defensively, and that's been gratifying," Howland said. "It's helped a lot to have Josh plugging screens as opposed to hedging. Malcolm has been very consistent the whole year. We're getting better, slowly but surely, but it takes time."


Two new teams

UCLA's first matchup with Oregon State in mid-January was a low-scoring affair, but packed full of drama, as UCLA needed a 5-0 spurt in the final minute to eke out the 62-57 win.

Much has changed since then. The Bruins (17-7, 8-3), who were coming off a 63-52 loss to USC at Galen Center the first time they met the Beavers, are now one of the Pac-10's hottest teams.

Oregon State (9-13, 4-7) is a bit different now, too, having inserted Ahmad Starks into the starting lineup. Starks played just three minutes and didn't score in the first matchup. During the past four games, though, he has averaged 25.5 minutes and more than nine points.

Howland does not anticipate a repeat of the first matchup, when the Bruins held the Beavers to just one player in double-figures, forward Roberto Nelson.

"I don't expect that will happen again (today)," Howland said. "That'd be great if it did. They're playing a little differently now."