Sophomore forward Reeves Nelson shoots a free throw after being fouled by Stanford freshman guard Aaron Bright. Photo Daily Bruin MultimediaA fast start and solid play against Stanford gets UCLA men’s basketball its 6th straight win
By RYAN ESHOFF
The Daily Bruin
Published February 18, 2011 in Sports
Updated: 2:55 AM
UCLA 69
Stanford 65
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PALO ALTO — Hot shooting and balanced scoring propelled the Bruins to a fast start Thursday night, and the UCLA men’s basketball team found their stroke just enough times the rest of the way en route to their sixth straight victory.
UCLA (19-7, 10-3 Pac-10) made 3-pointers on its first two possessions of the game and finished with nine trifectas in its 69-65 victory over Stanford at Maples Pavilion.
Still, the Bruins were almost done in by even hotter shooting from one opponent in particular. UCLA had to withstand a late barrage from Stanford star Jeremy Green, who hit three threes in the final two minutes to nearly bring the Cardinal (13-12, 6-8) all the way back.
“This is a great shooter’s gym,” coach Ben Howland said. “Green’s a great player. He might be one of the most underrated players in the country. That jump shot of his is lethal.”
But with Stanford trailing just 66-62 inside of a minute, Green lost the ball on the way up in a one-shot attempt and then was unable to connect from beyond the arc on the next possession. UCLA missed a number of free throws down the stretch but got three big ones from sophomore forward Reeves Nelson in the final 13 seconds to seal the victory.
“This is a great team for TV ratings,” Howland quipped, “and keeping the fans involved all the way until the very end.”
Fans of the Bruins will also appreciate the fact that their team shot 52.9 percent from beyond the arc and 46.8 percent from the field. Sophomore forward Tyler Honeycutt made four of his eight 3-point attempts and finished with 16 points.
If it sometimes appeared that the Cardinal hadn’t dealt with Joshua Smith before, it’s because they haven’t. The UCLA freshman center missed the teams’ first meeting because of an injury but was an unstoppable force in the paint for much of the rematch.
Smith finished with 13 points, including a thunderous second-half dunk that came a possession after he was able to draw an offensive foul on Green.
“It really hurt me when I couldn’t play against them back home,” Smith said. “But my teammates took care of me, and I just wanted to help them.”
Boosted by the all-around play of Smith, the Bruins turned a seven-point halftime lead into a double-digit advantage. The Cardinal, however, wouldn’t go away.
Sparked by their colorfully-named tandem – Green, who finished with 27 points, and Anthony Brown, who finished with 15 points – the Cardinal refused to let their visitors pull away.
Howland wasted no time in calling a timeout when Stanford cut the UCLA lead to 47-41 with just under 12 minutes to go. The Bruins responded with a 10-0 run that included a pair of crucial layups from Nelson, who led UCLA with 18 points.
“I was just trying to do anything within my power to help the team win,” Nelson said. “It’s always tough to win on the road, and I was fortunate enough for things to go my way.”
“Reeves Nelson had some big moments tonight,” Howland added.
In a rare twist of scheduling, UCLA will now have two days off before it faces Cal on Sunday night in the second game of its weekend trip. Thursday’s win – the Bruins’ 10th in their last 11 games – means that they kept pace with first-place Arizona in the Pac-10. UCLA remains just one game back of the Wildcats.
“It would have been really brutal to be up here Friday and Saturday after a loss,” Howland said, a smile forming on his face. “It’s much better to be stuck up here on this long road trip coming off a win.”
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Youthful UCLA just keeps getting better
February, 18, 2011 Feb 182:53AM ET
By Diamond Leung
ESPN.com
STANFORD, Calif. -- Given a chance to praise his team for winning 10 of its past 11 games, UCLA coach Ben Howland said the Bruins were improving and then countered with a compliment -- a backhanded one.
“I know we’re great for television,” Howland mused. “This is a great team for TV ratings and keeping the fans involved for the sponsors all the way ‘til the very end.”
In surviving Stanford on the road with a 69-65 win, UCLA once again showed off its propensity to let opponents back into the game. But a Bruins team -- one that is without a single senior -- ultimately did not break and managed to maintain second place in the Pac-10 standings.
Howland might have a few more gray hairs because of it, but young UCLA is growing up before his eyes.
A month after needing to claw its way back against Stanford at home, the Bruins never let the Cardinal have a lead. Aside from Jeremy Green draining three 3-pointers in the final minute and a half to make the game a little too close for comfort, the 19-7 Bruins controlled the game and looked very much unlike last year’s much-maligned squad that not only missed the NCAA tournament, but also went 14-18.
The Bruins start two sophomores, a freshman and a junior college transfer at point guard in Lazeric Jones -- who plays with wrapping over his sprained left wrist -- and team has gotten better with time.
Reeves Nelson, who had 18 points and seven rebounds, might play out of control sometimes, but continues to be reliably productive. Tyler Honeycutt, who hit four 3-pointers and scored 16 points overall, might take an ill-advised shot every now and then, but continues to show off a skill set that makes him a future pro.
And 6-foot-10, 305-pound freshman center Joshua Smith, who had 13 points and nine rebounds while coming off the bench in order to stay out of foul trouble, has gradually learned to effectively throw his weight around and make a meaningful impact inside.
“He's like two guys out there and takes up a lot of lane when he's in,” Stanford coach Johnny Dawkins told reporters. “It reminds me when I played against Shaquille O'Neal. He's different than any other different post player you face in college.”
At one point 3-4 after a loss at home to Montana, UCLA is now in a position where Smith is talking about winning the Pac-10 outright.
Games against first-place Arizona and a road game against preseason favorite Washington loom, but during this stretch, the team has taken care of business at home and is now focused a road sweep in Northern California that would make those games all the more important.
“Now we play more together,” Smith said. “Early in the season when we made mistakes, guys were yelling at each other.
“We’ve grown up a lot. Every game, we’re learning that much more about ourselves.”
After the game Howland brought up the positives of each player before then mentioning areas of improvement. The 35-26 rebounding edge against Stanford was welcomed, and the defensive effort of Malcolm Lee was noted as usual, but Howland also knows the team must cut down on turnovers of the unforced variety.
“We have to continue to grow and get better at it,” Howland said.
Should the growth and winning continue, it’ll be that much more of a reason for television viewers -- especially those in March -- to stay tuned to what's brewing at UCLA.
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UCLA beats Stanford to continue hot streak
By SCOTT M. REID
THE ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER
Published: Feb. 17, 2011
Updated: 11:32 p.m.
STANFORD – Give UCLA this much: The Bruins know how to deliver a cliffhanger.
"We're great for television. This is a great team for TV ratings and keeping the fans involved for the sponsors all the way to the very end," Bruins coach Ben Howland said. "We should get some accommodation with that."
The Bruins kept fans on the edge of their seats — and Howland off his — by letting a 16-point second-half lead against Stanford on Thursday night evaporate to a four-point gap inside a minute with the ball in Cardinal guard Jeremy Green's red-hot hands.
UCLA forward Reeves Nelson finally stepped up to rescue the Bruins from the foul line, securing a 69-65 victory at Maples Pavilion that kept UCLA (19-7, 10-3 Pac-10) one-game behind Arizona and the Pac-10 lead.
"That's a great win for us," Howland said of the Bruins' sixth consecutive victory and their 10th in the past 11 games.
During that stretch a young and inexperienced Bruins team has been, at times, unstoppable, often entertaining and always interesting.
Thursday's drama followed a familiar plot line. Bruins forward Tyler Honeycutt scored 13 of his 16 points in the first half, while guard Malcolm Lee smothered Green as UCLA opened a 36-29 lead at the intermission.
Green scored just six of his game-high 27 points in the first half.
"Honeycutt was shooting the ball really well in the first half, and I think they focused more on him in the second half and that opened up things for me and Josh and we just went to work," Nelson said, referring to freshman center Joshua Smith.
Nelson took advantage of that space to score 12 of his team-high 18 points in the second half. Smith added 13, eight coming after the intermission.
It was a Nelson pass that set up a Jerime Anderson 3-point jumper for a 45-32 lead with 14:48, which was the launch point of a Bruins run that them ahead, 57-41, with 7:26 remaining.
Then Green went to work, hitting a jumper on the ensuing possession. A minute later he sank another jumper, this time a 3-pointer to make it 57-46.
"Green's a great player," Howland said. "I think he might be one of the most underrated players in the country. That jumpshot of his is lethal."
Thursday it was almost fatal to the Bruins.
A Green bomb from top of the key cut the UCLA lead to 66-62 with 1:12 to go.
The ball was in his hands again after a Nelson turnover. But Green lost the handle under the basket.
Honeycutt missed a pair of free throws at the other end but Green's 3-point attempt with 22 seconds left was off the mark and Nelson iced the victory with by sinking three consecutive free throws.
"They hit a bunch of 3s to make it interesting down the stretch," Howland said, "and not good for my health."
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Silence is golden for UCLA basketball in win
By Jon Gold Staff Writer
The Los Angeles Daily News
Posted: 02/18/2011 12:19:29 AM PST
Updated: 02/18/2011 12:19:44 AM PST
STANFORD - Maybe all UCLA needed was a little quiet.
In a sparsely filled and nearly silent Maples Pavilion for much of the game's 40 minutes, the Bruins relied on drastically improved long-range shooting to defeat Stanford on Thursday night, 69-65, their sixth consecutive win and 10th in 11 games.
The Bruins, who had been shooting just 32.5 percent as a team from 3-point range, made 9-of-17 3-pointers - including 6 of 11 in the first half - to jump to a 36-29 halftime lead.
"We're getting better; we're 18-0 with a 10-point lead," UCLA coach Ben Howland said. "I know we're great for television. This is a great team for TV ratings. And keeping the fans involved for the sponsors all the way 'til the very end. So I think we should get some accommodation for that."
UCLA's outside shooting made it appear it would cruise to an easy victory in Palo Alto.
But par for the course, turnovers assured a rougher finish.
The Bruins (19-7, 10-3 Pac-10) committed 16 turnovers, including 11 in the first half, allowing Stanford to keep it close. Long-range shooting late made it even closer, as Stanford guard Jeremy Green hit two 3-pointers in the final minute to close UCLA's lead to 66-62 with 1 minute, 10 seconds left.
But Green's turnover with 31.6 seconds left and three free throws down the stretch by Reeves Nelson iced the game for the Bruins.
It was a surprising turn of events for UCLA - it made just 5 of 11 free throws at one point to keep the Cardinal (13-12, 6-8) in the game.
"We just have to do a better job at the foul line," Howland said. "We missed some foul shots late in the game. I thought Reeves did a great job stepping up."
With the Bruins leading 45-32 with 14 minutes, 48 seconds left, a 9-2 run by Stanford in three minutes cut the UCLA lead to six once more. Green did much of the damage with two outside shots - including a 3-pointer - but UCLA regained its offensive composure behind Nelson, Joshua Smith and Lazeric Jones.
Nelson's driving layup was followed by Jones' 3-pointer off a beautiful pass from Nelson.
Then Smith went to work.
Smith had two offensive rebounds, drew a foul, made 1 of 2 free throws then came back on the defensive end and swatted a shot that led to layup by Nelson, giving UCLA a 57-41 lead, its biggest of the game.
"We've played almost 30 games, played against a lot of teams we've already played, and bad teams will let runs affect them," said Smith, who finished with 13 points, nine rebounds - including five offensive - two blocks and a steal.
"We already knew this was going to a game of runs. They made their run, and we had to just had to make our moves."
Nelson added 18 points and seven rebounds, as the Bruins won the battle of the boards 35-26. Sophomore forward Tyler Honeycutt added 16 points but five turnovers and Jones had nine points, six rebounds and four assists.
"We had pretty balanced scoring tonight," Nelson said. "We were shooting well in the first half, then in the second half they tried to focus on it, so it helped to have me and Josh and we just tried to go to work."
The Bruins had particular trouble with Green on Thursday, as he exploded in the second half for 21 points, finishing with 9-of-16 shooting and 5-of-8 3-pointers.
"Man, he's such a great shooter," Nelson said about Green. "It's crazy how you can say he's a good shooter, and Malcolm `held' him to 27. It was the same way with (BYU guard Jimmer Fredette); he just has such a good release. (Lee) tried to make things difficult for him, but with a person who's that good of a player, sometimes you just have to accept it and try to do what you can to get ahead."
The Cardinal also got 15 points from guard Anthony Brown and 12 points from Josh Owens in losing their second straight game.
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UCLA makes it interesting until the end in 69-65 win over Stanford
Bruins go up by 16 points with 7 1/2 minutes to play only to sweat it out before earning sixth straight win. In balanced effort, Reeves Nelson gets 18 points, Tyler Honeycutt 16 and Joshua Smith 13.
By Ben Bolch
The Los Angeles Times
11:03 PM PST, February 17, 2011
Reporting from Palo Alto — It's a template for success, and for heartburn.
Build a double-digit lead, watch it dwindle and ultimately hold on in the final minute.
UCLA used that formula again Thursday night at Maples Pavilion in a 69-65 victory over Stanford, going up by 16 points with 7 1/2 minutes to play only to sweat out its sixth consecutive triumph.
"This is a great team for TV ratings and keeping fans involved for sponsors all the way to the end," Bruins Coach Ben Howland said. "We should get some accommodations for it."
UCLA sophomore forward Reeves Nelson scored 12 of his 18 points in the second half, including three free throws that sealed the outcome after a barrage of three-pointers by Jeremy Green had pulled Stanford to within four points with 1:12 remaining.
The Cardinal had two more chances to cut into its deficit, but Green committed a turnover and missed a three-pointer as UCLA (19-7 overall, 10-3 Pacific 10 Conference) improved to 18-0 when it has led by at least 10 points.
It was a balanced effort for the Bruins. Sophomore forward Tyler Honeycutt had 16 points and freshman Joshua Smith introduced himself to the Cardinal (13-12, 6-8) with 13 points and nine rebounds after sitting out the teams' first meeting last month with a head and neck injury.
"Nobody on this team really cares about stats," Nelson said. "We have so many options that are going to help the team win that we're going to use them."
Honeycutt was aggressive offensively in the early going, making three three-pointers and scoring 13 points to help the Bruins take a 36-29 halftime lead. He also had some sloppy moments, including back-to-back traveling violations that prompted Howland to briefly remove him from the game.
UCLA then repeatedly went inside to Nelson and Smith in the final 20 minutes. Smith had three offensive rebounds on one possession, helping the Bruins amass 35 rebounds overall to Stanford's 26.
Smith made a variety of hustle plays in his 28 minutes, chasing down a rebound in the corner, diving to the floor for a loose ball and altering a shot to force a shot-clock violation.
"His big thing is being able to play really hard for major minutes," Howland said.
A block by Smith resulted in a layup by Nelson that gave the Bruins their largest lead, a 57-41 advantage with 7:26 left. Green then started heating up, splurging for 16 of his game-high 27 points over the remainder of the game.
Honeycutt missed three free throws in the final 1:22, including the front end of a one-and-one opportunity, to help fuel the Cardinal's comeback.
But after Green missed a three-point attempt with 22 seconds left and Stanford trailing by only four, Cardinal guard Aaron Bright wrapped his arms around Nelson and was called for an intentional foul.
Nelson made both free throws with 12 seconds to go, delighting a large and vocal contingent of Bruins fans.
Mental mistakes continued to hurt the Bruins, who committed 17 turnovers and suffered a few defensive lapses late in the game.
Ultimately, they overcame another late letdown to complete a season sweep of Stanford and will have two days off before trying to beat California for a second time this season.
"We're playing more together," Smith said. "It was up and down, but we stayed together."
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Stanford rally fizzles against deep Bruins
By Elliott Almond
Silicon Valley MercuryNews.com
Posted: 02/17/2011 10:26:39 PM PST
Updated: 02/18/2011 07:41:18 AM PST
Stanford took care of one big problem Thursday night against UCLA by stopping leading scorer Malcolm Lee.
But when it came to a really big problem, the Cardinal had little answer against 6-foot-10, 305-pound wide body Joshua Smith in a 69-65 Pacific-10 Conference defeat at Maples Pavilion.
Smith, a freshman from the Seattle area, had 13 points and nine rebounds. More than anything, his presence under the basket stymied Stanford in front of an announced crowd of 5,856.
"He's like two guys out there," Stanford coach Johnny Dawkins said. "It reminds me when I played against Shaquille O'Neal," the 7-1, 325-pound NBA star. "He's different than any other different post player you face in college."
Lee, a junior guard, had scored in double figures seven straight games but ended with five points. He came in averaging 13.8 per game.
But forward Reeves Nelson had 18 and Tyler Honeycutt 16 to lead the Bruins (19-7, 10-3 Pac-10) to their sixth win in a row to remain a half-game ahead of Washington for second place in the conference. UCLA's last defeat was Jan. 29 at Arizona 85-74.
It might have been a runaway except for Stanford guard Jeremy Green, who scored 21 of his 27 points in the second half. He made 5 of 8 from-3-point range but his long-range miss with 22 seconds left was the one he wanted back.
"I didn't make enough plays," he said. "I had a chance to close it out at the end."
But it was too much a burden for Green, who has scored at least 20 points in five straight games. Stanford's offense staggered against a withering UCLA defense. Freshman forward Anthony Brown added 15 and center Josh Owns had 12, but only three in the second half when Smith made it difficult to drive.
Smith attributed UCLA's resurrection to maturity.
"Now we play together," he said. "Early in the season when we made mistakes, guys were yelling at each other."
The Cardinal play united, but Dawkins said a lack of maturity stops his players from winning games such as Thursday's.
"At times we played well but it was in spurts," he said. "But you're not going to win a game like this unless you play well the whole way. We didn't deserve to win."
The 225th meeting between the two teams was close until midway through the second half before the Bruins built a comfortable 13-point margin with 14:48 left.
Or so it seemed, until freshman John Gage made a 3-pointer with 2:15 left to cut UCLA's lead to eight. Then Green made another with 1:12 left to make it 66-62.
Stanford (13-12, 6-8) could not get closer despite making six 3-pointers in the final 6:22.
With 52 seconds left Nelson was called for a charge while driving to the basket. Green had a turnover, and then Owens' foul put Honeycutt on the line. He missed both with 30 seconds left.
Yet again, Stanford couldn't capitalize when Green missed the open jumper with 22 seconds left. Nelsen scored UCLA's final six points on free throws to seal the victory.
The Bruins had held each of its previous five opponents below 40 percent shooting from the field. Stanford ended that streak by shooting 44.4 percent.
"The offense is still coming," Dawkins said. "But right now, we have lulls."
Click on boxscore to enlarge (from Yahoo Sports)
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