UCLA loses 79-63 to No. 15 Michigan in Maui
By JOHN MARSHALL, AP Basketball Writer 3 hours, 5 minutes ago
Rivals.com, Yahoo!Sports
LAHAINA, Hawaii (AP)—UCLA went into Maui with two embarrassing losses and added two more before heading home.
At least the Bruins are making some progress.
Struggling from the perimeter and unable to slow Michigan’s offense, UCLA left the Maui Invitational with its second loss in three days after the 15th-ranked Wolverines rolled to a 79-63 win Wednesday in the tournament’s third-place game.
“We’ll start to make a comeback and dig ourselves out of the 1-4 hole that we’re in right now,” UCLA coach Ben Howland said.
Michigan (5-1) played well at both ends to build a modest lead in the first half and ran away with it in the second. The Wolverines made 15 of 23 shots in the second half and hit 62 percent overall to bounce back from a tough loss to No. 6 Duke in the semifinals.
Zack Novak scored a career-high 22 points, Tim Hardaway Jr. added 20 and Jon Horford scored all 12 of his points in the first half for Michigan, which bookended its loss to the Blue Devils with two solid wins.
“It (the stage) doesn’t get any brighter than this time of the year and that’s big for us,” Michigan coach John Beilein said. “You don’t know how people are going to do when all of a sudden, the teams and the coaches that you see on television every day, and all of a sudden, it’s you. I really liked what we saw from there.”
UCLA (1-4) is off to one of its worst starts in years.
Travis Wear had 16 points, Joshua Smith and Jerime Anderson 12 each and UCLA shot just 4 of 17 from 3-point range.
“It’s really obvious that we have a long way to go to be able to compete against the teams on our schedule that are left. It’s going to be a hard fight,” Howland said. “Our guys have to be willing to get to work. Nothing’s easy. We’re going to have to really, really fight hard to get it together in practice.”
The Wolverines and Bruins each followed encouraging wins with disappointing losses in Maui.
Michigan handled No. 8 Memphis’ pressure in the opener, playing with poise down the stretch in a 73-61 win.
The Wolverines struggled early against Duke in the semifinals to fall behind by 16 and tried to fight back by hitting 11 of 12 shots to get within five. Michigan couldn’t slow down Duke’s offensive show, though, allowing the Blue Devils to hit 11 3-pointers and shoot 56 percent in the seven-point loss.
The Bruins opened the season with two embarrassing losses and avoided another in the opener by turning a two-point halftime lead against Division II Chaminade into a 92-60 rout.
UCLA staggered at the start of its game against No. 14 Kansas in the semifinals and fought its way back in the second half before fading down the stretch in a 72-56 loss.
The Bruins got off to another slow start against Michigan, missing six of their first eight shots and turning it over four times in the first 8 minutes to fall behind by seven.
It only got marginally better for UCLA the rest of the half.
The Bruins struggled against Michigan’s patient offense, allowing the Wolverines to hit 14 of 24 shots.
UCLA also struggled shooting from the perimeter, hitting 4 of 11 from 3-point range to trail 38-31 at halftime.
“We are taking probably too many 3-point shots,” Howland said. “I don’t know how much that was forced by their defense, but we’re not shooting the ball well from 3. We’re going to have to be more patient offensively, and we’re going to have to pack things in better.”
Michigan didn’t give the Bruins much of a chance to try another comeback, dropping in 3-pointers, dunks and scoring on backdoor cuts to push the lead to double digits.
Hardaway made a highlight-reel play by going down the lane for a one-handed dunk—and had a scowl for the crowd on his way back. Then he hit a long 3-pointer that put the Wolverines up 63-47.
Michigan kept pushing, getting a layup from Hardaway on a nice rebound tip from Trey Burke, then a 3-pointer and a layup by Evan Smotrycz to go up 72-53 with 4 minutes left.
“We were getting good looks,” Novak said. “When we do that, we’re pretty good shooters and we’re going to knock them down.”
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Another bad day in paradise for UCLA basketball
Bruins fall to 1-4 after a 79-63 loss to Michigan. For the second game in a row, UCLA rallies from big early deficit, then wilts.
By Ben Bolch
The Los Angeles Times
9:36 PM PST, November 23, 2011
Reporting from Lahaina, Hawaii — Reeves Nelson ran late Saturday, the UCLA forward missing the team bus to Los Angeles International Airport and the flight to Hawaii.
Ben Howland ran late Sunday, the Bruins coach missing a coaches' meeting and showing up a few minutes late to a media conference.
It was a theme that would repeat itself over the next three days, UCLA a bit tardy on the court while falling behind in the first half of each game of the Maui Invitational.
The Bruins certainly are behind schedule after a 79-63 loss to No. 15 Michigan on Wednesday at the Lahaina Civic Center left a team that started the season nationally ranked off to its worst start in 24 years.
"We came out here and our goal was to win the whole thing," said UCLA sophomore center Joshua Smith, a towel wrapped around his head and his eyes red and swollen. "That didn't happen."
The Bruins (1-4) took fourth place courtesy of an opening-round victory over Chaminade, a Division II team that couldn't hold an early six-point lead.
After UCLA won the Maui Invitational five years ago, the Bruins had two days to frolic in the Pacific Ocean before returning to Westwood. Now they'll have one day in paradise to contemplate a season on the verge of disaster.
"It's really obvious that we have a long way to go to be able to compete against the teams on our schedule that are left," Howland said. "It's going to be a hard fight."
UCLA was staggering from the start against the Wolverines (5-1), falling behind by 11 points less than nine minutes into the game. As they had the previous day against Kansas, the Bruins rallied, pulling to within five points midway through the second half, before eventually wilting during a 15-6 Michigan surge.
Guard Zack Novak scored 22 points on seven-for-eight shooting and Tim Hardaway Jr. added 20 points for the Wolverines, who repeatedly burned their more plodding counterparts with dribble penetration and open three-point shots. Michigan shot 61.7% to UCLA's 41.8% and outrebounded the Bruins, 32-24.
"They hurt us every way imaginable, with back cuts, with open threes," Howland said. "We're going to have to pack in our defense. Everybody's got to be inside except for the guy guarding the ball."
Shaky defense is only part of a laundry list of concerns for a team that made four of 17 three-point attempts and is shooting 29.7% from behind the arc this season.
A frontcourt that was supposed to dominate has instead been mostly pushed around, outrebounded in three of five games. Smith appears to have regressed from last season, averaging 9.0 points and 18.2 minutes a game, down from 10.9 points and 21.7 minutes as a freshman. His 12 points and five rebounds against the Wolverines were largely offset by six turnovers.
Nelson lacked the fiery demeanor he displayed earlier in the tournament after sitting out 1½ games as punishment for various issues, collecting six points and four rebounds in 23 minutes off the bench.
Travis Wear scored a career-high 16 points, making six of 10 shots, but the sophomore forward continued to struggle with defense and rebounding, just like his 6-foot-10 twin David.
The Bruins' start is stirring reminders of two years ago, when they dropped six of their first eight games on the way to a losing season, except this might be worse; each of UCLA's defeats has come by double digits.
Next up is Pepperdine on Monday at the Sports Arena, where the Bruins are already 0-2 against mid-major opponents.
"We know it's a long season and we have to keep our heads up," Travis Wear said. "It's a marathon and this is just the beginning."
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UCLA continues awful start with 79-63 loss to Michigan
via The Orange County Register
Published: Nov. 23, 2011 Updated: 7:31 p.m.
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
LAHAINA, Hawaii — Zack Novak scored a career-high 22 points, Tim Hardaway Jr. added 20 and No. 15 Michigan rolled over UCLA, 79-63, on Wednesday for third place in the Maui Invitational.
Michigan (5-1) played well at both ends to build a modest lead in the first half and ran away with it in the second. The Wolverines made 15 of 23 shots in the second half and hit 62 percent overall to bounce back from a tough loss to No. 6 Duke in the semifinals.
Jon Horford scored all 12 of his points in the first half for Michigan.
UCLA (1-4) came to Maui with two embarrassing losses and headed back home with two tough ones to continue one of its worst starts in years.
Travis Wear had 16 points, Joshua Smith and Jerime Anderson 12 each and UCLA shot just 4 of 17 from 3-point range.
The Wolverines and Bruins each followed encouraging wins with disappointing losses in Maui.
Michigan handled No. 8 Memphis' pressure in the opener, playing with poise down the stretch in a 73-61 win.
The Wolverines struggled early against Duke in the semifinals to fall behind by 16 and tried to fight back by hitting 11 of their first 12 shots to get within five. Michigan couldn't slow down Duke's offensive show, though, allowing the Blue Devils to hit 11 3-pointers and shoot 56 percent in the seven-point loss.
The Bruins opened the season with two embarrassing losses and avoided another in the opener by turning a two-point halftime lead against Division II Chaminade into a 92-60 rout.
UCLA staggered at the start of its game against No. 14 Kansas in the semfinals and fought its way back in the second half before fading down the stretch in a 72-56 loss.
The Bruins got off to another slow start against Michigan, missing six of their first eight shots and turning it over four times in the first 8 minutes to fall behind by seven.
It only got marginally better for UCLA the rest of the half.
The Bruins struggled against Michigan's patient offense, allowing the Wolverines to hit 14 of 24 shots.
UCLA also struggled shooting from the perimeter, hitting 4 of 11 from 3-point range to trail 38-31 at halftime. Horford made all five of his shots in the half.
Michigan didn't give the Bruins much a chance to try another comeback, dropping in 3-pointers, dunks and scoring on backdoor cuts to push the lead to double digits.
Hardaway had a highlight-reel play by going down the lane for a one-handed dunk — and had a scowl for the crowd on his way back — then hit a long 3-pointer that put the Wolverines up 63-47.
Michigan kept pushing, getting a layup from Hardaway on a nice rebound tip from Trey Burke, then a 3-pointer and a layup by Evan Smotrycz to go up 72-53 with 4 minutes left.
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Five observations: Michigan 79, UCLA 63
By Peter Yoon
ESPN Los Angeles, UCLA Report
November, 23, 2011 8:19 PM PT
UCLA had some trouble in paradise once again Wednesday, continuing what has been a worst-case scenario start to the season with a 79-63 loss to Michigan in the third-place game of the Maui Invitational.
The Bruins, as has been their standard operating procedure in three games in Hawaii, came out in the second half and made a run to cut a 38-31 halftime deficit to 46-41, but Michigan got hot from beyond the arc and sealed the game with five three-pointers in the final 11:35 of the game.
The Bruins fell to 1-4 for the first time since 1987 and leave the Hawaiian islands still without a victory against a Division I team. They defeated Division II Chaminade in the first round of the tournament.
Five observations from the game:
1) UCLA's defensive woes continued
Ben Howland teams rarely allow opponents to shoot 50 percent for a game, but that's what UCLA opponents are shooting this season.
Michigan became the second team to shoot better than 60 percent against the Bruins this season by making 29-of-47 shots from the field. It brought UCLA's field goal percentage defense for the season to 50.1 percent.
The Bruins were too slow to stay in front of dribblers, too slow to switch on screens and too late in providing help defense because they were too slow. The result was a bevy of wide open, uncontested shots that Michigan players had no trouble making from all over the floor and easy layups.
Howland, a stickler for defense, hinted earlier this season that he might switch to a zone, but showed it only briefly in Hawaii. The personnel is better suited for a zone and with only two games in the next 16 days, the Bruins will have plenty of time to practice it.
2) UCLA couldn't capitalize on its size advantage
The Bruins played six players who are 6-8 or taller while Michigan played only two players that tall for significant minutes, yet the Wolverines out-rebounded UCLA, 32-24, and tied the Bruins on points in the paint, 34-34.
Nobody on UCLA had more than five rebounds and one of the two players who had five was 6-1 point guard Lazeric Jones. The other was 6-10 center Joshua Smith. Twins David and Travis Wear, 6-10 forwards, had two rebounds each.
Travis Wear and Smith were able to make an impact on offense with Wear scoring a team-leading 16 points and Smith adding 12, but David Wear, Anthony Stover and Reeves Nelson were pretty much non-factors on offense. Nelson had six points while Stover and Wear had zero.
3) The backcourt bailout didn't arrive
The last two nights, UCLA's guard play has helped the Bruins overcome deficiencies in the supposedly superior front court, but on Wednesday the cavalry couldn't get going.
Jerime Anderson, UCLA's most consistent player so far this season, was solid again with 12 points on four of nine shooting, but Tyler Lamb and Lazeric Jones were a combined one for 11 from the field. Jones scored eight points--all from the free throw line--and Lamb finished with three.
4) Foul trouble again hurt Joshua Smith
Smith played only 19 minutes against Michigan despite coming off of the bench in an effort to keep him out of the foul trouble that limited him to only eight minutes the night before. He played only seven minutes in the first half, yet picked up two fouls and got a third foul 19 seconds into the second half.
He was an effective scorer when in the game, able to muscle his way around the post and finished with 12 points on six of nine shooting with two assists. But he was called for at least two fouls on the offensive end and had six turnovers total -- four in the second half.
5) Lazeric Jones played too many minutes
Simply put, Jones is hurting the team more than he is helping it at this point. He had another woeful shooting night, going 0-5 from the field, and had only three assists in 32 minutes.
Jones this season is now shooting 24.4 percent from the field (12 of 49) and he is four of 31 (12.9 percent) against Division I opponents. Anderson is fully capable of manning the point guard spot and freshman Norman Powell has shown enough in limited time to warrant some more minutes at the third guard spot.
Powell was in the game for 20 minutes Wednesday, but his teammates seemed to make an effort to not give him the ball. He's shown some good athletic moves and while he's also making freshman mistakes, he's not hurting the team the way Jones is during this early-season shooting slump.
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