Shabazz Muhammad impresses in debut; UCLA doesn't in loss to Hoyas
Heralded freshman Shabazz Muhammad, who missed Bruins' first three games under NCAA suspension, scores 15 points in first college game but Georgetown wins 78-70.
By Baxter Holmes
The Los Angeles Times
10:38 PM PST, November 19, 2012
NEW YORK — His first shot, of the stop-and-pop variety, arced over the outstretched fingertips of defenders invading his personal space, and then splashed through the Brooklyn net.
The scoreboard added a pair to UCLA's total, and freshman Shabazz Muhammad ran back to play defense, having finally tallied the first points of his college career.
But his long-awaited debut Monday — delayed three games because the NCAA sat him out for violating its rules before it reinstated him Friday — didn't end in storybook fashion.
The No. 11 Bruins lost to unranked Georgetown, 78-70, in a semifinal of the Legends Classic tournament at Barclays Center in Brooklyn.
UCLA (3-1) will play Georgia (1-3), which lost its semifinal against No. 1 Indiana, at 4:30 p.m. PST Tuesday at Barclays. The game will be televised on ESPNU.
"I wanted to get a shot at them," Muhammad said of Indiana, which UCLA would have faced had it won. "But we know we really aren't ready yet."
As for the highly rated swingman, the 6-foot-6 Muhammad finished with 15 points, 11 in the second half, on five-for-10 shooting in 25 minutes.
"I can get a lot better," he said. "I didn't think I played really well tonight."
The heavily pro-Georgetown crowd of 10,071 at the new arena rained scattered boos on Muhammad when he checked into the game with 14 minutes 12 seconds to play in the first half. He made his first shot less than a minute later.
But it was clear that Muhammad is not in game-shape . . . that jelling with his teammates on the court will be a process . . . that everyone settling into their roles will be a project . . . and that, given the Bruins' youth and inexperience, this will take time.
UCLA Coach Ben Howland said Muhammad did a good job considering he hadn't played in a while. "He's got a lot of work to put in conditioning-wise to catch up."
But near the end, after falling into a double-digit hole, UCLA found a slice of rhythm. Facing a zone defense, Howland put Kyle Anderson at the high post on offense, and the 6-9 freshman zipped the ball around to teammates, including Muhammad, for easy baskets.
UCLA cut Georgetown's lead, but never to fewer than four. The Hoyas (3-0), who face Indiana on Tuesday, were led by Markel Starks' 23 points, and Otto Porter totaled 18 points, 11 rebounds, five assists, five blocks and three steals.
"And then there's a whole lot of other stuff he did that isn't on this piece of paper," Georgetown Coach John Thompson III said, looking at the box score.
Still, Muhammad was encouraged by what he saw during that late stretch of success.
"We're going to practice and really get this together and we're going to really be a good team," he said.
Freshman guard Jordan Adams finished with 22 points — his fourth straight game of 20 or more to start his career — and Travis Wear scored 12.
Anderson didn't score, but he did have seven rebounds and six assists.
UCLA led by four early, but Georgetown switched to the zone. The Bruins crumbled, with empty, almost hopeless offensive possessions. It wasn't until Anderson moved to the high post late that they could muster points against that scheme.
"They're still meshing," Thompson said of UCLA. "They're still coming together."
baxter.holmes@latimes.com
The scoreboard added a pair to UCLA's total, and freshman Shabazz Muhammad ran back to play defense, having finally tallied the first points of his college career.
But his long-awaited debut Monday — delayed three games because the NCAA sat him out for violating its rules before it reinstated him Friday — didn't end in storybook fashion.
The No. 11 Bruins lost to unranked Georgetown, 78-70, in a semifinal of the Legends Classic tournament at Barclays Center in Brooklyn.
UCLA (3-1) will play Georgia (1-3), which lost its semifinal against No. 1 Indiana, at 4:30 p.m. PST Tuesday at Barclays. The game will be televised on ESPNU.
"I wanted to get a shot at them," Muhammad said of Indiana, which UCLA would have faced had it won. "But we know we really aren't ready yet."
As for the highly rated swingman, the 6-foot-6 Muhammad finished with 15 points, 11 in the second half, on five-for-10 shooting in 25 minutes.
"I can get a lot better," he said. "I didn't think I played really well tonight."
The heavily pro-Georgetown crowd of 10,071 at the new arena rained scattered boos on Muhammad when he checked into the game with 14 minutes 12 seconds to play in the first half. He made his first shot less than a minute later.
But it was clear that Muhammad is not in game-shape . . . that jelling with his teammates on the court will be a process . . . that everyone settling into their roles will be a project . . . and that, given the Bruins' youth and inexperience, this will take time.
UCLA Coach Ben Howland said Muhammad did a good job considering he hadn't played in a while. "He's got a lot of work to put in conditioning-wise to catch up."
But near the end, after falling into a double-digit hole, UCLA found a slice of rhythm. Facing a zone defense, Howland put Kyle Anderson at the high post on offense, and the 6-9 freshman zipped the ball around to teammates, including Muhammad, for easy baskets.
UCLA cut Georgetown's lead, but never to fewer than four. The Hoyas (3-0), who face Indiana on Tuesday, were led by Markel Starks' 23 points, and Otto Porter totaled 18 points, 11 rebounds, five assists, five blocks and three steals.
"And then there's a whole lot of other stuff he did that isn't on this piece of paper," Georgetown Coach John Thompson III said, looking at the box score.
Still, Muhammad was encouraged by what he saw during that late stretch of success.
"We're going to practice and really get this together and we're going to really be a good team," he said.
Freshman guard Jordan Adams finished with 22 points — his fourth straight game of 20 or more to start his career — and Travis Wear scored 12.
Anderson didn't score, but he did have seven rebounds and six assists.
UCLA led by four early, but Georgetown switched to the zone. The Bruins crumbled, with empty, almost hopeless offensive possessions. It wasn't until Anderson moved to the high post late that they could muster points against that scheme.
"They're still meshing," Thompson said of UCLA. "They're still coming together."
baxter.holmes@latimes.com
___________________
/ For the Register
OC Register
Published: Nov. 19, 2012 Updated: Nov. 20, 2012 12:52 p.m.
"I really wanted a shot at them (Indiana) but we weren't really ready," said Muhammad, a reality proved during an 11-minute stretch spanning halftime, when the Bruins were befuddled by Georgetown's switch to a zone. UCLA's 24-20 lead turned into 43-29 deficit and they never got closer than four thereafter.
"Their experience really hurt us," Howland said.
The Bruins (3-1) had no answers for junior guard Markel Starks (23 points on 9-for-14 shooting), nor Otto Porter, (18 points, 11 rebounds). Porter, the 6-foot-10 forward finally was healthy enough to play a complete game for the first time this season — just the Bruins' luck.
UCLA was paced again by freshman Jordan Adams, whose 22 points were his fourth game of 20 or more in his four-game collegiate career. His four successful free throws extended his streak of perfection to 30.
But then UCLA, which faces Georgia in the consolation game tonight, has some distance to travel to turn an exciting recruiting class into one of the best teams in the nation.
"I thought Georgetown did two things, one when they went to zone at the end of the first half when we got tentative and couldn't get it inside, then when Georgetown's offense cut us off in the second," Howland said. "You have to credit them, but then we are a team that obviously is very young.
"After we put Kyle (Anderson) inside to catch the ball and make plays for others we did a better job, but their experience really hurt us. Starks had 23 points in his last six games last season. He has made a big jump."
Travis Wear had 12 points and eight rebounds for UCLA, which lost his twin brother David to a back injury as he hit the floor hard falling over teammate Joshua Smith in pursuit of an early second half rebound.
David Wear might not play tonight against Georgia, which hung with Indiana through 30 minutes before falling, 66-53, but Muhammad certainly will enter that contest with expectations of being better than he was in his debut.
"It was really exciting to get out there get the jitters out and play college basketball for the first time," he said. "But I didn't play as well as I can play, didn't play that well on defense."
He made half his shots (5 for 10), half his 3-pointers (2 for 4) and 3 of 4 free throws, with two assists and a turnover in 25 minutes that were a lot quieter than the buzz. Muhammad made a jumper to cut the Hoyas' lead to 50-46 with 11:53 to play in the second half but was pulled at 54-50.
Stats box (YahooSports.com)
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