UCLA senior point guard Larry Drew II's ability to distribute the ball while avoiding turnovers has been a huge part of the Bruins' success this season.
JAE C. HONG, ASSOCIATED PRESS
Miller: Drew II handling it all rather well for Bruins
The senior point guard, who has the best assist-to-turnover ratio in the nation, has found a home at UCLA
COLUMNIST
ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER
Published: Jan. 5, 2013 Updated: Jan. 6, 2013 12:05 a.m.
LOS ANGELES – Simply on their own, the numbers would be impressive enough for UCLA's Larry Drew II because:
• He now leads the nation with an assist-to-turnover ratio of 5.57 (On the NCAA website (link), LD2 is still second to Creighton's SR PG/SG Grant Gibbs, although this was prior to last night's game - atb)
• Over the past six games, he has 54 assists to only seven turnovers, a statistic so notable that Coach Ben Howland quoted the numbers precisely Saturday after his team's 68-60 victory over Stanford.
• Three Bruins have more turnovers than Drew despite Drew playing point guard, meaning he handles the ball more than any of his teammates, and has played 519 minutes, by far the most on the team.
About the only way someone could take better care of a basketball would be to place it in a glass case.
But what really makes the numbers glow is the fact that, immediately before coming to Westwood, Drew was considered so loose with the ball that he was mocked for it by the fans at his old school, North Carolina.
"Turnover Jesus," they called him there and still do. Clever, perhaps, but not exactly funny to the player targeted.
"It was the style of play," Drew explained. "One of the toughest adjustments for me was going up and down the court at 100 miles per hour, as fast as I could, every single possession."
Hall of Famer Roy Williams has won plenty during his coaching career, including two national titles at North Carolina.
But he lost Larry Drew II. Midway through his third season in Chapel Hill, Drew bolted, fled without as much as a word. Larry Drew Sr. had to call Williams with the news that his son wouldn't be returning.
Not exactly the most stand-up way to exit a school, but that's how much fun Drew wasn't having with the Tar Heels, how little he felt he belonged there.
"The first practice, he said, 'Just get the ball and go, go as fast as you can go, literally as fast as you can go,'" Drew said of Williams. "He didn't fail to remind me either when I wasn't doing it. I ended up trying to do too much, make plays that weren't there."
Now back in Southern California — he attended Taft High in Woodland Hills — and after sitting out a season as a transfer, Drew is the fifth-year senior on a team almost as young as it is gifted.
He is the steadying presence for a group wildly talented, the calm hands amid the racing heartbeats.
In September, Howland announced that Drew would be his starting point guard by promising, "That's going to happen." He then called Drew his "most indispensable player."
The other Bruins, for the record, include 6-foot-10 twins Travis and David Wear, 6-9 guard Kyle Anderson and Shabazz Muhammad, who could be playing in the NBA right now and next season should be playing in the NBA.
And yet, a 6-2 guard averaging 5.9 points per game is the "most indispensable" of the Bruins.
"I think it's very important, not only to have a senior on the team but a senior point guard," Drew said. "The point guard should be an extension of his coach on the court and be a natural leader."
Though it's not as catchy as "RGIII," another quarterback charged with taking care of the ball, "Drew II" at least rhymes and is easy to remember.
And he has helped lead the Bruins back from the edge of calamity. UCLA now has won eight in a row, including its first two in the Pac-12.
The Bruins, once ranked No. 11, lost three times in 13 days starting in mid-November. The slide featured a stretch in which, it seemed, another player transferred out of the program every other day.
Among the losses was Cal Poly San Luis Obispo, a 20-point underdog that thundered into the New Pauley Pavilion and aged the place in an instant.
"That was a no-no, man," Drew said Saturday. "We were not supposed to let that one go. I knew there was only one way for us to go and that was up."
UCLA controlled the Cardinal in this one, gaining the lead after six minutes and never trailing again. There would have been no suspense at all without some shaky free throwing late.
Drew finished with seven assists and only one turnover. He also had three steals and harassed Stanford's Chasson Randle so thoroughly that, at one point, Randle, attempting a layup, shot an air ball.
Afterward, Cardinal coach Johnny Dawkins kept his locker room closed for nearly an hour. He finally emerged to inform the media that the elapsed time represented a personal record.
Drew, meanwhile, was savoring another day being part of one of the sport's historically powerful programs.
"This is the most comfortable I felt playing since high school really," he said. "I think it's really starting to pay off for me because that's the type of player I am. I don't really turn the ball over."
That's the story here, at least. They tell a different story in North Carolina, back where Drew left behind 2½ unpleasant seasons and one unfortunate nickname.
Contact the writer: jmiller@ocregister.com
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