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| Senior guard Larry Drew II scored the winning basket for UCLA, which put the team up over Utah in a close game. Drew took a leading role for the Bruins when their 13-point lead started to slip away, especially toward the end of the game. UCLA won 57-53 in its first Pac-12 conference road game. Blaine Ohigashi / Daily Bruin |
MEN'S BASKETBALL
UCLA: 57Utah: 53
SALT LAKE CITY — Larry Drew II held onto the ball and a two-point lead atop the key as the seconds ticked down.
After what felt like an eternity, Drew got exactly what he was looking for: A screen from Travis Wear, a Utah defensive switch and an easy driving layup to put the game out of reach and spur UCLA to a 57-53 victory at Jon M. Huntsman Center on Thursday.
“That was a big-time play by Larry Drew there down the stretch,” a giddy coach Ben Howland said.
And yet Howland was hesitant to name senior guard Drew, who tied for the Bruins in scoring with 12 points, the player of the game – the bus driver also turned in an impressive effort.
What was billed as a blackout for Utah fans turned into a whiteout hours before game time, with 10 inches of snow accumulating and roads looking more like ice sheets than asphalt.
UCLA arrived at the arena with just more than an hour to tipoff, while the referees only made it by 30 minutes after being forced to take the light rail.
“At one point, I didn’t think we were going to make it,” Drew said. “We were in traffic and then our bus started hitting some back and side streets.”
UCLA’s first road game of the season followed suit – things didn’t go exactly as planned.
The Utes held the Bruins (13-3, 3-0 Pac-12) to their lowest point total of the season while freshman forward and leading scorer Shabazz Muhammad finished with a paltry six points, a season low.
“Everybody has the same four letters across their chest,” Drew said.
“Some guys are going to have off nights. The rest of us have to pick each other up and hold each other accountable.”
Utah (8-7, 0-3) made UCLA’s win an ugly one by sucking its defense into the low post and forcing outside shots. Add some rowdy, late-arriving fans and what was once a 13-point lead quickly disappeared.
“I like the test that Utah gave us,” said freshman guard Kyle Anderson, who finished with 11 points and eight rebounds.
“The crowd was a big factor and it gave them a lot of momentum. For us to buckle down and keep the lead was big.”
UCLA will travel over the Rocky Mountains to face Colorado (11-4, 1-2) at 11 a.m. on Saturday.
Email Strong at sstrong@media.ucla.edu.
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Court Visions: Young Bruins prove they can adapt to road games
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| Redshirt junior David Wear and freshman Shabazz Muhammad, along with the rest of UCLA, managed a win over Utah on Thursday night.
Blaine Ohigashi / Daily Bruin |
THE DAILY BRUIN
SALT LAKE CITY — The Bruins were having trouble finishing what they had started. Midway through, they had to adjust their initial plan.
Before the finish line, they desperately needed a clutch maneuver from the man at the controls.
So the bus driver in charge of the team caravan pressed the gas pedal, even with the wheels slipping all over the road, and successfully conquered a detour to make it.
UCLA’s four-mile trek from the team hotel to the Jon M. Huntsman Center was dicey, and the 40-minute game awaiting them against Utah was just as rough, and required just as much ingenuity.
The Bruins ended up winning their first true road game, 57-53, in a game that was unlike any they had played this season.
A snowstorm pelted this city before tipoff, reducing the Utes’ home arena, which many expected to be sold out, to about a third of its capacity.
UCLA did even more to silence the crowd by racing to an 11-point halftime lead.
Just as the Utes’ fans slowly filed in late, the game’s pace slowed to a crawl, resulting in the Bruins’ lowest point total of the season. UCLA started clanking shots and Utah was within a possession in the final minutes.
These Bruins, half of them freshmen, were not ready for the taunts, or playing at altitude, or the way shots died on the rims as if they were frozen.
Nor were the Bruins ready for the Utes to grind it out defensively, led by a wing defender named Cedric Martin who showed total irreverence to the hype surrounding UCLA’s Shabazz Muhammad.
“I didn’t play like a baby. I played him like a grown man,” Martin said of his defense.
“Everybody kept saying he is the number one player in the nation or whatnot and I didn’t let it faze me. I got in his grill, talking, hitting, whatever I had to do to keep him down to the six points he had.”
Muhammad’s six points on 3-of-13 shooting was his lowest point total of the season and marked the first time he failed to score double-digits in his college career.
He missed his first five shots with Martin covering him like the snow on the streets, couldn’t get to the free-throw line as he would have liked and even airballed a wide-open 3-pointer late in the game.
This is life on the road, something this young Bruin team had yet to experience after a non-conference slate that included only home and neutral site games.
The Bruins had to adapt, and they did. They played to Utah’s pace, grinding the game out. All the freshmen, not just Muhammad, were having problems finding the basket late.
The win was capped off by senior point guard Larry Drew II. UCLA saw that Utah was switching every ball screen, so Drew held the ball and calmly ran a pick-and-roll, a play that isn’t at the forefront of UCLA’s offensive system.
He got the switch, hesitated, then blew by the much bigger defender for a game-sealing layup with nine seconds left.
“I can’t get rattled ’cause I can’t let my teammates see me like that,” Drew said after the game.
“I’m the PG, I’m the senior. I have to calm everybody else down.”
UCLA learned that it takes some adjustments and a steady hand at the controls to survive on the road.
Like the pregame bus ride, it ended successfully.
Email Menezes at rmenezes@media.ucla.edu.
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Bruins happy to escape Utah with a win
SALT LAKE CITY – Larry Drew II stood at the top of key at the Huntsman Center, his team having given away a double-digit lead on the road to Pac-12 bottom-feeder Utah (8-7, 0-3), the road inexperience of his teammates showing through as the Utes' crowd continued to boom for the game's final five minutes.
Drew and his coach, Ben Howland, knew full well how lucky the Bruins were to be up by two points at this juncture. The last two plays at the other end of the floor had finished with Utah point guard Glen Dean standing wide open behind the arc — both long-range shots clanging off the rim, giving UCLA (13-3, 3-0) two of its biggest breaks of the season. It was "by the grace of God," Howland said after his team's narrow 57-53 victory, that one of those two shots hadn't gone in.
Instead, Drew watched as the seconds ticked off the shot clock. In the back of his mind, he couldn't help but think back to two missed free throws from just a few minutes before — clutch points that could've given the Bruins an insurmountable lead. As the team's only senior, with each of the clutch freshmen struggling in the road environment, Drew continued to stare down the hoop, determined to redeem himself.
"I just wanted to make a play," he said.
So the Bruins set a screen, and the point guard found himself head-to-head with Utah big man Jason Washburn. With a nifty move to get past the Utes' last line of defense, Drew dropped a soft finger roll into the hoop — the first bucket the Bruins had hit in four minutes — giving UCLA its eighth consecutive victory in its first true road test of the season.
At 40 percent from the field, it was as bad as the Bruins have shot all season — with the exception of their overtime victory over UC Irvine. And with just 23 second-half points, it was as sloppy a half as the young Bruins have played in 16 games together. But with Pac-12 teams dropping early games one by one on the road — including Arizona's loss at Oregon earlier Thursday — the Bruins will certainly take it.
"We made some defensive breakdowns," Howland said. "We were very fortunate, to be honest. ... Just really happy to escape this place."
Escape is perhaps the best word to characterize the Bruins' ugly road triumph, as UCLA's freshmen struggled mightily to get any sort of offense going all game long.
After leading the Bruins with 11 points in the first half, freshman forward Kyle Anderson didn't make a single second-half bucket. Shabazz Muhammad, who led UCLA in scoring with 19 points per game before Thursday, tallied just six points — two in the second half — while collecting just three rebounds. And Jordan Adams, while scoring 12 points, shot just 2 of 5 in the second half and missed two key 3-pointers down the stretch.
Adams wasn't the only one who forced up long-range shots to no avail in the game's final few minutes. Before Drew's winning finger roll, the Bruins' previous four possessions had ended with a Muhammad air-balled 3-pointer, two Adams' long-range bricks and a missed desperation 3-pointer from Drew.
"We had some good looks, just sometimes, the ball just doesn't want to go in the hoop for whatever reason," Drew said.
That was certainly the case Thursday night, but it was one of only a myriad reasons Utah — which shot just 38.9 percent from the field — came back in the second half. The Bruins turned the ball over seven times in the second — after having just one giveaway in the first — and tallied just three offensive rebounds in the second, compared to Utah's seven. Throw in a dismal shooting performance, and it's safe to say UCLA's victory was as lucky as road wins come.
It's not a game that UCLA will likely hang its hat on when it reflects on this season, but with a hostile crowd shifting momentum late and an offense unable to score, the victory, however ugly, is an important one going forward — especially with another road test awaiting in Boulder, Colo., on Saturday.
"You have to battle through it," Howland said. "We knew it was going to be this kind of game. ... But it was great that we held on to get the win."
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Bruins finally arrive with win over Utes, 57-53
After a shaky bus ride through a blizzard, UCLA holds off Utah for eighth win in a row and 3-0 start in Pac-12.
By Chris Foster
The Los Angeles Times
10:31 PM PST, January 10, 2013
SALT LAKE CITY — There were two clutch drives Thursday.
UCLA Coach Ben Howland almost busted a button saying how proud he was of those who pulled them off.
There was Larry Drew II, who slipped to the hoop for a one-handed scoop shot that clinched the Bruins' 57-53 Pac-12 victory over Utah.
There was UCLA's bus driver, who slipped, and slid, on the road getting the Bruins through a blizzard so they could pick up their eighth consecutive victory.
"Our bus driver did a great job," Howland said. "At one point, our back wheels were sidewinding a little bit. The car on the right was doing the same thing. He gunned right through it. I was so proud of him, great job he did getting here."
This was UCLA's first road game this season and the beginning of this life wandering the Pac-12, something veteran Bruins players tried to explain to the team's four freshmen this week.
The blizzard hit at 4 p.m. The Bruins managed to get to the Huntsman Center with about an hour to spare.
Shabazz Muhammad looked like a freshman, scoring only six points.
"You never know what is going to happen on the road," freshman guard Kyle Anderson said.
The slipping and sliding extended into the game. UCLA (13-3 overall, 3-0 in conference play) built a 13-point first-half lead, and led by as many as 12 in the second half. The Bruins then had to endure the final three minutes as Utah (8-7, 0-3) scratched back.
The Utes, trailing, 55-53, missed four shots on one possession, two wide-open looks by Glen Dean on three-pointers. Dean missed another three on the Utes' next possession and the game was put into Drew's hands.
He dribbled the ball, then burst to the hoop past 6-foot-10 Jason Washburn for the clinching basket with nine seconds left.
"I was just waiting for the time to run down," Drew said.
It ended an uneven game happily for the Bruins, who are 3-0 in conference play for the first time since 2008-09.
Things were dicey before getting to the arena.
"At one point, I wasn't sure we were going to get here," Drew said. "We were in traffic and the bus driver started hitting back streets and side streets."
UCLA walked in and started hitting shots. Anderson had nine of the Bruins' first 12 points. They closed the half with a 16-5 run for a 34-23 lead.
Still, there was a noticeable difference from the way UCLA played during the winning streak.
The Bruins pushed the tempo, but it was clear that their thoroughbred ways were not working and they finished the night in plow-horse style.
"When you take quick shots … in a game like this, you end up playing defense 23 minutes," Howland said. "At the end of the game, you get a little wobbly because it's harder to play defense than offense."
Muhammad, the conference's second-leading scorer, made only three of 13 shots and his six points were 13 below his average. He had some company among the freshmen as the second half lapsed into elbow-grease efforts.
Anderson had only two points after the first six minutes. He missed a layup on a fastbreak with six minutes left. Jordan Adams had 12 points, six during 10-1 run that broke an 18-18 tie. But he missed two jumpers in the last four minutes.
"When you're freshmen, you're learning a lot of stuff for the first time," Howland said.
What they learned Thursday was, "It's good to grind out a victory," Howland said.
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SALT LAKE CITY - Most of the attention is usually centered on UCLA's fantastic freshmen, but the team's lone senior made the play the Bruins really needed against Utah.
Larry Drew II scored 12points, including a driving layup to beat the shot clock with 9 seconds remaining, and UCLA held off Utah 57-53 Thursday night.
"I knew they were going to switch. I was still mad I had missed two free throws in the clutch, so I just wanted to make a play," said Drew, who added five rebounds.
Said UCLA coach Ben Howland: "That was a big-time play by Larry Drew, exactly the way we drew it up. He got the ball screen and the switch, and we didn't settle for the jumper. He attacked."
The Utes, who were led by Cedric Martin's 12 points, had three chances to take the lead in the final minutes, but Glen Dean missed wide-open 3-point attempts.
"We were very fortunate. Dean had some wide, wide-open shots and missed them by the grace of God," Howland said.
UCLA's Travis Wear scored 10 of his 12 points in the second half, when his teammates started misfiring.
"I was just trying to be more aggressive as the other guys struggled. I made a couple shots and got my confidence and my motor going there," Wear said.
Jordan Adams also had 12points to help extend the Bruins' win streak to eight games. Kyle Anderson scored 11 as the Bruins (13-3, 3-0 Pac-12) took advantage of nine first-half Utah turnovers, versus just one of their own, to lead by as many as 13 before settling for a 34-23 advantage at halftime.
But the second half was a different story.
"They did a great job packing the paint and forcing us to shoot jump shots. It definitely wasn't as easy as it was in the first half, and they just didn't give us any room," Anderson said.
Playing in front of an enthusiastic crowd that trudged through a major snowstorm, the Utes (8-7, 0-3) dropped their third straight despite Jason Washburn's and Jordan Loveridge's 11 points apiece.
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Rapid Reaction: UCLA 57, Utah 53
By Peter Yoon
ESPNLosAngeles.com
January, 10, 2013
8:59PM PT
The UCLA Bruins extended their winning streak to eight games by grinding out a 57-53 victory over the Utah Utes in a Pac-12 game Thursday night in Salt Lake City. Here’s a quick rundown:
How it happened: After UCLA survived a four-shot Utah possession that could have tied the game or given Utah the lead, Larry Drew II drove to the basket for a layup that gave UCLA a 57-53 lead with nine seconds to play to seal the game.
The Bruins led 44-32 with 13:38 to play, but Utah climbed back in the game with a 9-0 run to close to 44-41 with 10 minutes to play.
Travis Wear scored eight points during the next six minutes, and UCLA opened a 55-49 lead before Utah’s Jordan Loveridge made two consecutive inside baskets to tighten the score to 55-53 with 3:23 to play.
Both teams went cold after that, including Utah’s fateful possession, during which Loveridge and Jason Washburn missed shots and Glen Dean missed two wide-open 3-point shots.
Kyle Anderson was a one-man show early on, scoring 11 of UCLA’s first 16 points and pulling down five rebounds in the first nine minutes of the game. Still, Utah kept it close with an inside-outside attack, and a 3-pointer by Jarred DuBois tied the score at 18 with 8:30 left in the first half.
UCLA’s defense tightened from there, and the Bruins held Utah to only five points on 1-of-9 shooting for the rest of the half, and UCLA took a 34-23 halftime lead.
The Bruins survived an off night from leading scorer Shabazz Muhammad, who was 3-of-13 from the floor and scored only six points -- the first time he did not reach double figures in scoring. Wear, Jordan Adams and Drew had 12 points each for the Bruins, while Anderson finished with 11.
Player of the game: Wear basically carried the team in the latter part of the game, scoring eight of his 12 points during a five-minute stretch in which the rest of the offense was cold. He had 10 points in the second half and was 4-of-4 from the free throw line.
Stat of the game: Utah shot only 38.9 percent from the field, marking the third consecutive opponent UCLA has held to less than 40 percent. The Utes were 4-of-20 on 3-point attempts, which contributed to UCLA’s ability to win the game despite scoring a season-low 57 points. Dean, a 42 percent 3-point shooter for the season, made only one of nine attempts from long range. The tilt was the first for the Bruins at Utah since 1930. UCLA now leads the series 6-4.
What it means: It was a lot closer than you might have expected, but the Bruins survived their first true road game of the season to remain in a tie for first place in the Pac-12. Chalk it up as a learning experience for a young squad that is feeling fortunate about surviving a spirited effort by the Utes.
What’s next: UCLA has a quick turnaround for its 11 a.m. PT game Saturday at Colorado.
The Box
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Bruins finally arrive with win over Utes, 57-53
After a shaky bus ride through a blizzard, UCLA holds off Utah for eighth win in a row and 3-0 start in Pac-12.
By Chris Foster
The Los Angeles Times
10:31 PM PST, January 10, 2013
SALT LAKE CITY — There were two clutch drives Thursday.
UCLA Coach Ben Howland almost busted a button saying how proud he was of those who pulled them off.
There was Larry Drew II, who slipped to the hoop for a one-handed scoop shot that clinched the Bruins' 57-53 Pac-12 victory over Utah.
There was UCLA's bus driver, who slipped, and slid, on the road getting the Bruins through a blizzard so they could pick up their eighth consecutive victory.
"Our bus driver did a great job," Howland said. "At one point, our back wheels were sidewinding a little bit. The car on the right was doing the same thing. He gunned right through it. I was so proud of him, great job he did getting here."
This was UCLA's first road game this season and the beginning of this life wandering the Pac-12, something veteran Bruins players tried to explain to the team's four freshmen this week.
The blizzard hit at 4 p.m. The Bruins managed to get to the Huntsman Center with about an hour to spare.
Shabazz Muhammad looked like a freshman, scoring only six points.
"You never know what is going to happen on the road," freshman guard Kyle Anderson said.
The slipping and sliding extended into the game. UCLA (13-3 overall, 3-0 in conference play) built a 13-point first-half lead, and led by as many as 12 in the second half. The Bruins then had to endure the final three minutes as Utah (8-7, 0-3) scratched back.
The Utes, trailing, 55-53, missed four shots on one possession, two wide-open looks by Glen Dean on three-pointers. Dean missed another three on the Utes' next possession and the game was put into Drew's hands.
He dribbled the ball, then burst to the hoop past 6-foot-10 Jason Washburn for the clinching basket with nine seconds left.
"I was just waiting for the time to run down," Drew said.
It ended an uneven game happily for the Bruins, who are 3-0 in conference play for the first time since 2008-09.
Things were dicey before getting to the arena.
"At one point, I wasn't sure we were going to get here," Drew said. "We were in traffic and the bus driver started hitting back streets and side streets."
UCLA walked in and started hitting shots. Anderson had nine of the Bruins' first 12 points. They closed the half with a 16-5 run for a 34-23 lead.
Still, there was a noticeable difference from the way UCLA played during the winning streak.
The Bruins pushed the tempo, but it was clear that their thoroughbred ways were not working and they finished the night in plow-horse style.
"When you take quick shots … in a game like this, you end up playing defense 23 minutes," Howland said. "At the end of the game, you get a little wobbly because it's harder to play defense than offense."
Muhammad, the conference's second-leading scorer, made only three of 13 shots and his six points were 13 below his average. He had some company among the freshmen as the second half lapsed into elbow-grease efforts.
Anderson had only two points after the first six minutes. He missed a layup on a fastbreak with six minutes left. Jordan Adams had 12 points, six during 10-1 run that broke an 18-18 tie. But he missed two jumpers in the last four minutes.
"When you're freshmen, you're learning a lot of stuff for the first time," Howland said.
What they learned Thursday was, "It's good to grind out a victory," Howland said.
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UCLA 57, UTAH 53: Elder statesman Larry Drew II lifts Bruins to victory
Team's lone senior scores 12 points, makes clinching shot.
Posted: 01/10/2013 10:18:53 PM PST
Updated: 01/10/2013 11:31:31 PM PST
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| UCLA's Jordan Adams, right, goes up for a shot against Utah's Jarred DuBois in the first half. (Rick Bowmer/The Associated Press) |
Larry Drew II scored 12points, including a driving layup to beat the shot clock with 9 seconds remaining, and UCLA held off Utah 57-53 Thursday night.
"I knew they were going to switch. I was still mad I had missed two free throws in the clutch, so I just wanted to make a play," said Drew, who added five rebounds.
Said UCLA coach Ben Howland: "That was a big-time play by Larry Drew, exactly the way we drew it up. He got the ball screen and the switch, and we didn't settle for the jumper. He attacked."
The Utes, who were led by Cedric Martin's 12 points, had three chances to take the lead in the final minutes, but Glen Dean missed wide-open 3-point attempts.
"We were very fortunate. Dean had some wide, wide-open shots and missed them by the grace of God," Howland said.
UCLA's Travis Wear scored 10 of his 12 points in the second half, when his teammates started misfiring.
"I was just trying to be more aggressive as the other guys struggled. I made a couple shots and got my confidence and my motor going there," Wear said.
Jordan Adams also had 12points to help extend the Bruins' win streak to eight games. Kyle Anderson scored 11 as the Bruins (13-3, 3-0 Pac-12) took advantage of nine first-half Utah turnovers, versus just one of their own, to lead by as many as 13 before settling for a 34-23 advantage at halftime.
But the second half was a different story.
"They did a great job packing the paint and forcing us to shoot jump shots. It definitely wasn't as easy as it was in the first half, and they just didn't give us any room," Anderson said.
Playing in front of an enthusiastic crowd that trudged through a major snowstorm, the Utes (8-7, 0-3) dropped their third straight despite Jason Washburn's and Jordan Loveridge's 11 points apiece.
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Rapid Reaction: UCLA 57, Utah 53
By Peter Yoon
ESPNLosAngeles.com
January, 10, 2013
8:59PM PT
The UCLA Bruins extended their winning streak to eight games by grinding out a 57-53 victory over the Utah Utes in a Pac-12 game Thursday night in Salt Lake City. Here’s a quick rundown:
How it happened: After UCLA survived a four-shot Utah possession that could have tied the game or given Utah the lead, Larry Drew II drove to the basket for a layup that gave UCLA a 57-53 lead with nine seconds to play to seal the game.
The Bruins led 44-32 with 13:38 to play, but Utah climbed back in the game with a 9-0 run to close to 44-41 with 10 minutes to play.
Travis Wear scored eight points during the next six minutes, and UCLA opened a 55-49 lead before Utah’s Jordan Loveridge made two consecutive inside baskets to tighten the score to 55-53 with 3:23 to play.
Both teams went cold after that, including Utah’s fateful possession, during which Loveridge and Jason Washburn missed shots and Glen Dean missed two wide-open 3-point shots.
Kyle Anderson was a one-man show early on, scoring 11 of UCLA’s first 16 points and pulling down five rebounds in the first nine minutes of the game. Still, Utah kept it close with an inside-outside attack, and a 3-pointer by Jarred DuBois tied the score at 18 with 8:30 left in the first half.
UCLA’s defense tightened from there, and the Bruins held Utah to only five points on 1-of-9 shooting for the rest of the half, and UCLA took a 34-23 halftime lead.
The Bruins survived an off night from leading scorer Shabazz Muhammad, who was 3-of-13 from the floor and scored only six points -- the first time he did not reach double figures in scoring. Wear, Jordan Adams and Drew had 12 points each for the Bruins, while Anderson finished with 11.
Player of the game: Wear basically carried the team in the latter part of the game, scoring eight of his 12 points during a five-minute stretch in which the rest of the offense was cold. He had 10 points in the second half and was 4-of-4 from the free throw line.
Stat of the game: Utah shot only 38.9 percent from the field, marking the third consecutive opponent UCLA has held to less than 40 percent. The Utes were 4-of-20 on 3-point attempts, which contributed to UCLA’s ability to win the game despite scoring a season-low 57 points. Dean, a 42 percent 3-point shooter for the season, made only one of nine attempts from long range. The tilt was the first for the Bruins at Utah since 1930. UCLA now leads the series 6-4.
What it means: It was a lot closer than you might have expected, but the Bruins survived their first true road game of the season to remain in a tie for first place in the Pac-12. Chalk it up as a learning experience for a young squad that is feeling fortunate about surviving a spirited effort by the Utes.
What’s next: UCLA has a quick turnaround for its 11 a.m. PT game Saturday at Colorado.
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