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| Tony Parker finished with 21 points and 12 rebounds against Oakland (photo by Don Liebig) |
Leading a three on zero fastbreak, Kyle Anderson was flanked by a teammate on either side and nothing but the rim in front of him. Poised to convert on what looked to be the easiest points the Bruins would get all night, the sophomore guard found a way to squander the opportunity.
Appearing unsure of which teammate to pass to, Anderson traveled, turning the ball over.
But easy points, it turned out, were not in short supply for UCLA men’s basketball Tuesday night. Scoring from all over the court, draining shots from outside and tossing the ball down low over shorter defenders, UCLA had no trouble finding points in its 91-60 home win over Oakland.
Despite its season-opening 84-61 loss to North Carolina on Friday, Oakland came into Tuesday’s game against UCLA with some momentum, having outscored the Tarheels 40-26 in the second half.
That momentum quickly fizzled against the Bruins. Riding on the shoulders of a player who rode the bench last season, UCLA leaned heavily on sophomore forward/center Tony Parker in the first half.
After his foul trouble against Drexel forced some Bruins to play heavy minutes, Parker’s first-half play against Oakland served as his apology. Parker led the Bruins to a 20-point halftime lead, with 11 first-half points on 5-of-5 shooting, eight rebounds and – most importantly – just one foul.
“Coach (Steve Alford) was really on me about staying out of foul trouble and keeping my hands up last game. I was kinda bad with it, so this game that was my main focus, just getting out of foul trouble,” Parker said.
While Parker was able to avoid the whistle, Oakland struggled in that respect. The Golden Grizzlies committed nine first half fouls, and after totaling just 13 free throws against Drexel, UCLA got to the line 13 times in the first half alone. The Bruins finished the game with 22 points from the line and 29 free throw attempts
“I thought we really had to emphasize getting to the free throw line because we should be not just a good foul shooting team, but we should be a team that’s hard to keep off the free throw line,” Alford said. “The free-throw line has always been a big barometer for our offense and I thought we utilized it better tonight.”
Parker was the star of the first half, but the second frame belonged to junior guard Norman Powell. Powell led the Bruins to an 18-2 run, which pushed their lead to as many as 34 points. Powell finished with 18 points off a variety of dunks and layups, and had 12 second-half points, highlighted by a thunderous assault on the rim, dunking home an alley-oop off an inbounds lob from freshman guard Bryce Alford.
“It was exciting,” said sophomore guard Jordan Adams. “I mean, you see him in practice, you see him dunk all the time in practice, so to see him actually do that in a game, it was a big crowd boost. It gets you going as a player to see your bench jump up.”
The cheering of Tuesday’s 4,771 fans was lacking in Friday’s opener as UCLA narrowly escaped with a five-point victory. But based on the cheers, Tuesday’s 31-point blowout was more to the crowd and Alford’s liking.
“We were much harder to play against in this game than what we were against Drexel on both sides,” Alford said. “Our offense was better, our defense was better, so we were a harder team to play against and that’s the demeanor this team has to take on.”
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