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| Redshirt senior forward Travis Wear had a standout performance against Colorado, with three blocks to go with his 13 points on 6-6 shooting. Sophomore guard/forward Kyle Anderson also contributed, collecting his 12th double-double of the season. (Katie Meyers/Daily Bruin senior staff) |
Colorado leads UCLA 40-36 at halftime
DAILY BRUIN
FEB 13 2014 6:54 PM
Just weeks after a defensive battle in Boulder, UCLA and Colorado appear to have spiced things up. Both teams are shooting 50 percent or better at the half as the Buffs lead the Bruins 40-36.
UCLA jumped out to a 15-8 lead after a jumper from sophomore guard/forward Kyle Anderson. Over the next two minutes, the Bruins were stymied. A Josh Scott layup capped off a 12-2 Buffs run and gave Colorado a 17-15 advantage.
For the second straight game, UCLA was unable to rev its engine in the opening minutes. On the offensive end, freshman guard Zach LaVine committed two straight turnovers with just over ten minutes to play. A slow-footed offensive foul committed by sophomore forward/center Tony Parker less than a minute later forced coach Steve Alford to change something up. For the first time since UCLA’s blowout win over USC on Jan. 5, freshman forward Wanaah Bail touched the floor. He played just three minutes and did not take a shot.
Anderson leads all UCLA players with nine points on 3-of-6 shooting, as well as six assists. Redshirt senior forward Travis Wear is a perfect 4 for 4 from the field with eight points.
Defensively, the Bruins had no answer for Scott all half. The 6-foot-10 Colorado forward dominated the Bruins in the paint and has 13 points at the break – including a buzzer-beating slam dunk – after missing just two of his eight field goal attempts.
Still, the Bruins shot like their old selves – an even 50 percent for the half – and closed the half on a 15-5 run.
Compiled by Andrew Erickson, Bruin Sports senior staff.
Bruins rally back after halftime, defeat Buffs 92-74
daily bruin
feb 13 2014 10:04 pm
The original version of this article contained an error and has been changed. See the bottom of the article for additional information.
Minus its most talented Buffalo, the herd was managing just fine.
Last week, in its second home stand since losing All-Pac-12 guard Spencer Dinwiddie to a torn ACL, Colorado finally looked like it could cope.
The Buffs won three straight conference games over Utah, Washington State and Washington to jump right back in the thick of the Pac-12 standings. Sophomore forward Xavier Johnson scored 27 points and hauled in 10 rebounds against Washington Sunday and appeared to be the Buffs’ torchbearer to close out the season.
But in a 92-74 loss to UCLA at Pauley Pavilion Thursday, Colorado was lost. The Buffs badly needed second-half direction. They needed Dinwiddie.
The Bruins outscored the Buffs 56-34 in the second half and returned to their bread and butter: running the floor and making open jump shots. Their 56.5 percent effort from the floor was their best shooting night since a Jan. 12 win over Arizona State. Simply put, UCLA looked like itself again.
“When it comes to shooting the basketball, I think we’ve got to be one of the top 15 or 20 teams in the country,” said coach Steve Alford. “Do we have some ebb and and flow and have some guys that go through stretches? Yeah. But I thought tonight we ended up tonight having five guys in double figures and five guys make a three, and there aren’t a lot of teams doing that.”
There also aren’t a lot of teams recovering from sluggish first halves like UCLA. The Bruins have trailed at the half in each of their last three conference victories, including Thursday’s 40-36 deficit. UCLA shot a respectable 50 percent in the opening 20 minutes, but attempted just four free throws.
“That’s something we have to work on,” said sophomore guard/forward Kyle Anderson. “We have to bring out the same intensity … the whole 40 minutes, and in the first half that we do in the second half. We just have to do that at the tipoff.”
While the Bruins fell in love with their jump shot, saving their aggressiveness for the second half, 6-foot-10 Colorado sophomore forward Josh Scott found the bottom of the net, leading all scorers in the first half with 13 points. Junior guard Askia Booker spread the wealth with seven assists, giving the Buffs a lead as large as 12 with 5:42 to play in the half.
In the second half, Colorado (18-7, 7-5 Pac-12) cooled to a Rocky Mountains temperature, making just 37.5 percent of its second-half shots. Booker dished out fewer assists, while UCLA’s frontcourt found a way to body up on Scott and alter his shots.
“We were trying to get in position and get him out of his comfort zone,” said redshirt senior forward Travis Wear. “I think in the first half, he was leaking out and getting some easy buckets in transition. He was running the floor well tonight and I think we keyed in on that in the second half.”
The Bruins (19-5, 8-3 Pac-12) showed an entirely different motor over the last 20 minutes. Anderson scored 13 of his 22 points in the second half and finished with 11 assists to record his 12th double-double of the season. He managed to find his teammates at all the right times, including a red-hot Bryce Alford.
The freshman guard was shut out in seven field goal attempts two days before his 19th birthday in Boulder, Colo., but had his cake and ate it, too, on Thursday, nailing all four of his second-half three-point attempts. Alford’s final make, with 7:33 to play, gave the Bruins a 76-66 lead.
UCLA will look to avenge a Jan. 18 loss to Utah when the Utes visit Pauley Pavilion Saturday. Tipoff is at 2 p.m.
Correction: Tipoff for UCLA men’s basketball against Utah on Feb. 15 will be at 2 p.m. Pacific Time.
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