UCLA / UCMB - Game Account - 2nd Half

Whew, I know it's been a while, and UCLA is now 3-0, but I thought I would finish up my running diary. Things got a little crazy at work last week, which is why I didn't get a chance to finish it.

HALFTIME, UCLA 57 | CSUMB 16

My dad, a couple of season ticket holders that sit behind us, and I talked about the expanded three point line, expanded key, and the no charge area under the basket, which they were trying for the pre-season NIT. I like the idea of the expanded three point line. There is way too much emphasis on the 3 in college hoops, which I think damages the way coaches run their offense in college. So, moving it back, even if it's only a foot to match up with the international three point line, is a good idea to me. I also really like the no-charge area under the basket (like the pro's added a few years back). If this gets adopted, I think it will really open up the middle for guards and forwards to slash to the rim without worrying about the charge. The one rule change I didn't like was the expanded key, because it seems like it will make it more difficult to post up in college. We also talked about the way Lute screwed up the game against Illinois last year. Up by double digits late in the 2nd half and they lose?!?!?! What a choke job, and I think Arizona had a real shot at beating UNC as they matched up a lot better than Illinois did. Oh well.

19:43 left 2nd Half, UCLA 59 | CSUMB 16
Great pass from Luc to Ced for an easy layup. Wow I'm getting more and more impressed with Luc and I think he's really going to be a player when all is said and done. Since the game was already pretty much out of hand and this point, our talk turned to other matters such as the retrofitting of Pauley Pavillion. Here's my .02: How can they expect UCLA officials to add 600-8000 more seats to Pauley when we hardly fill the stadium as it is right now? Crazy. Hopefully the fans will start to support this team as they are really fun to watch. Speaking of seats, the worst thing Dan Guerrero did was to move the students from the blue section across the way from our seats. The students used to fill that section almost every game. Yet, now that it's used for "boosters", I don't think I have seen that section more than half full for a really long time.

18:50 left 2nd Half, UCLA 61 | CSUMB 16
Hollins nice block + quick outlet pass = easy dunk for Luc. Great to see them still executing the fast break and playing hard even though it's a blowout.

18:00 left 2st Half, UCLA 65 | CSUMB 16
Wow, are we really up by almost 50?!?! Nice to see the Bruins finally blowing someone out, even if it is an exhibition game. Great team pressure defense causes a turnover and breakaway dunk for Afflalo.

17:16 left 2st Half, UCLA 65 | CSUMB 18
Well, what we have just witnessed is PAC 10 reffing at it's finest. The screened ref calls a foul on Ced even though the other two refs, both with a better view, don't see anything wrong with the play. This leads to two free throws for CSUMB. When is the PAC 10 going to learn and get better officiating? It's so bad these days that it's more sad than funny.

16:43 left 2st Half, UCLA 67 | CSUMB 18
Farmar picks the pocket of their PG and throws a nice lead pass for an Afflalo layup. Can I just say that I love our defense?

15:57 left 2st Half, UCLA 69 | CSUMB 20
Wow, another quick slash to the hoop from the wing for Luc Richard. I can't believe how quick he is while playing at the PF position. We are going to have a quick and athletic team.

14:57 left 2st Half, UCLA 69 | CSUMB 22
Come on Hollins, you can't let your guy go baseline when all the help is in the middle! I know this game is pretty much over, but still, he needs to learn these fundamentals.

13:40 left 2st Half, UCLA 71 | CSUMB 22
Talked to my dad about the versatility of this team. Once we get completely healthy, we have so many interchangeable players that Howland should not have any problems matching up with other teams. In fact, teams will probably have problems matching up with our players.

12:22 left 2st Half, UCLA 78 | CSUMB 24
More quick offense leads to a wide open 3 for Farmar. Did I already mention that the Bruins are looking to push the ball at every opportunity?

11:26 left 2st Half, UCLA 82 | CSUMB 24
Nice defensive board and quick outlet by Hollins leads to another perfectly executed fastbreak by Farmar to Afflalo for a layup. If this were hockey, Hollins would have picked up an assist for that outlet pass.

10:51 left 2st Half, UCLA 84 | CSUMB 24
Mata hits a nice little hook in the paint. Hopefully he has been working on his offensive game a lot as normally he is just a hustle guy.

9:23 left 2st Half, UCLA 88 | CSUMB 24
Mata isn't the best on the ball defender as he too gives up the baseline and ends up fouling his man. Kelvin Kim enters the game for the second time for Ced. Since we probably won't be seeing Ced for the rest of the game, I must give him props now as he has played a solid game. Good job Ced.

7:50 left 2st Half, UCLA 90 | CSUMB 26
Ryan Wright is in for the first time and gets an easy layup off a nice entry pass by Kim. Wow, are we really up 74 right now?!?! When is the last time you ever saw a Bruin team on the right side of a blowout?

6:43 left 2st Half, UCLA 90 | CSUMB 30
Game is getting quite sloppy at this point, Mata fouls out of the game with only 2 points. DeAngre Robinson (#5), another walk-on comes in for him.

6:11 left 2st Half, UCLA 92 | CSUMB 31
Another quick outlet pass by Wright off a defensive board leads to a fast break layup by DeAndre and he is fouled! Assist goes to Collison, our super quick freshman PG. DeAndre misses the FT. We have now officially entered garbage time as Howland empties the bench: two freshmen (Roll and Wright) and three walk-ons (DeAndre, Kim, and now #55 Nican Robinson) are in the game.

4:06 left 2st Half, UCLA 96 | CSUMB 35
Another quick outlet off a defensive rebound for Wright leads to a fastbreak fake pass/layup for Kim. According to my dad, Wright looks a lot better this game than he did in the first exhibition. Sure, maybe it is the competition, but still.

3:20 left 2st Half, UCLA 98 | CSUMB 37
Wright with a very nice block. Sure, it's garbage time, but Wright does look solid in this game.

2:41 left 2st Half, UCLA 98 | CSUMB 37
Last TV Timeout. Damn, who's the hot Asian chick on the scoreboard?!?! :)

0:51 left 2st Half, UCLA 102 | CSUMB 41
Nice pass from Roll to Wright for another layup. All we need is for Nican to score and everyone who played will have scored.

0:01.2 left 2st Half, UCLA 104 | CSUMB 41
Nice follow dunk by Wright pretty much punctuates this UCLA win. As I said before, Wright looked very solid in this game.

END GAME, UCLA 104 | CSUMB 41
Ok, I know, it was only an exhibition game and the competition was pretty low, but seriously, when is the last time you saw UCLA blow anyone out. Great game all around, and to hold the opposition to only 41 shows how improved our defense will be this year. Nice game all around, and I like the fact that we are looking to push the ball more this year. Our team has great speed which they really utilize on defense and transition offense. We rebounded well and looked to throw the quick outlet pass to the guards. I am very optimistic about this UCLA team. Here are the scoring totals for the game:

Mata 2
DeAndre Robinson 2
Hollins 4
Kim 4
Bozeman 10
Roll 10
Mbah a Moute 11
Wright 12
Afflalo 16
Collison 16
Farmar 17

A couple more thoughts on the game: I know that Roll scored 10 points, but did he have an off shooting night? It didn't seem like a lot of his ourside shots were going down. He's been billed as a pure shooter, so hopefully it was just an off night. Also, Afflalo looked like he was forcing the issue in the first half, but seemed to settle down as the game went on. Hopefully he will let the game come to him more when the games really count. Great job Bruins!
Posted 8:43 AM by MZ

---