Bruins Trounce Coyotes In Mismatch
By KS Wong
Bruin Basketball Report
Kevin Love dominated in the low post scoring 19 points and grabbing 9 rebounds in the Bruins win over CS San Bernardino, 76-41, in the regional finals of the CBE Classic.
The freshman repeatedly called for the ball inside and manhandled the out-matched Coyote interior players. Love was 7-10 from the field and 5-7 from the charity line.
He put the Bruin transition game in high gear by tossing a few of his trademark outlet pass strikes to streaking Bruins down the court for easy transition baskets.
Love was also instrumental in helping the Bruins break the Coyotes zone press by receiving the ball in the backcourt and throwing over the top of the zone to advance the ball.
In his first three games as a Bruin, Love is averaging 20.7 points and 10.3 rebounds.
While he acknowledges the team has yet to face a quality foe, Love is looking forward to playing higher tier opponents.
"When the bright lights come on, I play better," Love said. "I perform better and I'm more focused."
We need to get him more touches because he's such a good passer, especially at the high post," UCLA Coach Ben Howland said.
The Bruins face Maryland on November 19 in the CBE Classic semifinals in Kansas City, Mo. If they beat the Terrapins then they face the winner of the Missouri/Michigan State contest.
The Coyotes came out with an aggressive match-up zone but the Bruins responded with hot-shooting from the outside to break the zone.
Junior Josh Shipp scored 16 points including two deep three-pointers early in the first-half to help the Bruins pull away early in the game. Russell Westbrook had a solid game adding 14 points and dishing out 6 assists. The sophomore guard also committed just one turnover in 26 minutes
While UCLA expertly handled the San Bernardino pressure defense, it was the Bruin's own defense that settled the game.
The Bruins raced out to a 18-4 lead and never looked back and held San Bernardino to just 11 halftime points. The Coyote's total game points of 41 was only 6 points off the lowest points ever scored at Pauley Pavilion by an opponent.
For the game the Coyotes shot just 33.3% from the field and 1-10 from three-point distance. While the Bruins were sizzling from the field finishing at 56.5% and 52.6% from three point distance.
As expected UCLA outrebounded the Coyotes 36-24. Luc Richard Mbah a Moute and Lorenzo Mata each had six rebounds
UCLA will take on Maryland in a CBE Classic semifinal game next Monday on November 19th in Kansas City, MO. Game time to be announced.
BBR Notes: Collison worked out Tuesday, doing sprint drills and shooting without pain."That's the best news of the day," Howland said. "I'm cautiously optimistic he may be back in time to practice by Friday."
(photo credit: AP)
Labels: Game Summaries
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6 comments
6 Comments:
So far this season, I have been extremely pleased with the play of Josh Shipp. He's knockin everything down!! It's going in everytime he shoots...he must have worked hard this off-season
Bring on Maryland, Michigan. St. We'll finally have our mettle tested against tough Div I competition. These first few games have been great tune-ups though.
As a season ticket holder John, please define "tune-up."
These teams have been cupcakes. Our second string could beat them.
Fortunately, knock on wood, we have not had any additional injuries.
The only positive is conditioning and confidence boosting.
While I was far more impressed with the overall play against San Berdo than Youngstown, we really need to step it up and refine. The Bruins have been pretty sloppy at times, and while I agree with BruinFan that Shipp looks good so far, he needs to keep his head focused for the entire game. He will follow up a great offensive play with a silly drive to the basket missing the open teammate. This is an area where we need him to step up because the loss of (the ever-intense) Aflalo. Remember everyone, the PAC-10 IS the best conference in the country so that will result in at least 18 very competitive games for the Bruins this year with very little room for error. But once all our guys are back and healthy, I think we'll be up for the task. Kudos to Kevin Love. He'll be learning as each game goes, but his demeanor already appears that of a veteran. Very cool and collected! A perfect fit for Coach H in the middle. Love is also freeing up Mata-Real to flow more freely on the weak side and he is showing exceptional play after 3 games. I'm very excited about all the great possibilities this year and Love slamming the ball down the Trojan's throats!!!
Tune-up...as in getting the chance to run your offense and defense in a real game. Its one thing to do it in scrimmage and another to do it against an opponent...the unpredictability an opponent brings to a game can never be matched in a blue-gold scrimmage game.
I can't wait for a healthy collison and westbrook streaking down the court to receive a patented love outlet. As ben says, those are
backbreakers.
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