FIU Forgets To Show Up, UCLA Rolls
By Bruin Basketball Report
The Florida International University Golden Panthers forgot to show up for their game at Pauley Pavilion against the UCLA Bruins, or at least it seemed so to many of the 8,940 in attendance on Saturday night.
UCLA freshman Jrue Holiday scored 20 points, making all eight of his field goal attempts, to lead the Bruins to a 89-54 thumping of the Panthers.
Holiday did all his damage in just 19 minutes of action.
The game was over before it started.
The Bruins raced out to a 26-5 lead halfway through the first half before going into halftime with a commanding 46-13 lead.
The Golden Panthers (3-4) were too slow and simply not talented enough to keep up with the Bruins. The disparity in talent level was exacerbated by seemingly poor FIU execution and coaching on both ends of the court.
To put it bluntly, FIU is a very bad team.
In the first half FIU shot just 3 of 19 for 15.8%. They scored more from their free throws - seven - than they did shooting from the field. Its best shooter Michael Dominguez was just 2 of 7 for 7 points as he was dominated all night by quicker and bigger defenders.
Panther forward Nikola Gacesa did score 21 points but most of it was during garbage time - which was basically the entire second half of play.
No UCLA player played more than 20 minutes and eleven Bruins played at least 10 minutes.
Darren Collison chipped in 11 points by hitting 4 of 5 from the field while Michael Roll was sharp from the field making all three of his three-point shots. Roll also had a number of nifty passes to teammates as he continues to show improvements in his game from last season.
All the Bruin freshmen got to play. Malcolm Lee, Jerime Anderson, and J'mison Morgan each scored 8 points while forward Drew Gordon finished with 4 points and 4 rebounds. But it was Holiday who was dominant as he scored most of his points on broken plays or loose balls, over-powering the Panther defenders.
UCLA shot a stunning 72% in the first half before settling down to a near-mortal 59.3% shooting in the second half. Many of the easy shots came off steals as the team finished with 11 steals in the game en-route to forcing 17 turnovers.
The Bruins were a bit sloppy in the open court themselves committing 16 turnovers.
Ultimately, this contest was perhaps nothing more than a confidence builder for the young Bruins who were returning from a disappointing 1-1 trip in New York. On the other hand, this game didn't do much in the way of preparing the Bruins for a tough upcoming game on Thursday against Texas in Austin.
The Longhorns beat the Bruins last year at Pauley Pavilion and although they lost D.J Augustin to the NBA they return their remaining starters this year.
(photo credit: AP)
BBR :: Article Link :: 3:54 PM ::
18 comments
18 Comments:
Word. It really was a snoozer. Really not a game that will help us down the line at all.
exacerbated
So what are our chances against Texas?
I left with 18 min left in the 2nd half...how did this cupcake get on the schedule...nice game Holiday....
For 45 years I've watched, seen or heard nearly all of UCLA basketball games. For the first time I'm shamed by your conduct. In this case the name is "Bruin Basketball Report" although it should have a person's name associated with this disgusting crap.
We invited a team to our campus knowing they were not top notch talent and then proceeded to trash them when they were beaten badly.
Didn't show up, too slow, not talented, poor execution, poor coaching, very bad team, 2nd half garbage and more, shows your arrogance and pomposity diminishes UCLA.
I wonder what coach Wooden would think of this?
Al Richards: Your comments are way off base. BBR did his usual excellent analysis of the game. It was both honest and informative. No arrogance was shown. I thought it respectful but not patronizing. "Feel good" comments are for the players and coaches, not writers. Or have you never read your local sports page?
Hey Al Richards, John Wooden would be disgusted by the crappy display of basketball and coaching by FIU. BBR's game analysis was perfect. BBR is and always will be a "class act"! I guess "you can't handle the truth". Also, isn't "watched" and "seen" the same thing? Now get back to your Mr. Rodgers video's and don't embarrass yourself anymore!
Al Richy, pull your head out of your a**
U don't deserve any of our loyal reader comments as YOU are way off base "buddy"...
We won't miss u when the man, Mr. BBR, bans you...u belong at SuC
Oh, if you have a problem, I will be at Westwood Brew Co b4 the next game....
Don't ever call BBR out again...he's doing a stellar job reporting....
Bruinfan - no more physical threats, please. Al is entitled to his opinion. A little respect for the opposition is not a bad thing.
Yeah everybody, don't get too out of line by an unfavorably comment by an unhappy blogger. If (short term) visitor Mr. Richards looks back in the BBR archives, I am sure he will see the stellar reporting job BBR has done in previewing and then reporting the Bruin games.
We don't need to back up BBR (although I'd have his back completely in some parking lot outside of the Galen Center, etc). The proof is in the pudding (past body of work).
B-T-W, great to see Holiday come "out" and take it to them. He created a lot of tough shots and most (if not all) went in. We will need that type of penetrating in our upcoming battles. Also Roll was "deadeye" from 3 point range. This spreads the court and opens things up for cutters like Holiday and Aboya!
Richard,
Glad to have you here. If you've visited before, we've used the same headline after a poor Bruin effort. No need to be offended, we're equal opportunity.
We call it as we see it, and yes for the most part we do it very respectfully.
If you attended the game, you'd know FIU was not a good team, and yes, poorly coached. The big margin victory was not a result of stellar Bruin defense or offense - a matter of fact the Bruin play was rather sloppy. The Bruins have hosted NAIA, Div II teams in the past that have come in and played much better.
And yes, the second half was garbage time, it wasn't competitive basketball as Bruin fans know. No way does Coach Howland allow an opponent player (Gacesa) go for 20 points in a half without trying to stomp it out. We would have seen ball denial perhaps a double-team instead he left perhaps our most average defender Nikola Dtagovic on him. The Bruins barely outscored the Panthers in the second half but it had more to do with the loss of intensity and interest in the game by the home team - i.e. garbage time.
- BBR
Texas beats the Bruins by 7.
BBR,
Thanks for your measured response. I appreciate your analysis from a different point of view. I believe I heard on TV that FIU had lost 3 or 4 scholarship players with injuries.
Sort of like kicking someone when they're down.
Since I'm 70 years old I won't be meeting any of your ardent supporters to get the thrashing they think I deserve.
Al Richards
Al , stand up move to make up with BBR.
BBR is really the best! I'll drink to that...and I'll drink to you now too!
But NEVER to SC!!!!!!!!!!!
Al,
There are a lot of passionate Bruin basketball fans here, many of them with great insight into the team. Contribute and enjoy, they really don't bite.
We have young and old fans, Howland to Wooden era people here, with one thing in common - UCLA Basketball.
As an old Wooden fan, I'm sure you'd enjoy this old BBR piece from a few years ago about Coach Wooden and one of his former players, Andy Hill. "It Was Time To Call Coach". Let us know what you think.
Drop us an email sometime.
- BBR
"Texas beats the Bruins by 7."
I'd have to agree with this. Maybe it's just me, but I feel like the Bruins seem to win with talent more than execution.
Our offense doesn't seem creative enough to score on better, more athletic teams (see Memphis and Texas losses). Creative might not be the best choice of words but other schools with less talent spread the floor better and recognize their hot hand.
It doesn't help to have a shoot-first point guard (D.C.) and an un-reliable "star" small forward (Shipp). I'm more comfortable when Holiday and Lee are on the floor. I hope I'm wrong.
Grrr-
Sorry man, but I'm going to have to disagree with you on all accounts. DC is anything but a "shoot first" point guard. While he'll never put up points like a Derrick Rose or D.J. Augustine, he runs the offense very well, which is why he tends to have excellent assist to turnover ratios.
Also, we rarely win on just talent, except for early in the season when the freshmen are still learning. Howland is widely known for extracting the most out of every team he has, which is why the 05-06 and 06-07 teams were probably the least talented teams in the final four.
Now, I'll agree with you about our chances against Texas. However, we do have some chance simply because Howland is a coach who can work wonders with a team that's still learning how to play together.
truebruin -
I'm glad you disagree with me and I really do hope you're right.
That being said, until D.C. finds the open man and learns how to drive and kick instead of driving and shooting low-percentage lay ups and floaters in a crowd, I'm staying off of his bandwagon.
As far Howland goes, I do agree that he gets the most out of his players but he still failed to win it all with three good NBA players on his roster last year. How many productive NBA players did Memphis or Kansas have? Rose is the only player from those two teams that's doing as well as his Bruin counterparts. I think it's arguable to say that Howland can be out-coached.
It also boggles me when the Bruins don't run enough plays for Michael Roll. Unlike Dragović, Roll has proven that he's a reliable shooter on the wing. I don't think I'll be satisfied until Holiday, Roll and Lee become more involved in the offense.
I'm expecting the Bruins to lose to Texas but I'll be elated if they win. Go Bruins!
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