SoCal College Game Report

Freshman Get It Done Against UAA For UCLA;
UAB Next Today--(November 29, 1997)

Give the ball to the Freshmen. The kids can get it done. In a comeback from the devastating 41 point loss to UNC on Friday night, UCLA Freshman Baron Davis scored 16 of his 20 points in the first half as sixth-ranked UCLA opened a 21-point halftime lead with all five players on the floor being freshmen. UCLA then cruised to a 92-68 victory over host Alaska-Anchorage in the consolation round of the Great Alaska Shootout.

And despite major foul trouble, J.R. Henderson scored 21 points and Toby Bailey added 15 for the Bruins. Lavin was a happy guy too, as he told a bunch of AP reporters "Our staff was pleased with our level of intensity and our unselfishness, especially coming into the game from a 41-point loss last night. It's good for our young players to learn how to bounce back from a defeat."

Lavin finally did what he should have done all along, especially against a Divsion II school like UAA: he pulled Loyd out after Toby and JR got into foul trouble, and the freshmen, Davis, Watson, Reed, Knight, Hines, racked up a 15-5 run. Reed himself had six rebounds and five steals in 14 minutes. By the time Loyd got back into the ame UCLA was up by 17 points, 48-31. Half time lead 55-34. The Bruins opened the second half with a 25-9 burst for an 80-43 advantage with 9 1/2 minutes to go. The shooting cooled off and UCLA finished at 53 percent (37-of-70) from the field.

A few random thoughts: How about that picture on page 7 of the LA Times today, or on page 3 of the Daily News. Caption "Baron Davis, left, had 20 points and applied plenty of pressure against the likes of Anchorage's Bert Wallace". Picture: Earl Watson (No. 25) applying pressure against No. 21 UAA player. Could the picture really be Davis? Not unless UCLA has started putting the first names of players on the backs of their uniforms. The picture clearly shows enough of the back of the UCLA player's uniform to reveal the number "5" (Baron's number, but also the last number of Earl's "25"). . . but unless Davis now ends in "N", it's Watson. But the big giveaway is the tattoo on the right arm.

For UAnchorage Alaska, Clay Anderson scored 14 points and Chris Hamey and John Webber had 11 each. The Seawolves (0-2) shot only 40 percent (21-of-52), committed 24 turnovers and were outrebounded, 41-30. "When we go to McDonald's we go for a hamburger," Seawolves coach Charlie Burns said. "When they go to McDonald's they go for
athletes -- All-Americans."

Watson was the best player, at least from a consistency point of view. He was credited with six assists, three steals and on turnover. And, for you trivia buffs, Jon Wilner of the Daily News informs us all that this is the first time that UCLA has started two freshman guards since 1979 when UCLA started Rod Foster and Michael Holton (the latter is now a UCLA assistant coach). Another tidbit. Those two freshmen led the Bruins to the NCAA title game against Louisville.

UCLA will take on Alabama Birmingham today at 3 pm. Again no TV, but it's on XTRA Sports Radio 1150 AM here in SoCal. The Bruins will look for their first Division I victory. UAB is tall, but not very good. They will start three (count 'em, three) 6'-8" players, but they are really very sloppy players: UAB had 42 (count those), yes 42 turnovers in a single game Friday agaisnt Purdue. But they did beat Southwestern Louisiana.

So you can follow the game here's the rosters. Good thing they're bad, because they're really tall down in Alabama. Uh oh. Not again.

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