Column: UCLA brings excitement back to Pauley Pavilion

UCLA opened its basketball season Friday night with a lopsided win over Pacific.

Except this was more than a victory.

This was a night about freshman point guard Lonzo Ball in midair catching a pass and throwing down a one-handed dunk over a confused defender, about fellow newcomer T.J. Leaf powering his way to the rim, and about Bryce Alford and Aaron Holiday burying open shots from the outside.

This was about excitement.

The No. 16 Bruins scored 60 points in the first half. They broke the 100-point threshold for the first time in two seasons. They made a school-record 18 three-pointers. They finished with 119 points, UCLA’s highest single-game total in 18 seasons.

They were Showtime. They were Hollywood. They were Chino Hills West.

And when the 119-80 demoltion was complete, blaring through Pauley Pavilion was Randy Newman’s “I Love L.A.,” the longtime victory anthem of the Lakers.

“It’s just an opener,” Coach Steve Alford said. “That’s all it is. But when you can have an opener like this, that word spreads. We are an exciting team to watch and it’s worth coming out to see if you like us.”

Reestablishing Pauley Pavilion as an entertainment destination has to be a priority for UCLA, which finished last season with a losing record and failed to reach the NCAA tournament. The renovated arena was half-empty on this night, a symptom of the program’s downward trajectory in recent seasons, coupled with a 6 p.m. start time designed with the Pac-12 Networks in mind.

But the fans who were here were as loud as an announced crowd of 8,743 fans could be. They buzzed in the minutes leading up to the opening tip. They ahhed when Ball hit a three for the first points of his collegiate career. They ohhed when Ball narrowly missed an alley-hoop the first half. They rose to their feet and roared when Ball pulled down a rebound and found Holiday for an open three that accounted for the final points of the opening half.

“The atmosphere was great,” Ball said.

Only three players in UCLA history have recorded triple-doubles. Ball nearly became the four, as the presumptive one-and-done point guard finished his first collegiate game with 19 points, 11 assists and eight rebounds.

Ball attempted only eight field goals — he made six, including three three-pointers — and his unselfishness has already become a trademark of this particular group of players.

The Bruins made 42 field goals and had 29 assists, including eight by Isaac Hamilton and five by Holiday. Counting Ball, five Bruins scored 17 or more points.

“I think that’s the most fun, when you have five individuals who are trying to really help the next guy,” guard Bryce Alford said. “I think that’s what this team is really starting to figure out; it’s not about yourself, it’s how you can help the guy next to you and that’s what we’re doing.”

Bryce Alford scored a game-high 30 points, but on only 13 shots. Leaf provided the muscle, taking in 15 rebounds to go along with his 22 points.

Leaf, who also made two of five three-point attempts, said their coach had instructed them to look to Golden State Warriors as an example.

“Coach has been stressing trying to get movement and screens like the Warriors,” Leaf said. “Obviously, the Warriors make a lot of threes and I think we did that pretty well tonight.”

The coach said the team’s pass-first mentality was a credit to the team’s veterans, particularly his son Bryce and Hamilton, who embraced the team’s high-profile freshmen.

“A lot of seniors would be looking over their shoulders,” Steve Alford said. “Bryce and Isaac from Day 1 were, ‘Go do what you do, you’re here for a reason.’”

The coach implied his team could be playing at an even faster pace later this season.

“Once the new guys arrived, it was really about how fast are we going to be able to play and still make the right reads because our identity should be about pace and reads,” he said. “As we continue to working on reads, that will help how fast we can play.”

Alford is hopeful the style will help the Bruins regain their place in the local sporting landscape. They have one particular advantage: their history.

He pointed to how UCLA is the only top-20 team that is coming off a losing season.

“It tells you what UCLA is, it tells you what the brand is, it tells you what people thought of our returning guys and the guys that were coming in as freshmen,” he said. “We have to roll that hype as much as we can.”

On the first night, they did.

dylan.hernandez@latimes.com

Follow Dylan Hernandez on Twitter @dylanohernandez