UCLA Freshmen Play Beyond Years in Victory

Jordan Farmar is a freshman at UCLA, barely 18 years old, but he isn’t short on confidence. So Farmar didn’t need to hear Coach Ben Howland shouting, screaming, howling, “Take it, take it.” Farmar was going to take it, take the ball and drive to the basket and shoot his floating, five-foot bank shot.

But it was still good to hear his coach. It was even better after he made it. Farmar’s runner with 4.7 seconds left gave UCLA (5-1) its best win of the young season, 85-83, over Pepperdine on Saturday afternoon at Pauley Pavilion and ended the Waves’ seven-game winning streak.

“I knew he was going to make it,” backup center Lorenzo Mata said. “Whenever we’re in practice and our team needs to win or else we run, Jordan always makes that shot to win.”

As pleased as he was with Farmar’s shot, Howland was equally pleased with the defensive play that happened five seconds earlier. Farmar had tied the score with 9.9 seconds left by making two tidy free throws.

After two timeouts, Pepperdine (7-2) couldn’t get the ball in bounds. Yakhouba Diawara, a senior, skittered nervously along the baseline, looking for an open man. He finally whipped the ball to guard Kingsley Costain, but UCLA’s Brian Morrison stuck out his hand and managed to swat the ball off Costain and out of bounds.

With nearly all the crowd of 6,695 on its feet and screaming, Farmar took a pass from fellow freshman guard Arron Afflalo, looked ahead and saw nothing but open space.

“We gambled by denying the inbounds with nine seconds left,” Howland said. “And it really paid off. I didn’t have to tell Jordan what to do; he was going to the basket. But I was yelling at him to take it. The middle was wide open.”

That’s what Farmar saw too.

“I heard coach screaming at the top of his lungs for me to just go so I went,” said Farmar, who scored nine of UCLA’s final 11 points and had 25 points, most of his career. “I thought [Glen] McGowan was coming over to try to block the shot, so I put it up a little higher than usual, but he didn’t come over all the way.”

Said Pepperdine Coach Paul Westphal of Farmar’s game-winner: “I was afraid of that. He’s a very, very impressive player. I think he’s going to have a great career at UCLA and beyond. Look at what he did. It was just a great, great play.”

With leading scorer and rebounder Dijon Thompson sidelined with a cut hand, Howland started three members of his well-regarded freshmen class for the first time, and he played all four of the rookies extensively. It won’t be the last time.

Swingman Josh Shipp, who got his first start, responded with 15 points and 12 rebounds. He made a three-point basket with 5:36 left, 12 seconds after McGowan (24 points) had given the Waves a 74-69 lead by making a three-point basket.

Although junior Michael Fey started at center, freshman Mata played more minutes (22) than Fey (18) and had seven points and 11 rebounds. Fey added 13 points and six rebounds, and Howland said he would be happy if the tandem could combine for 20 points and 17 rebounds every game. The four freshmen combined for 58 points, 27 rebounds and eight assists.

After the Bruins had been outrebounded in their previous three games, Howland hammered his team about boxing out and getting aggressive on the boards. UCLA had a 41-23 edge Saturday.

But Howland tried something new defensively too. Although it’s against his belief to abandon his beloved man-to-man defense, Howland put the Bruins in a zone for the first time this year. Because the Bruins were short-handed, Howland said, and because he had seen the Waves struggle against a zone in other games, Howland installed it in practice this week.

The zone kept the Waves off balance, especially in the first half when UCLA led by as many as 13 points.

Pepperdine had its biggest lead, 67-60, with 8:24 left. But for much of the rest of the game, Howland played his four freshmen.

“We believed in ourselves,” Mata said, “but now we have confidence too.”