UCLA Game Report

UCLA: 22

Ball State: 26

What Happened: It would be hard to design a more erratic first half for both teams. Large arenas such as the Metrodome are notorious for being poor places to shoot, and that must have been the case here. The Bruins and Cardinals were a combined 21 for 58 from the field. There haven’t been this many bricks on CBS since it last showed “The Wizard of Oz.”

What You Won’t Find in the Box Score: For a while, it seemed as if someone in the CBS control truck had made a mistake and was playing a tape of the game at double-speed. Both teams raced up and down the court with no apparent game plan. If you are a Bruin fan, you couldn’t feel too good about their performance so far.

Winning Number: 4:34. That was the time remaining when UCLA’s Billy Knight passed up an opportunity for a monster dunk and instead scored on a simple layup on a breakaway. The Metrodome crowd booed him, but if the rest of his teammates had played like that in the first half instead of trying to be fancy all the time, the Bruins would have had a big lead.

Wrong Numbers: The Bruins were 10 for 30 from the field, one of 10 from three-point range. Ball State’s Duane Clemens was two for 10 from the field.

Leading Scorers: UCLA--Jerome Moiso, 7. Ball St.--Cedric Moodie, 10.

UCLA: 65

Ball State: 57

What Happened: The Bruins finally started making their shots. Jason Kapono heated up and the Bruins made 10 of their first 16 shots and took a 47-33 lead midway through the half. Meanwhile, Ball State made only three of its 13 shots in the same time span.

What You Won’t Find in the Box Score: It was hard to tell since CBS didn’t show many crowd shots, but judging by the noise (or lack of) throughout, an estimated 85% of the fans were asleep throughout the game. There are mimes that make more noise than the crowd at this game.

Winning Numbers: The Bruins made 15 of 25 shots in the second half (60%), including six of 11 three-point attempts (54.5%). After he was held scoreless in the first half, Jason Kapono scored 17 points. Earl Watson had 12 assists for the Bruins.

Wrong Numbers: Ball State tried only four free throws the entire game, making only one. However, the worst number of the half was 353, which is the approximate number of times CBS ran a promo for “Everybody Loves Raymond.” I’m pretty sure that if it were allowed, CBS would have tried to get Ray Romano to play the last few seconds of the game for the Cardinals.

Leading Scorers: UCLA--Kapono, 17. Ball State--Clemens, 14.

First Half

UCLA’s biggest lead, 18-9, with 7:58 left

Second Half

UCLA’s biggest deficit, 28-22, with 19:17 left

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UCLA’s biggest lead, 47-33, with 10:48 left