Charting the Lead: A look at the Bruins’ lead or deficit by the minute.

What happened: It was a sloppy first half. Mississippi had 10 turnovers, UCLA eight. But the first one belonged to CBS, which showed four minutes of commercials before joining the game after 1:40 had already been played. The way things started out it appeared as though the erratic play of UCLA freshman Cedric Bozeman would hurt the Bruins again. He dropped the ball out of bounds and then had a bad pass shortly after CBS joined the game. And Matt Barnes, who disappeared a few weeks ago, still hasn’t shown up. But the play of Billy Knight, and freshmen Dijon Thompson, Andre Patterson and Ryan Walcott more than made up for Bozeman’s bobbles and Barnes’ disappearance. UCLA had a 15-0 run to take a 28-13 lead. But three consecutive three-pointers by Aaron Harper keyed an 11-0 run by Mississippi, which got within 29-26. The Bruins finished the first half with a 7-0 run to take a 36-26 lead.

Not in the box score: UCLA started its big first-half run after Walcott replaced Bozeman. Thompson scored 10 points during the run.

Winning number: Thompson made three of four shots and two of three three-point shots during the big first-half run.

Wrong number: Mississippi made only nine of 27 shots in the first half and was six of 19 from three-point range.

Leading scorers: UCLA--Knight 10, Thompson 10, Patterson 5, Dan Gadzuric 5. Mississippi--Harper 12 (all on three-point shots, as he made four of seven), Kendrick Fox 5.

Leading rebounders: UCLA--Barnes 5, Gadzuric 5. Mississippi--Harper 6, David Sanders 4.