UCLA Manages Not to Leave an Opening

There were smiles all around, plenty of back-slapping and hugging. If anybody wanted to nit-pick about bobbled passes or being turned around defensively by small, quick city guards and giving up too many layups or letting an undermanned opponent dictate the tempo, this wasn’t the day.

Because opening day should be about the positives.

UCLA beat Chicago State, 64-53, Saturday in Pauley Pavilion, and the Bruins didn’t need any last-second heroics (remember the home opener against Vermont last year, one-point win, nail biter to the end?).

If freshman shooting guard Arron Afflalo was only two of 11 from the field, it was nice of his coach, Ben Howland, to say, “I don’t think Arron will miss that many layups again all season.”

If Howland was willing to mention that the Bruins did a pretty mediocre job of defending off the dribble, he first wanted to mention how UCLA outrebounded Chicago State by 20. If center Michael Fey admitted he’s trying to dunk the ball in double time or trying to shoot before he catches, he also accepted praise for holding the opposing center, Deji Akindele, scoreless.

“I’m glad we got that one out of the way,” Howland said.

That seemed to be the opinion of most of the 6,833 who booed lustily when the Cougars called time out with three seconds left.

They wanted this one done, and hoped that the 18 turnovers were more from jitters than lack of ability. They also hoped that the way Chicago State guards Tony Weeden (17 points) and Royce Parran (13 points) exploited UCLA’s man defense was an aberration and not a trend, and hoped that, as Howland suggested, Chicago State is going to be a good team that will challenge for the Mid-Continent Conference championship and not the 12-20 team of last season.

The much-anticipated debut of Howland’s first UCLA recruiting class was dampened by the absence of Lorenzo Mata. The 6-foot-8 center, who is needed to shore up a thin front line, sprained his left ankle at the end of practice Friday. He hobbled into Pauley on crutches, the ankle in a boot. Optimistically, Howland said, “He can come back to practice Thursday.”

So it was only Jordan Farmar, Afflalo and Josh Shipp who made their first regular-season appearances. As should be expected, none of the three was brilliant.

Afflalo played good defense, Howland said, but he didn’t score a point in the first half. Shipp seemed uncertain of his place on the court and scored two points in 10 minutes (he did have two rebounds and an assist). Farmar played the most minutes (35) and was given the most responsibility. He also had eight turnovers to five assists and his coach noticed that Farmar gave up 11 points in the first half.

“Jordan’s got to get better at defending his man off the dribble,” Howland said. He said he also expected his rookie floor leader to take a breath sometimes. “We got sped up by their press,” Howland said. “All of Jordan’s turnovers came in the half court. He was trying to throw the ball when guys weren’t open.”

The loudest cheer of the afternoon came at the end of a 10-0 UCLA run in the second half. UCLA’s best streak began with Ryan Hollins’ layup off a Fey feed; continued with Afflalo’s 22-foot three-point basket; went on with a Dijon Thompson’s 12-foot jump shot, a smooth, confident play from a senior who understood how to move in the rhythm of the game, and was finished by a straight-on slingshot three-pointer from Farmar when the Bruins ran fast after a Cougar miss.

“That was a good sequence,” Fey said. “We were all in sync.”

But UCLA couldn’t build much on the momentum. The biggest lead was 14 points and with 5 minutes 46 seconds left, the Cougars cut the deficit to 53-46 while the Bruins went nearly four minutes without scoring.

Then came one last chance for UCLA fans to stand and shout. Farmar whipped a no-look, cross-court pass to Hollins. The dunk rattled the backboard and shook up the Cougars.

“Nice pass,” Hollins said. “And we need Jordan to play like that.”

That’s the play to remember, then. At least on opening day.