Tigers Give Bruins Pause

It’s a good thing the NIT Season Tip-Off tournament has a consolation game, because if it didn’t, UCLA’s trip to Manhattan would already be over.

The 16th-ranked Bruins fell behind early Wednesday night and Jordan Farmar led a run late, but it was not enough against No. 11 Memphis, which handed UCLA its first defeat of the season, 88-80, in a semifinal at Madison Square Garden.

The Tigers (3-0), who feature a rotation with six freshmen and two sophomores, were led by freshman forward Shawne Williams’ 26 points, including 20 in the first half, when he made all seven of his shots.

“We came out a little tentative, and [Williams] hit some big shots that definitely hurt us early,” UCLA center Ryan Hollins said.

With the Bruins playing a soft defense that gave Williams and his teammates plenty of room to operate, Memphis scored 12 of the game’s first 16 points and dominated the first half.

In taking a 51-34 lead at intermission, the Tigers made 61.3% of their shots, compared with UCLA’s 33.3%, and held a 20-15 rebounding edge in the first half.

“UCLA has a good team, but we just made our run early, which lasted basically the whole first half,” Memphis sophomore guard Darius Washington said. “After that, our whole mind-set was when they made their run, we just had to be patient.”

The Bruins’ second-half run was more like a slow walk early, when the Tigers stretched their lead to 20 points and held a double-digit edge for nearly 15 minutes.

But Farmar, who played after sitting out UCLA’s last game because of a right ankle sprain, almost single-handedly rallied the Bruins back. After scoring only five points on one-for-six shooting in the first half, Farmar made eight of 14 attempts and had 23 of his career-high 28 points over the final 20 minutes.

“We didn’t lose our focus at all, he just started taking shots that he didn’t take in the first half,” Washington said about Farmar. “He got aggressive and made baskets.”

With 4:09 remaining, UCLA was back in the hunt after Farmar made a difficult layup in traffic to cut Memphis’ lead to 75-69. But that would be the closest the Bruins, who face Drexel on Friday in the consolation game, would get.

After UCLA opened the season with victories over New Mexico State, Temple and Delaware State, Farmar said the Bruins had something to prove in the second half against Memphis.

“We basically had nothing to lose, we had to come out and play like we know how,” said Farmar, who also had seven assists, five rebounds and five turnovers.

“We did a good job ... but not getting some key rebounds didn’t help.”

According to Coach Ben Howland, UCLA’s youth showed in its first game away from Pauley Pavilion this season.

“I didn’t think we were aggressive defensively or offensively against their press,” said Howland, who played three freshmen and three sophomores in his eight-player rotation Wednesday. “Some of that is inexperience. We are playing some young kids still, and some of that, a lot of it, contributed to just that [Memphis is] a pretty good team.”

UCLA sophomore Arron Afflalo had 14 points and six rebounds and senior center Michael Fey, who had been sidelined because of a shoulder injury, added 13 points and four rebounds off the bench.

*

Duke seniors J.J. Redick and Shelden Williams combined for 51 points to lead the No. 1 Blue Devils to a 78-68 victory over Drexel in the first game of the NIT Season Tip-Off tournament semifinals on Wednesday. Duke (4-0) will play Memphis in Friday’s title game.

Redick scored 17 of his 31 points in the first half and Williams scored 12 of his 20 after halftime to help Duke outlast undermanned Drexel (3-1), which used a six-man rotation for much of the game.