UCLA will pardon the pun: Love is all around

This was clearly a case of Love at first sight.

And just the start of what’s sure to be a season-long succession of puns and plays on the name of freshman Kevin Love, who made an impressive college debut in the Bruins’ season-opening 69-48 rout of Portland State on Friday.

While it’s not entirely true for the second-ranked Bruins that All You Need is Love, they built on his 22 points and 13 rebounds -- each a game-high total -- to quickly distance themselves from the Vikings, who had never played at Pauley Pavilion before and might not want to return for quite a while, if ever.

Aside from a sluggish start to the second half, the Bruins played confidently and well despite the absence of junior point guard Darren Collison, who sat on the bench while resting the knee he sprained last Friday.

They ran at will and shot 65.2% from the floor in the first half and 51.1% overall. Junior swingman Josh Shipp, no longer hampered by the sprained thumb that slowed him during exhibition play, scored 18 points as the Bruins extended their home winning streak to 21 games.

The mismatch against Portland State, a Big Sky team that was 19-13 last season, allowed Coach Ben Howland to experiment with his lineup, playing Russell Westbrook at point guard and using 6-11 Love and 6-9 Lorenzo Mata-Real at the same time to get some height and bulk and physicality.

The results were mixed. Shipp occasionally found himself playing point guard, to his surprise. Forward Luc Richard Mbah a Moute made only one of six shots in 29 minutes, a glitch that Howland attributed to the absence of Collison’s ballhandling and ability to create opportunities.

Also, the Bruins outrebounded the Vikings by four, a stat that drew a frown from Howland. “I was disappointed we didn’t outboard this team by a few more,” he said.

But he couldn’t be too critical, not after the outstanding debut of the biggest recruit he has reeled in. He described Love’s performance over 28 minutes as “very good,” expanding that to praise Love’s shooting and defensive diligence.

“He was very good rebounding the ball defensively, to the point where a lot of our guys were taking off early, expecting him to get every rebound,” Howland said. “That’s not going to happen.”

Love didn’t get every rebound, but overall, he was No Ordinary Love, making six of eight field goals, nine of 11 free throw attempts and recording one block. His three assists proved he meshed well with his teammates and wasn’t playing only for The Glory of Love.

Portland State, which had only one starter taller than 6-6, might have considered him Everlasting Love.

From his first field goal, assertively scored from the low post 66 seconds into the game, to his ability to recover his poise late in the first half after a hard and audible fall, he was in the thick of things at both ends of the court.

Love showed a deft shooting touch and tantalizing promise as a down-low presence who will draw double-teams and be able to feed the open man.

He showed why the Bruins, outmuscled by Florida in last season’s Final Four, has every reason to believe that its 12th NCAA title is within reach.

“It was good. I thought it went well,” Love said, typically understated.

“I shot ball well from the foul line and from the field. My teammates put me in the right position to get the ball and score easy buckets. I give most credit to them.”

And yes, he noticed the “Love” theme to many of the band’s offerings.

“They also played some Beach Boys too. I heard that as well,” said Love, whose uncle, Mike, is the Beach Boys’ lead singer.

“I was trying to tune it out and focus on the game. But subconsciously I’m thinking about it out there, they’re playing it for some other reason. But it’s funny.”

Love said he wasn’t nervous on Friday because the team’s two exhibition games were enough rehearsal for him to be calm when Pauley Pavilion was buzzing with the anticipation of 9,854 fans.

“I thought it went pretty smoothly,” he said, though he thought he had more than 13 rebounds.

“The highlight? I’d say just getting that first win out of the way because this is when it all counts. I’m a team player but I felt I had a good showing as an individual. I’ve got to give all the credit to my teammates and my coaches.”

Told that he’d equaled the second-most points scored by a freshman playing his first game at UCLA, Love shrugged. “I’m not here for records. I’m here to help my teammates the best I can,” he said. “This is win No. 1 out of the way.”

The Bruins will get better, and so will he. Because after all, we know that Love is a Many-Splendored Thing.

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Helene Elliott can be reached at helene.elliott@latimes.com.

To read previous columns by Elliott, go to latimes.com/elliott.