Friday Morning Shootaround

Four games out in the Pac-10 last night:

• UCLA 61, Washington State 59: The Bruins were able to hang on down the stretch after blowing a 15 point second half lead. UCLA jumped out to a big lead early, thanks in large part to the play of Nikola Dragovic, who was 6-7 of three for 18 first half points. In fact, most of the damage UCLA did during this game was done from the perimeter. Wazzu was packing in their defense, seemingly daring the Bruins to shoot, which doesn't really make sense to me considering the Cougars had a big size advantage on the block and UCLA has some very capable shooters.
  
  In the second half, when Wazzu made their run, they started getting out on shooters a little more. It really made a difference, as Dragovic and company were taking contested jumpers instead of wide open looks.
  
  Wazzu made a couple of little runs at UCLA early in the second half, but every time they did, the Bruins would respond by knocking down a big shot. With just under nine minutes left, Alfred Aboya hit a jumper to extend the UCLA lead back to 11, but that's when the Cougars would finally get the game close again. Wazzu scored 11 straight points, the last six by Caleb Forrest (who had a fantastic game, scoring 19 points). But Darren Collison took over, scoring the next six Bruin points, and UCLA hung on for the two point win as they forced Marcus Capers into a tough jumper at the end of the game.
  
  Don't be surprised UCLA won - they haven't lost a conference game on a Thursday night in Collison's tenure.
  
  I don't understand why teams go away from what had been working for them. The perfect example is Dragovic. He was on fire in the first half, hitting four of his three's in the last five minutes. Three of those came off of pick-and-pops (a pick-and-roll, where instead of rolling the big man flares out for a jumper). But in the second half, UCLA stopped running players off of screens from Dragovic. I know that Wazzu probably made an adjustment during halftime, but I can't remember UCLA even trying one screen with Dragovic. I feel like you need to go back to that well at least once, see if it still works.
  
  I was pretty impressed with this Washington State team. Taylor Rochestie is one of the most underrated point guards in the country. Aron Baynes is a solid, yet unspectacular, big man. Klay Thompson is a difference maker for them. He is a long and athletic wing that can do a lot of different things on the floor, but also has a good looking jumper. If Caleb Forrest can play like he did tonight, Wazzu could make some noise this year. How many teams can come back from 15 down in the second half against a team like UCLA?
  
  One last note about this game. I know that both teams are great defensively, but this was one of the most well played games offensively I've seen in a while. Neither team turned the ball over much (11 combined) while shooting the ball very well (Wazzu 48%, UCLA 49%).
• Washington 78, USC 73: The difference in this game was the play of Justin Dentmon and Isaiah Thomas in the second half. The two combined for 31 second half points, and Washington pulled away from USC late, eventually taking a 13 point lead. Neither of the Washington guards could get anything going in the first half, as USC played a triangle-and-two against them, with Demar Derozan and Daniel Hackett face guarding them. The difference was taking them off the ball offensively and allowing someone else to initiate the offense. When that happened, Washington was able to get some easy looks and easy buckets for other players. That took some of the focus off of Dentmon and Thomas, who were able to take over in the second half.
  
  The match-up inside between Taj Gibson and Jon Brockman sort of fizzled out as Brockman struggled to get going offensively. Both finished with 13 boards, but Gibson outscored Brockman 15-4. Brockman is more of a bruiser on the inside, and it seemed like he struggled a bit with the length and athleticism of USC.
  
  Daniel Hackett scored 24 points, dropped 4 dimes, and played an excellent game defensively, but USC is going to struggle all year because he is not a point guard. He can be a play maker, but he is much more effective when he can do it from the wing. He just makes poor decisions with the ball, and at times looks like he is just trying to get it out of his hands. He had five turnovers against Washington. Don't get me wrong, I really like his game, he just isn't a point guard, plain and simple.
  
  I really liked what I saw from Washington. They have an excellent back court with Thomas, Dentmon, and Denoy Overton. Brockman is their horse on the block. Quincy Pondexter can make plays from the wing. But I think their x-factor is going to be guys like Matthew Bryan-Amaning and Justin Holiday (Jrue's brother). Bryan-Amaning is an athletic front court player that is very active going to the offensive glass and is a great compliment to Brockman. Holiday is a lanky wing that can get out and run the floor alongside the Husky back court. Good teams have guys that play with energy and can make plays coming off their bench, and that is what the Huskies are going to need from those two.
  
  I don't want to get too ahead of myself, because USC was playing without leading scorer (and only shooter) Dwight Lewis, but if Washington can beat UCLA on Saturday, they will be all alone atop the Pac-10.
• Oregon State 69, Cal 65: Up 62-51 with 9:27 left, it looked like Cal was in control of this game. But Oregon State would outscore them 18-3 the rest of the way to win Craig Robinson's first game as the brother-in-law of the new president. Roeland Schaftenaar (22 points) and Calvin Haynes (21 points) would score 17 of the 18 for the Beavers. This loss is a huge blow to Cal. Not only do they fall a game behind UCLA and Washington a top the Pac-10, but in a season where it seems like everyone is destined for the bubble, losing a conference game at home to one of the bottom feeders is a pretty horrendous loss.
  
• Stanford 77, Oregon 55: Anthony Goods scored 20 as the Cardinal jumped out to a 40-18 halftime lead.
  

The rest of the night's games:

• West Virginia 75, Georgetown 58: West Virginia locked the Hoyas down defensively and killed them on the offensive glass as the Mountaineers won in DC. West Virginia got 14 offensive rebounds, which led to 16 second chance points, and forced 19 Hoya turnovers. Da'Sean Butler was the player of the game, going to 27 points on 11-18 shooting, while Alex Ruoff added 10 points and 9 assists and Truck Bryant poured in 13. The decisive run came midway through the second half as WVU went on a 12-3 spurt that took a two point lead and close game and blew it open.
• Purdue 70, Minnesota 62: The Boilermakers are finally getting healthy, and now look like the team that was picked to win the Big Ten. On the strength of 19 points, 8 boards, and 5 blocks from JaJuan Johnson and a defense that held the Gophers to 28% shooting (3-19 from three), Purdue opened up a lead as big as 16 in the second half. Minnesota did have 12 blocks and force 17 turnovers, but the difference was they allowed Purdue to shoot 50% from the floor and get too many good looks at the rim.
• Butler 68, Wisconsin Green-Bay 59: The Bulldogs overcame a sluggish start and some foul trouble to knock off the Pheonix and stay undefeated on top of the Horizon League. Matt Howard led Butler with 15 and 8 boards.
• St. Mary's 65, San Diego 42: The Gaels started out the game on a 17-4 run and cruised to the win on the strength of 16 and 11 from center Omar Samhan.
• Providence 98, Seton Hall 93 OT: Geoff McDermott hit 1-2 free throws for the Friars to send the game into OT, and Weyinmi Efejuku scored seven in overtime as the Friars improved to 5-2 in the league.
• Gonzaga 83, Pepperdine: Josh Heytvelt had 25 and Matt Bouldin had 14 and 10 dimes as the 'Zags rolled to the win.
• Cincinnati 71, St. John's 60: The Johnnies were up 11 at the half, but their best player, DJ Kennedy, was ejected (along with Rashad Bishop) early in the second half, and Deonta Vaughn took over. He scored 18 of his 23 in the last 17 minutes as the Bearcats won.
• Dayton 63, George Washington 61: Wanna hear a tough way to lose? At home against one of the best teams in the conference, you pick up a tech for six guys on the court up one with under 20 seconds left.
• Utah State 62, San Jose State 58
• Western Kentucky 73, Louisiana-Lafayette 68
• Arkansas Little-Rock 61, South Alabama 59