Friday's Shootaround: Kansas steals one from UCLA

Kansas 77, UCLA 76: Kansas stole a win from UCLA last night. I'm not going to get into the call here (I wrote about it for Beyond the Arc, go read it here) beyond saying that I think the refs blew it. While the loss hurts for UCLA and UCLA fans, the good news is that this team finally looked like they were starting to live up to their talent. Joshua Smith was unstoppable on the block. The 6'10", 305 lb freshman was just too strong for anyone that UCLA threw at him. He stayed out of foul trouble and dominated the 28 minutes he was on the floor, finishing with 17 points and 13 boards, 8 offensive.

While Smith's production was a positive sign, it was the performance of Tyler Honeycutt that will be talked about. Honeycutt finally showed the doubters why people consider him a potential first round pick. He had 33 points -- including burying a 25 footer with 5 seconds left that would have forced overtime. He added 9 rebounds and 4 assists while shooting 11-15 from the floor. He scored on drives to the rim, on catch-and-shoot threes coming off of a screen, and on post ups in the mid-range. He has a chance to be the go-to scorer and the star that UCLA needs.


Throw Reeves Nelson and Malcolm Lee, who both had poor games last night, into the mix, and this is a talented UCLA team on paper.

The issue for UCLA is still at the point. Lazeric Jones has a real tendency to pound the air out of the ball. He can knock down jumpers and he can get to the rim, but he doesn't always seem like he makes the best decisions on the floor. Jerime Anderson has proven time and again that he is not the answer.

For Kansas, their biggest problem right now is the lack of a creator in the half court, but that will be solved once Josh Selby makes his return from suspension, so I'll hold off on commenting on it until he is back.

But a second issue arose last night. For the second straight game, the Jayhawks were lit up by a post player. If you remember on Saturday, Derrick Williams had 27 points and 9 boards for Arizona. Neither of the Morris twins are that strong in the post. Will this continue to be a problem for Kansas?

Missouri 83, Oregon 80: The Tigers went into halftime up 44-24. Apparently, they forgot that they had to play the second half, as Oregon scored 56 points in the final twenty minutes, coming within a 40 footer at the buzzer of forcing overtime. Am I the only one that sees Missouri's defense as a liability right now? They gave up 111 points to Georgetown in 45 minutes. They gave up 56 to Oregon in 20. Both of those teams were hitting threes from every where on the floor. Mizzou needs to start locking up defensively.

No. 10 Baylor 68, Arizona State 54: LaceDarius Dunn caught fire, going off for 24 points in the Bear's win. He's so important to this team. He brings an element -- three point shooting and perimeter scoring -- that the Bears and their long and lanky front line was sorely lacking. Baylor looked like a very good team last night.