GAME NOTES: The Texas Longhorns of the Big 12 Conference have traveled to Los Angeles to do battle with the UCLA Bruins of the Pac-12.
Texas enters this contest with a 4-2 overall record and has won its last two outings, the most recent of which was a 73-57 victory over North Texas on Tuesday. The Longhorns are a perfect 4-0 at home and today's contest marks their first true road affair of the campaign.
As for UCLA, it opened the season with losses in four of its first five games and needed to knock off Pepperdine on Monday to stabilize things a bit. Fortunately, the Bruins put forth a strong effort, particularly at the defensive end, en route to a 62-39 triumph over the Waves.
The Longhorns and Bruins have split their four previous meetings, and Texas won the most recent in 2008.
In the 16-point win over North Texas, Texas only turned the ball over eight times and earned a 19-13 edge in points from the foul line. The Longhorns were tremendous defensively, limiting the Mean Green to 30.6 percent shooting from the floor. Myck Kabongo led the way in the victory with 16 points and seven assists, while Jonathan Holmes provided 12 points. Julien Lewis rounded out a trio of double-digit scorers with 11 points. The fact that Texas won by 16 points despite the fact that J'Covan Brown was held to six points is obviously impressive. Brown is one of the top guards in all of college basketball, and he is scoring 20.3 ppg through six games to go along with nearly six assists per outing. Holmes contributed 12.0 ppg and Sheldon McClellan nets 10.7 ppg for the Longhorns, who are posting 80.0 ppg while allowing 68.3 ppg on 38.4 percent shooting by opponents.
It is blatantly obvious that UCLA lacks a go-to guy at the offensive end of the court, as Jerime Anderson leads the team in scoring with a modest average of 11.4 ppg. The only other double-digit scorer on the roster is Travis Wear with 10.0 ppg. The Bruins are generating 66.2 ppg while allowing slightly more points (67.5 ppg) to the opposition. In the 23-point victory over Pepperdine last time out, Lazeric Jones paced the Bruins with 14 points, while Wear and Norman Powell chipped in 10 points apiece. UCLA committed just seven turnovers in that affair and played stellar defense, holding the Waves to 31.3 percent shooting from the floor. A 14-6 edge in points from the foul line certainly helped the cause.
Brown will be the best player on the court for either team, and he will be far too much for the Bruins to handle today. Simply put, Texas is the better team in this matchup.
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