UCLA took down #1 Kentucky 87-77 in Westwood in Steve Alford’s
biggest win during his tenure in Westwood.
1. Statement
game
It’s already been a rough non-conference
schedule for UCLA. They lost their first game of the season at home to Monmouth
and then they lost two out of three games in Maui including their last game to
lowly Wake Forest. Back at home, playing in front of a packed crowd, UCLA
dominated Kentucky for pretty much the entire game despite playing just seven
players. All five starters scored in double figures and as a team the Bruins
shot 52.8% from the floor and 45.5% from 3. Normally, one would think this game
would serve as a spring board into conference play, but UCLA still has a
hellacious December in store. At home against Long Beach State, which has
LETDOWN written all over it, then at Gonzaga, and then against UNC in the
Barclay’s Center. The win feels good right now, but how will it feel come
January 1 when UCLA heads to Seattle.
2. Thomas
Welsh’s Double-Double
The former McDonald’s All-American turned
in his finest performance of his young college career. In an opening season
loss to Monmouth, Welsh recorded the first double-double of his career, but he
certainly exceeded that 12 point, 10 rebound performance with 21 points and 11
rebounds on 8-11 shooting. In the first half Welsh was showing off his pick and
pop game and then in the second half, Welsh was money in short catch and shoot
situations. Despite being a 7 footer, Welsh has a solid set of hands, a quick
release, and a soft touch. Right now, Welsh is looking like a poor man’s Tyler
Zeller (meant as a compliment) without the short right-handed jump hook.
3. The
Prince Has Arrived
The freshman guard was fresh off his first
double-digit scoring performance on Sunday and while he didn’t top the 10 point
mark, Prince Ali scored 8 points in just 12 minutes including the top dunk of
the night. This pretty much sums up the night:
4. Where
Is Skal?
Freshmen Skal Labisserie is the
projected No. 1 pick in the draft per DraftExpress; however Labisserie was
basically a non-factor scoring just 6 points and grabbing 1 rebound in 16
minutes. Skal was pushed around on both ends of the floor and seemed to lack
the fire that one would expect from such a highly ranked player. Before we
start piling on the skinny freshman, one has to have the proper expectations.
Skal was never going to come in and dominate from day one like Ben Simmons.
Strength was always going to be a problem for Skal and so far that’s proving to
be true. The Haitian big man has a soft high arcing shot, but he doesn’t have
the creativity to get buckets on his own. Improving his overall performance is
going to be a two step process. One, Skal needs to get more aggressive and two,
John Calipari needs to start running more plays to get him easy looks. Two of
the three Kentucky guards hunt their shot before looking for others and Skal
will need some early looks in order to show his potential.
5. Kentucky
Kentucky looked like a much different team
when a defense was not pressuring them at the half-court line (a la Duke). UCLA
began their defense at the three-point line and clogged the driving lane of
Ulis, Murray, and Briscoe. While the guards are still potent, Kentucky will
need to figure out its big man rotation. Sure Marcus Lee went out with an
injury, but the Wildcats get nothing from their bigs. Poythress fouled out in
17 unproductive minutes and I’m not sure Calipari wants to rely on Isaac
Humphries and Derrick Willis. It was Kentucky’s first true road game and only
one loss, but the lack of offensive fire power has to be a bit concerning.
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