ZEEK PEAKS, GEEKS REEK

Get Your Zeek On — Howland’s Halftime tweaks deke weak-minded trojan freaks, turning bleak squeaker into something unique:  A cheeky 64-50 streak-breaking veectory over u$c, who creaks in meekly with only 15 points in the 2nd Half, with Lazeric “Zeek” Jones’ sneaky blocked shot blowing up Troy like a heat-seeker

It’s about freakin’ time.  After 4 straight losses (not counting Football) to their arch rival, UCLA showed more grit and tenacity in a Rivaly game, and came out on top.  Led by Lazeric Jones (“Super Zeek, Super Zeek, he’s Super-Zeeky”), who had never experienced a Rivalry like this in Junior College, and who was injured and ineffective in the first game against sc this year, the Bruins outplayed the trojans in almost every facet of the game, to pull away in the 2nd Half and pull off a 64-50 triumph.

At the Pre-game Rally, Jones said that this game was his “initiation” to the Rivalry, because:  YOU’RE NOT A TRUE BRUIN UNTIL YOU BEAT USC.  Hallelujah — I’ve been waiting a long time for a Bruin player to say that.   This Rivalry is a huge part of being a Bruin, and this is NOT just another game.  It doesn’t matter if Arizona was UCLA’s real competition in the Pac-10 for the last two decades — It’s always been usc that the fans want to beat more than anyone else, and it’s always been more painful to lose to usc than to anyone else.

And the Bruins were on the verge of losing to sc for the 5th straight time, which would have been the longest and most depressing streak since 1942.  Apparently, THAT was enough for the Bruins to finally give this game the importance, and the effort, that it warrants.

With Anthony Stover starting, the Bruins ran off an early 7-0 run to build a 12-6 lead before Joshua Smith even entered the game.  The Bruins led for the rest of the Half, with Stover contributing two Blocked Shots, and Malcolm Lee pouring in 11 of his 13 Points.  Lee wasn’t hot from outside, so he concentrated on penetrating, with and without the ball, to get in the middle of the trojan Defense, and break it down.

When Smith came in, he was a FORCE, slamming down two quick dunks with the aggressiveness that Bruin fans have been waiting for, for two months.  Smith was so effective, that at Halftime, sc had to entirely change the way they were guarding him.  In the 2nd Half, they fronted him 100% of the time, not letting him get the ball at all.  The trojans’ interior D was tough on Reeves Nelson as well, so, for most of the game, the Bruins had to rely on their Guards to get some points… and the Bruin Guards delivered.  Lazeric hit a couple of outside shots, including a 26-foot swish, on his way to 9 Points;  Tyler Lamb (!) hit two big shots off the bench, and Jerime Anderson (!!!) hit three crucial shots, including a Three with 8 minutes to go that gave the Bruins an 8-point lead, from which sc never recovered.

SC’s big run was at the end of the 1st Half, when Nikola Vucevic got hot.  The Bruins were trying to double-team him, but the trojans’ Pick n’ Rolls and good screens were freeing him up, and Alex Stepheson was also benefitting from the Bruins’ Defensive indecision.  The trojans cut the Bruins’ 1st Half 8-point lead down to 1, with Vucevic and Stepheson scoring 12 a piece, to make it 36-35 at the Break.

So at Halftime, Howland made a bold — and wise — decision:  He chose to end the double-teams, and trust Reeves Nelson to take Vucevic one-on-one.  Vucevic scored 6 quick points after the break as the Bruins adjusted, and sc got the lead.  But after that, Nelson shut him down.  Vucevic missed 4 straight shots down the stretch, making his last bucket with over 13 minutes left.

Howland also made another Defensive change:  He put Defensive stopper Lee on Donte Smith, who was 3-for-3 in the First Half.  Lee shut Smith out, and Tyler Honeycutt, who had been on Smith, was able to keep Jio Fontan off the books, despite it being a speed mismatch in Fontan’s favor.  Howland’s adjustments worked so well, and the Bruins bore down so much, that sc scored only 15 points in the 2nd Half, and didn’t hit an outside jumper for the entire 2nd Half.  The Bruins also logged SIX Blocked Shots, none more impressive than Jones’ flying block of Donte Smith, coming out of nowhere to stymie a breakaway, at “Donte’s Peak.”  It kept the Bruins up by 8, with 4 and a half minutes left.

The fact that the Bruins weren’t sloppy on Offense was also a key factor in the Victory.  They committed only 8 Turnovers.  Even Honeycutt was smart with the ball, collecting 5 Assists to only 1 Turnover.  Jones also dished the ball well, picking up 5 Assists.  The Bruins’ superior teamwork was evident throughout, as at one point they led the trojans in Assists, 10-0.  The good passing led to high-percentage shots, as Joshua Smith scored 15, and the Bruins outshot sc 49%-40% for the game.  They also dominated the Glass, 39-25, with Nelson pulling down 11 Boards, and Honeycutt grabbing 9.  The Bruins even outdid the trojans in Bench Scoring, 26-11, although Joshua Smith is a bench player in name only.  It’s a whole different ballgame for UCLA, when Smith stays out of Foul Trouble, like he did last night.  And if he continues to be more aggressive on the Offensive end, the sky is the limit for this team.

Next up is Steve Lavin’s St. John’s team, who just crushed Duke.  After this emotional beatdown of usc, which spurred a big celebration in the locker room after the game, the Bruins are RIPE for a huge letdown.  This has been the nature of this team for a couple of years now.  When they start to get confidence, they don’t play with the same intensity.  Add that fact to the EARLY, 10am start time, and the fact that the game is NOT a Conference game, plus the certainty that Lavin will have his team amped up to a fever pitch for his return to Pauley (which the Bruin players won’t care about), and you have a definite recipe for disaster for UCLA.  The only hope is that Lavin’s inconsistent squad has an off-shooting game, and Howland is able to convince his team that beating St. John’s would be a big boost for their NCAA Tournament chances.

As much as I’d like to beat Lavin, beating sc was WAY more important, and if the Bruins end up with a split, at least they will have won the RIGHT game.

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Today was National Signing Day in Football, and UCLA’s recruiting class came in at #48 Nationally.  That’s a huge dropoff from the last three years.  Of course, when the team puts up dismal results on the field, it becomes much harder to convince players to sign.  And it didn’t help that UCLA still has no Defensive Coordinator.  Apparently, it’s down to two “R.S.’s:”  The universally-respected Randy Shannon, and the Universal JOKE, ex-trojan Rocky Seto.  It must be a MONEY issue, or there would be NO decision to make.  If Neuheisel knows what’s good for him, he would defer some of his own salary, in order to afford Shannon.  And if he settles for Seto, I won’t be the only one to go ballistic:  The whole Bruin Nation is dreading the possibility of the untested, completely unqualified Seto crossing over from the Dark Side.  Seto better bring a lot of drugs from Mitch Mustain, if he plans on sedating the angry mob.

There were two GOOD things that happened on signing day, in relation to the Rivalry:  Offensive Lineman Torian White, who was an early UCLA commit, announced on TV that he was signing with usc instead, but then reconsidered and came back to UCLA; and, usc, who still has the 4th ranked class, would have been ranked even higher, but they lost their #1 Recruit, Crenshaw Running Back DeAnthony Thomas, to Oregon.  The guy sounded barely smarter than a 5th grader during his announcement, so it’s a true loss to usc — Enrolling him at Figueroa Tech would have raised their collective GPA.  Of course when Oregon wins a National Title in the next year or two, while sc deals with their sanctions, Thomas will look like a genius.

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At Noon, 8 hours before the UCLA-usc Basketball game, the Bruins held their FIRST ANNUAL BeatSC Rally.  They’ve never done it for Hoops before, but it worked, so they HAVE to do it every year from now on.  Lazeric Jones, Reeves Nelson, Anthony Stover, a few other, lesser-known players, plus legend Tyus Edney and Assistant Coach Scott Garson, all made appearances, as did the UCLA Women’s Basketball Team (who faces sc this weekend — and tickets are FREE).  Also entertaining the students were Joe and Josie Bruin, and a handful of Spirit Squad members.  Below are 22 photos from this Rally.  But first, a few notes about the Spirit Squad:  The weather was cold, with gusty winds, so Mollie instructed the girls at the last minute to keep their Sweats on.  However, it was 30 degrees warmer than it was at the sc Football game in December, where the Sweats did not stay on for that Rally.  I just hope it’s not MY fault that you all are getting deprived of a better view today.  There are still a lot of VERY NICE photos here.  [One shot I think you’ll like so much, that I even ran it by my Wife, to make sure it was okay to show, and she gave it her blessing]. 

Finally — Everyone here knows how fond of Nikki I am, and I have given high praise to Kate in the past as well.  But on this day, I’d like to say that Sarah looked better than she ever has (great hair and make-up), AND, Nicolette changed her hair style, and I think she looks absolutely amazing — also, better than ever before.  I hope you all agree.  Enjoy!