Men's basketball: New-look Bruins begin season with blowout win

The Associated Press • Published November 12, 2008

Comments (0)

LOS ANGELES – Pardon UCLA fans for double-checking their programs. It will take some time to get used to all the new faces on the court for the fourth-ranked Bruins.

But if they follow through on the promise they showed in their debuts, UCLA could indeed reach its fourth consecutive Final Four.

Darren Collison scored 19 points, five touted freshmen provided offensive punch and the Bruins opened their season with an 82-58 victory over Prairie View on Wednesday night in the first round of the 2K Sports Classic.

Freshman Jrue Holiday joined the starting lineup of Final Four veterans Collison, Josh Shipp, Alfred Aboya and James Keefe and scored 11 points in his college debut.

"It felt great," he said. "I didn't play too well in the first half, but then I picked it up."

His fellow freshmen displayed deft scoring, too. Malcolm Lee added 12 points, Drew Gordon six, J'mison Morgan four and Jerime Anderson three.

"They played exceptionally well," Collison said. "They came off the bench and were ready to play. We need that consistently."

The Bruins (1-0) are coming off a 35-4 season in which they lost in the national semifinals. They lost Kevin Love, Russell Westbrook and Luc Richard Mbah a Moute to the NBA and Lorenzo Mata-Real to graduation, although UCLA has three seniors (Collison, Shipp and Aboya) on its roster for the first time since 2005-06.

They improved to 6-0 in season openers under coach Ben Howland.

Prairie View (0-1) was led by 22 points from Darnell Hugee in his Division I debut, while Michael Griffin added 13 points.

"UCLA is one of the best, or the best team in the country," Prairie View coach Byron Rimm said. "I just think their firepower wore us down."

• ARIZONA CRUISES IN EXHIBITION: Jordan Hill scored 30 points and grabbed 11 rebounds as Arizona beat Sonoma State 78-54 in an exhibition game Wednesday night in Tucson, Ariz.

Hill made 9 of 12 field goals and hit 12 of 17 from the free-throw line in the Wildcats' final preseason game.

Nic Wise added 16 points for Arizona, which opens its regular season schedule Monday against Florida Atlantic in the first round of the NIT Season Tipoff.

Chase Budinger had nine points while Jamelle Horne and Garland Judkins each finished with eight as the Wildcats shot 55 percent from the floor and held Division II Sonoma State to 36 percent shooting.

Arizona led 38-31 at halftime and pulled away from there from the smaller Seawolves.

• HANSBROUGH 'EXTREMELY DOUBTFUL' FOR OPENER: North Carolina coach Roy Williams said reigning national player of the year Tyler Hansbrough is "extremely doubtful" for Saturday's season opener for the top-ranked Tar Heels.

In a statement from the school Wednesday, Williams said the team will keep Hansbrough out of practice a little longer as he recovers from a stress reaction in his right shin. Hansbrough hasn't practiced for two weeks with the injury, which can be a precursor to a stress fracture.

"It's extremely doubtful that he would play against Pennsylvania, and I emphasize extremely doubtful," Williams said. "We will continue to evaluate him and have more information when it becomes available."

Hansbrough has played in all 108 games of his three-year career, though he missed Saturday's exhibition win against North Carolina-Pembroke. It was the first time North Carolina had played without him since its win against Illinois in the 2005 NCAA championship game, and he had missed just one practice — the day after playing 47 minutes in a double-overtime win against Clemson despite an infected toe last year — before this injury.