Men’s basketball overcomes slow start to defeat Coastal Carolina 84-71

For a team that supposedly entered the year lacking an identity, UCLA hasn’t taken long to find one.

Once again, the Bruins’ length, physicality and toughness – spearheaded by freshman forward Kevon Looney – helped UCLA overcome a sluggish start on offense to defeat Coastal Carolina 84-71.

The run-and-gun approach that worked so well in the team’s 113-78 win over Montana State on Friday appeared to be stuck in neutral for the better part of the first half.

The Bruins settled for outside shots – shooting five of 14 from deep and 35.5 percent overall in the first period – and were out of sync offensively in building a 32-28 halftime lead.

“We weren’t finishing inside and we didn’t make jump shots, and then that affected who we were offensively,” said coach Steve Alford. “We got very slow and methodical in that last 10 minutes of the first half, and that’s what our talk was at halftime – that we got to get the ball moving, we got to get people moving, more pace, more tempo.”

The Bruins did just that en route to their third 50-plus-point half of the season, leaning on strong interior play as the Chanticleers focused heavily on limiting UCLA’s up-tempo offense.

Whether it was a drive by senior guard Norman Powell, a feed to junior forward/center Tony Parker or Looney getting to the foul line, the Bruins attacked inside offensively in the second half.

After settling for just six points in the paint in the initial 20 minutes, the Bruins had that many by the 17-minute mark of the second half and 24 by the game’s end.

While Coastal Carolina was able to slow UCLA’s up-tempo offense – the Bruins averaged 16 seconds per possession and finished with zero points in transition – there was no slowing down Looney.

During one sequence in the second half, the freshman forward slammed home a Parker miss, grabbed the following defensive rebound and added a layup the next trip down the court as part of a decisive 19-to-five run, where the Bruins asserted their size advantage and stretched their lead to 59-42 with 11:05 to play.

“We are a big team, a lot of big guys. Tony’s a big guy – he’s long and he’s massive – it’s something you’ve got to worry about down low, and I come from the wing a lot of times and just being long is something I always try to use,” said Looney, who finished with a team-high 17 points and 14 rebounds. “It was an advantage for us, something we wanted to preach on: Attack the basket, and establish a post dominance.”

UCLA outrebounded Coastal Carolina on both ends of the floor and 43 to 32 overall and was once again active defensively as the Chanticleers shot just above 18 percent from 3.

The Bruins’ added size inside has been apparent through the squad’s two games thus far, as they have now outrebounded opponents 82 to 64 on the year. Indeed, the biggest concern for UCLA when it comes to rebounding hasn’t been whether it’ll get the rebound, but rather which Bruin gets it.

“This is Kevon’s theory: His man has to help (box me out), so he just sneaks in from the wing and gets every rebound,” said Parker, who finished with 11 points and 11 rebounds. “It’s tough rebounding on this team, because everyone is a lot longer than last year. We always talk about the battles in the locker room.”