Young players feature as men’s basketball hammers NYIT in exhibition game rout
Freshman center Moses Brown logged 8-of-9 from the field in his UCLA men’s basketball debut against NYIT in Saturday night’s exhibition game. The New York native was the only Bruin to reach a double-double, finishing with 20 points and 13 rebounds. (Michael Zshornack/Daily Bruin senior staff)
Men's basketball
| No. 21 UCLA | 125 |
| New York Institute of Technology | 73 |
By Joy Hong
Oct. 28, 2018 12:14 p.m.
Moses Brown lit up Pauley Pavilion less than five minutes into the game with a fast-break dunk.
Then he did it five more times.
“(Having a guy like Brown) makes (my job) a lot easier because he can just go up to the rim and dunk it,” said sophomore guard Jaylen Hands. “Even if he misses, (Brown) is going back for the board.”
The freshman center put up 20 points and a team-high 13 rebounds, leading No. 21 UCLA men’s basketball to a 125-73 rout in an exhibition game against the New York Institute of Technology on Saturday night.
“Playing in Pauley Pavilion, it was just a dream come true,” Brown said.
Brown – the only Bruin with a double-double – slammed the ball on three consecutive possessions in the first half.
“(Brown) really wants to be good,” said coach Steve Alford. “You just don’t see a lot of guys at 7-foot-2 who can move like that, and I think that’s what makes (him) special.”
Redshirt junior Prince Ali also showed off his dunking skills with two of his own, including a wide-open slam from the top of the key four minutes into the second half. Ali finished with a team-high 25 points on 10-of-17 from the field.
The Bruins cashed in on 12 dunks as a team, and led by as many as 55 points in the second half. UCLA shot 51 percent and turned 20 turnovers into 16 fast-break points.
The Bruins only gave up the ball three times in the period and nine times on the game.
“Where we improved tonight was that we turned people over and we took care of the ball,” Alford said. “Those were two things I thought we didn’t do a very good job in scrimmages.”
UCLA trailed 4-3 two minutes into the first half, but the Bruins went on an 8-0 run to take an 11-4 lead at the 16:29 mark.
Freshman guard David Singleton came off the bench and drained a pair of 3-pointers to help UCLA string together an 18-2 run for a 34-17 lead with 8:20 left in the half. Singleton finished with 14 points, going 4-of-4 from behind the arc and 2-of-2 from the free throw line with no turnovers.
“The thing I like about (Singleton) is that he cares about what’s right,” Alford said. “He’s not a guy that forces a lot of things, he just makes a lot of basketball plays.”
Five other Bruins joined Singleton in double figures in Alford’s 10-man rotation. All 10 players – who each saw no more than 30 minutes of action – scored for UCLA.
Ali said losing center Thomas Welsh and guard Aaron Holiday to the NBA last season left UCLA with a young, inexperienced squad. Ali was the only upperclassman part of Alford’s primary rotation Saturday night.
“It’s different, but I just embrace it,” Ali said. “There’s a lot of people here who just played their first college game.”
Redshirt freshman forwards Jalen Hill and Cody Riley finished with three points and nine points respectively after the two were suspended last season. The Bruins also welcomed four true freshmen into its primary rotation.
Hands registered 15 points, seven rebounds and a team-high seven assists, while sophomore guard Kris Wilkes logged 13 points on restricted minutes after returning from injury.
UCLA will have 10 days to prepare for its season opener against Purdue Fort Wayne on Nov. 6 at home.
