Despite rocky start, men’s basketball brings Colorado’s lead to 37-27 at half
Sophomore guard Jaylen Hands scored 10 points in the first half of UCLA men’s basketball’s contest against Colorado on Thursday night. The Bruins trail the Buffaloes 37-27 at the break. (Michael Zshornack/Daily Bruin senior staff)
By Ryan Smith
March 7, 2019 7:11 p.m.
The Bruins’ road trip didn’t get off to the best start Thursday night.
UCLA men’s basketball (16-13, 9-7 Pac-12) trails Colorado (17-11, 8-8) 37-27 at the break after shooting just 33.3 percent from the floor in the first half.
The Bruins missed 10 of their first 11 shots from the field and turned the ball over seven times in the opening half, but they managed to hold the Buffaloes to 40 percent shooting to keep the game within reach.
Sophomore guards Jaylen Hands and Kris Wilkes combined to score 17 of the Bruins’ 27 first-half points on 5-of-14 shooting. The rest of the team, however, converted on just four of its 13 shot attempts.
UCLA did do a solid job containing Colorado sharpshooter Shane Gatling, though, holding him to nine points on 2-of-6 shooting. Gatling scored 28 points and hit seven 3s in the two schools’ previous meeting Feb. 6.
The Buffaloes trail the Bruins by just one game in the Pac-12 standings, but they would take control of the tiebreaker with a win. UCLA on the other hand, would drastically improve its chances at a first-round bye in the conference tournament with a win considering Colorado would no longer be able to catch it in the standings.
