Men’s Basketball Sidebar
By Daily Bruin Staff
Nov. 14, 2001 9:00 p.m.
By Christina Teller
Daily Bruin Senior Staff
It’s not a surprise when Jason Kapono sinks a
three-pointer.
Nobody is shocked to see Billy Knight square up beyond the arc
near either baseline.
But when 6-foot-10 T.J. Cummings puts a shot up from 23 feet out
““ and makes it ““ it’s clear that the Bruins have
been concentrating on expanding their perimeter offense beyond the
hands of Kapono and Knight.
“They were really patient with their shots and as a
result, they were hitting a lot of them,” said Global Sports
center Richard Mandeville.
In Wednesday’s contest against the Global Sports, the
Bruins finished with five different players making three-pointers
with the team shooting 44 percent from beyond the arc and 61
percent overall.
The Bruins kept the Global Sports at bay for most of the contest
by establishing a potent perimeter game early on.
“Their outside shooting hurt us,” Global Sports head
coach Maury Hanks said. “I knew Kapono could shoot, but the
other guys made shots too. That was a big key for them.”
Those “other guys” go by the names of Matt Barnes,
Dijon Thompson, Rico Hines and Knight.
Barnes, who came on last season as a force inside, has started
to drift back more often for shots ““ and this year he makes
them.
“My outside shot makes the defense honor me,” Barnes
said. “It’s something we’ve been working on as a
team, and I spent a lot of time shooting threes over the
summer.”
The success of the Bruins’ outside shot drew the Global
Sports’ defense outside the paint, often giving players such
as Barnes and Knight a wide-open lane to the bucket.
According to UCLA head coach Steve Lavin, his team played a more
balanced inside- outside game on Wednesday, but there is still work
to be done.
The 6-foot-11 Dan Gadzuric, UCLA’s biggest inside threat,
only took four shots the entire game.
“We need to do a better job of getting the ball to
Gadzuric in the post when the defense is stretched out,”
Lavin said. “Sometimes he was open and we didn’t get it
there, and other times we forced it in and caused a
turnover.”
