Mississippi State defeats UCLA men’s basketball in Wooden Classic

Two weeks after failing to win a game in the 76 Classic, the UCLA men’s basketball team returned to Anaheim looking for a more magical ending.

Different building, same discouraging result.

The Bruins fell behind early with an all-round dismal first half and never recovered, falling 72-54 to Mississippi State (7-2) in the John R. Wooden Classic before 13,043 at the Honda Center.

The lopsided game was the Bruins’ (2-6) fifth consecutive loss and followed a somewhat encouraging performance is a losing effort against top-ranked Kansas last Sunday.

Senior forward Michael Roll led the Bruins with 17 points and sophomore guard Malcolm Lee added 16, but the talk after the game was on a first half that saw a Bruin team that was unable to score or defend with much consistency.

With the Bruins trailing by just two a little less than five minutes into the game, the Bulldogs went on a 12-3 run over the next four minutes primarily with outside shooting to move ahead 21-10. From that point on, the Bruins never got closer than nine points.

“It kind of takes the air out of the balloon,” said Roll of a first half in which Mississippi State shot 53.1 percent (17-of-32) from the floor. “We knew they were a 3-point shooting team coming in and they shoot with success with people in their face. They just had no conscious, just falling everywhere anytime they wanted, and when they make that it just hurts.”

On the game, Mississippi State shot 47.5 percent from the field, including 37.5 percent (9-of-24) from 3-point territory.

On the flip side, the Bruins shot a mere 26.7 percent (eight-of-30) in the first half before a better second half brought their final shooting percentage to a more respectable 34.9 percent.

“In a nutshell, (Mississippi State is) very good,” UCLA coach Ben Howland said. “They had a lot to do with us playing so poorly, but I think we contributed some ourselves. We’ve got to get better in a hurry here as we move forward.”

Mississippi State coach Rick Stansbury said he believed the way his team pressured the Bruins on defense set the tone for the entire game.

“I think our team is starting to understand a little bit better now that we’re playing with a little more urgency defensively on the perimeter,” Stansbury said.

Of all the struggles the Bruins had against Mississippi State, arguably the most blatant was the continued slump of senior forward Nikola Dragovic. A big contributor shooting the ball from 3-point territory last season, Dragovic failed to score a point, shooting 0-of-9, including 0-of-5 from beyond the 3-point line.

“Like I said, I’m at a loss for it,” Howland said. “He took two or three shots tonight where he actually airballed them and that’s just not something you see out of Nik.”

Howland admitted that Dragovic is asked to play a larger role this season than last year, yet emphasized the need for him to regain his old form.

“For us to be a good team this year, we need Nik to perform like he performed last year,” Howland said.

The play of Mississippi State’s Ravern Johnson and Jarvis Varnado proved to be especially challenging for the Bruins. Johnson torched the Bruins for a game-high 29 points on 12-of-15 shooting while Varnado nearly tallied a triple-double with 13 points, 11 rebounds, and seven blocked shots.

“He really tore us apart today,” said Howland of Johnson. “You really have to give that kid credit.”

Howland said the team will watch film of the game on Sunday before practicing on Monday in preparation for its game against New Mexico State on Tuesday. One thing Howland said the team may do is watch film of past UCLA teams.

“Our younger kids in particular need to see it so they see how it’s supposed to be done, especially on the defensive end of the floor,” Howland said.

With his name on the tournament, John Wooden was in attendance, watching the game from his suite at mid-court. For both coaches, his presence meant two drastically different things.

“It’s an honor and privilege for our team to be a part of something that John Wooden’s name is attached to,” Stansbury said.

As for Howland?

“After the game I felt really bad because John Wooden is here watching his team play and it really leaves a bad taste in my mouth to have him watch us play the way we played today.”

GEORGETOWN DEFEATS WASHINGTON

No. 15 Georgetown defeated No. 17 Washington, 74-66, in the first game of the John R. Wooden Classic at the Honda Center in Anaheim.

Washington forward Quincy Pondexter led all scorers with 23 points while guard Isaiah Thomas added 21, but a 12-0 Georgetown run to start the second half turned a close game into another poor showing by a Pac-10 team. Down by one at the start of the half, the Huskies did not score for nearly four minutes to open the half until a layup by Thomas.

Five Georgetown players finished with double-digit points, led by forward Julian Vaughn’s 18 points.

The Hoyas improved their record to 8-0, while the Huskies fell to 7-2.