UCLA BASKETBALL NOTEBOOK: WITH UCLA REELING, MBAH A MOUTE STEPS UP AND STEADIES BRUINS.Byline: Brian Dohn Staff Writer SAN DIEGO San Diego (săn dēā`gō), city (1990 pop. 1,110,549), seat of San Diego co., S Calif., on San Diego Bay; inc. 1850. San Diego includes the unincorporated communities of La Jolla and Spring Valley. Coronado is across the bay. - UCLA UCLA University of California at Los Angeles UCLA University Center for Learning Assistance (Illinois State University) UCLA University of Carrollton, TX and Lower Addison, TX freshman power forward Luc Richard Mbah a Moute Luc Richard Mbah a Moute (born 9 September 1986 in Yaounde, Cameroon) is a 6' 8" Cameroonian basketball player who plays for the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) Bruins in the Pacific Ten Conference of the NCAA. spent much of the season in the background as guards Arron Afflalo Arron Agustin Afflalo (born October 15, 1985) is an American professional basketball player, currently with the Detroit Pistons. He recently completed a three-year career at University of California, Los Angeles in the Pacific Ten Conference of the NCAA as the starting shooting and Jordan Farmar Jordan Robert Farmar (born November 30, 1986) is an American professional basketball player at starting point guard for the NBA's Los Angeles Lakers. He was previously the starting point guard for the UCLA men's basketball team. played lead roles. However, while most of the Bruins battled jitters jitters 'Butterflies' Psychology An episode of nervousness or anxiety that often precedes a public event; jitters is a type of performance anxiety which may affect actors in a stage production–stage fright or soloist musicians; it may respond to anxiolytics for much of the first half, Mbah a Moute found a way to shed his quickly. He scored early to stabilize a shaky start and help No. 2 seed UCLA recover and pummel pum·mel tr.v. pum·meled also pum·melled, pum·mel·ing also pum·mel·ling, pum·mels also pum·mels To beat, as with the fists; pommel: The angry crowd pummeled the thief. No. 15 seed Belmont 78-44 Thursday in the first round of the NCAA Tournament NCAA Tournament can mean: Men's Sports
Mbah a Moute had career-highs of 17 points and six assists, and added eight rebounds and three steals. ``I was jittery, too, but I just got it over with very quick,'' Mbah a Moute said. ``The first (basket) that I got really helped.'' That first basket was UCLA's first, and came on a layup off a pass from center Ryan Hollins. And while the Bruins sputtered through the first 14 minutes, Mbah a Moute settled in to give UCLA some easy baskets. Mbah a Moute had six of UCLA's first 16 points, and had 11 overall in the first half. ``He plays hard. He was fortunate to be in the right place at the right time sometimes,'' Farmar said of Mbah a Moute. ``(Belmont) did a good job off the on-ball screen of not leaving me, and he was open a lot and made plays off of it.'' The scoring and passing was another facet of Mbah a Moute's game, but the rebounding was standard. Mbah a Moute, voted the Pacific-10 Conference freshman of the year, has led UCLA in rebounding in 28 of 34 games. UCLA coach Ben Howland offered a simple reason for Mbah a Moute's success. ``Because he's a really good player,'' Howland said. ``Seventeen, eight, six and three, boy, I really like that line. He was around the basket. He's just getting better and better.'' --The Igniter: UCLA's offense kicked into high gear when backup point guard Darren Collison began pushing the tempo. He started UCLA's comeback from an 18-12 deficit late in the first half with a drive to the basket and layup. ``I thought when he came in, he ignited us during that run to come back,'' Howland said. Collison also scored on back-to-back layups in transition to break an 18-18 tie. ``When you're a point guard,'' Collison said, ``your job is to push the ball.'' --Overmatched: Belmont, which was shooting 50 percent from the field coming into Thursday's game, but shot a season-low 28.8 percent from the field in its NCAA Tournament debut. Its four 3-pointers matched a season-low and it scored nearly 38 points below its season average. |
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