UCLA Gets Instant Offense With Triple-Double From Kyle Anderson

Nov 22, 2013; Los Angeles, CA, USA; UCLA Bruins guard/forward Kyle Anderson (5) heads down court in the first half of the game against the UCLA Bruins at Pauley Pavilion. Mandatory Credit: Jayne Kamin-Oncea-USA TODAY Sports

The UCLA Bruins basketball squad emerged victorious against the Morehead State Eagles in a night of “Instant Offense”, winning 81-70. The Bruins were lead by super sophomores Jordan Adams and Kyle Anderson. While Adams was collecting 30 points in the contest, his counterpart, Anderson, recorded only the third recorded triple-double in UCLA history. Assists were not recorded as official stats until the 1983-84 season, but still, Anderson has a place in UCLA history.

The Bruins had reversed a trend that had been plaguing them the first few games as they had often started slow and then eventually turn up the heat. In Friday night’s contest, the Bruins came out ready to play. Morehead State had kept a good pace with the Bruins, but all that changed when senior Travis Wear entered the game at the 13:58 mark of the first half. Along with the help of freshmen Bryce Alford and Zach LaVine, the Bruins went on a 20-2 run up until 9:14 remaining with a 37-20 lead. Wear, albeit it rusty-looking, was grabbing rebounds, curling around defenders for lay-ups and in the face of every opponent when he was on defense. Welcome back, sir!

We also found out a new train is running through Westwood, it is called the Alford-LaVine Express! I kid, I wish a train went to Westwood, thanks MTA. But back to the freshmen duo, frankly they were on fire. In that 20-2 run, they were finding each other open for repeated scores. One hook up in particular, displayed the brains of Alford and the brawn of LaVine as they hooked up for an alley-oop that rocked Pauley Pavilion. All Alford needed to do was through it to the rim, and as Pac-12 Networks Broadcaster and All-time Pac-12 scoring leader, Don MacLean said, LaVine used his “hyper athleticism” to throw it down.

MacLean’s partner, JB Long, pointed out that the Bruins had “settled down” since the LaVine dunk and it got them in a bit of trouble going into the halftime and throughout the start of the second half. The Eagles of Morehead State would not be intimidated by the 11 National Championship banners and the new up-tempo UCLA offense, heavens no! They clawed their way back into the game, getting to within three points a few times before the final buzzer. Canadian big man, Morehead State center, Chad Posthumus, exposed a big part of UCLA’s game…the defensive frontcourt. Despite the fact that the Bruins returned Wear and have Tony Parker in the midst of a break-out season, Posthumus gave the Bruin big men a simple message: “try harder”. The big Eagle soared with a 21 point, 18 rebound performance. Someone might want to put a body on him next time.

Despite the lull in the middle of the contest, the Bruins did win and we cannot go on without honoring the feat of Kyle Anderson. Thirteen points, 12 rebounds and 11 assists. He was doing a lot of the little things while controlling the offense, as he came upon his stats pretty quietly. Heading late into the second half, Anderson just became a presence Eagles could not stop. He is the only Bruin player to do it since Toby Bailey in 1995. Congratulations to Anderson, or as he is known by his teammates, “Instant Offense”. Go Bruins.

Mike W.R.

Twitter:@TheBigDisco