UCLA’s basketball squad played their first exhibition game in China against Tsinghua University.
So far, so good.
Although we weren’t there (hey, wanna buy us a ticket to China so we can cover it for you?), the reports seem promising, with a fast-paced offense dominating their opponent. Here’s this from the LAT:
"Playing against an undersized and out-manned Tsinghua University on Saturday night in Beijing, UCLA sprinted to a 116-68 victory punctuated by lots of running and slam-dunk finishes."
Of course, this 48-point blowout (really? 48 points?) was fueled by a solid effort from, like, everyone. Here are the stats, also via the LAT:
"David Wear led the Bruins with 22 points on 10-of-11 shooting and 15 rebounds. Travis Wear and Norman Powell had 19 each. Freshman Kyle Anderson, starting in his first game as a Bruin, had 11 points, 13 rebounds and six assists."
Somehow, everyone managed to put up serious points in the most efficient way possible, and considering David Wear and Kyle Anderson — not exactly bangers down low — nabbed 28 combined rebounds, the competition was clearly not as high as the U.S. collegiate level.
No one cares, though. These games are meant to warm up UCLA and build their confidence, and nothing ups your swag like embarrassing your opponents.
Oh, and Josh Smith? Nothing specific on him, except this, via Yahoo! Sports:
"The UCLA frontcourt trio of Smith and the Wear twins dominated inside, combining for 59 points on an astonishing 28 of 31 from the floor."
We’re going to assume that, since David Wear took 11 shots, that Travis Wear and Josh Smith split the remaining 20 shots, and both missed a combined pair of them. So Smith didn’t do too bad.
Sadly, we can’t tell you if he fouled out of the game within the first two minutes and notched a stupid PER of around 28 to make himself look that much more “dominant.”
We’ll keep you up to date with UCLA basketball’s trip to China as we receive information.
GO BRUINS!!!