When Larry Drew II was an assists machine at UCLA

Larry Drew II was a great passing point guard in college. He only spent one season at UCLA after transferring from North Carolina in 2011 and sitting out a season. But it only took that one season in 2012 to put his name into the UCLA record books. A record that stood for four seasons. The single season assists record with 256. Only to be surpassed by Lonzo Ball in 2016 after he finished 274 in his one and only season at UCLA.

Drew II wasn’t a prolific scorer. He never averaged more than nine points in any of his four college seasons. But he operated the offense well at both North Carolina and UCLA. Playing smart basketball and having about a 2.5/1 assists to turnover ratio. Not giving up the ball easily while having it in his hands majority of the games setting the offense up. North Carolina won a National Championship his freshman year of college where he played about 10 minutes per game as the backup point guard.

Drew II is the son of Larry Drew who has had a long prolific coaching career. One that has included stops with many NBA teams. Most notably as head coach of the Atlanta Hawks, Milwaukee Bucks and Cleveland Cavaliers. He has a 162-226 career record. His best success came with the Atlanta Hawks where he went 128-102 and made the playoffs in all three seasons. Drew also had a decent NBA career playing in 714 games and scoring 8,110 points and 3,702 assists.

Drew II is now second in a season for most assists. But his one season with UCLA had a big impact. His 7.3 assists per game that season was good for 3rd in the country. He was First-team All PAC-12 and played sparingly in a few NBA seasons. It is very rare to see many guards that are pass first these days. It used to be a common theme. Now most guards that can pass are also looking to score. Drew II was a traditional point guard that operated as a true floor general first.