Pac-10 Good News/Bad News

No need to ask what you want first: UCLA, the class of the conference, stole a win from under Michigan State’s nose in the final minute of a game that the Spartans had within their grasp. The #2 Bruins looked lost in the first half, missing their first nine attempts and converting only 7-of-29 tries from the field.

Dickie V’s golden boy, Kevin Love, was fighting for his life under the boards, struggling to get his shot past Idong Ibok (2 blocks) and Marquise Gray (2 blocks). But the Bruins showed the same resolve that both North Carolina and Memphis demonstrated in their respective wins over Davidson and Connecticut. Josh Shipp netted 14 of his 18 points in the second period to cut State’s lead to two. Russell Westbrook and his basketball mohawk (look closely – there’s a perfect basketball over his ear) rattled off eight straight Bruin points to set the stage for Luc Richard Mbah a Moute’s tip dunk off an Alfred Aboya miss and subsequent trey from the corner to take UCLA’s first and final lead of the night, 66-63.

Since when did Mbah a Moute become an oversized shooting guard? In his freshman and sophomore seasons, he grabbed nearly eight boards a night and shot 22 percent from downtown. His junior campaign has been markedly different, shooting 42.9 percent from deep and only hitting the glass for three rebounds per game. With the impending return of Darren Collison and Michael Roll, the Bruins will be stacked on the perimeter. Luc Richard’s improved range shoots the number of deep threats on Ben Howland’s squad to five.

Now the bad news: Without Bryce Taylor, #12 Oregon didn’t have the lockdown defender needed to put the clamps on an offensive explosion from Saint Mary’s mercurial guard Patrick “Patty” Mills. The Australian freshman drained buckets to the chant of “Aussie, Aussie, Aussie, Oi, Oi, Oi!” from the Gaels faithful, finishing with 37 points (10-20 FGs, 4-13 3FG), enabling a 99-87 quacking of the Ducks. Ernie Kent tried to contain Mills with 5-6 Tajuan Porter and 6-2 Kamyron Brown. Neither option worked at all, but Brown was Mills’ main victim. Odds are Brown slept with the lights on last night.

OTHER GAMES…

- Indiana scrapped back from a slow start with a 21-2 run to overwhelm UNC-Wilmington, 95-71. Eric Gordon was the centerpiece of the Hoosiers’ attack again, scoring at least 30 points (8-12 FG, 2-5 3FG) for the second time in three games despite being the focus of the Seahawks D. “They threw a box-and-one on me for a little bit, but they threw a lot of defenses at us and we had to adjust,” said the freshman standout.

- In the semis of the Maui Invitational, Duke simply proved to be a better team than Illinois with a 79-66 victory, and also took a step closer toward identifying a go-to player. Gerald Henderson looked like his old high school teammate Wayne Ellington, draining a bevy of mid-range jumpers, including two from beyond the arc for 23 points (8-15 FG, 2-4 3FG). Henderson is already halfway to last season’s total of eight three-pointers.

- Though John Calipari said that his team “can’t win taking 30 three’s” last weekend, Memphis did just that last night against Arkansas State. Willie Kemp and Doneal Mack knocked down ten of the Tigers’ 13 triples, combining for 41 points in their 84-63 win.