UCLA Bruins men’s basketball team upsets #7 Missouri in thrilling overtime game (12/12))

UCLA pulls off a huge victory 97-94 in OT vs. Missouri in front of a packed crowd.

It would be difficult to find a better game to watch when the #7 ranked Missouri Tigers visited beautiful Pauley Pavilion ($136 million to remodel last year) to take on the UCLA Bruins. The game was close throughout with back and forth with stellar performances by freshman standout Muhammad Shabazz (pictured below) from UCLA and point guard Phil Pressey (pictured below) of Missouri.  Shabazz scored a game high 27 points including a big 3-point shot with 1:01 left in the game to seal the victory. Pressey helped keep the game close scoring 19 points and handing out 19 assists as he weaved his way through the Bruin defense time after time.  He is the son of former Milwaukee Bucks star Paul Pressey. 

     

     The Tigers had a season high 12 three pointers while also controlling the boards (50-36) as the nation’s leading rebounding team. Both teams had big runs and rally’s with the Bruins having a 15-0 streak in the first half but still were only tied 47-47 at halftime.  Laurence Bowers and local high school star Keion Bell each had 17 points for Missouri while Earnest Ross had 16 and Jabari Brown had 14.

     

     The Bruins had one of the best recruiting classes in the country this year and were an early season pick for one of the top teams.  They lost 3 games to fall out of the top 20 but now seem to be on their way back.  The Wear Twins had huge games to help the home team. Travis Wear finished with a career-high 22 points including a big shot with 12 seconds remaining to close out the Bruins’ first win over a top-10 non-conference opponent since 2007. Brother David was 7 for 7 from the field and had 16 points. Senior Larry Drew II (son of former NBA guard Larry Drew) had 10 assists

 

     The 3 other freshman (Kyle Anderson, Adams and Tony Parker) were top recruits and only Parker looks like he is underachieving and out of shape at this time. Adams and Anderson had off games but have played well for the Bruins who are closing in on getting back into the Top 25 in the nation. Adams had a key lay-up with 11 seconds to go in regulation to send the game into overtime.

       

     The last time UCLA beat Missouri was 1995 in the NCAA tournament when Tyus Edney (now director of basketball operations at UCLA) hit the game winning lay-up at the buzzer going the full court.  Coach Howland was very happy for his team as they practiced on Christmas night to prepare for this game.  The Bruins moved to 12-3 while the Tigers fell to 10-2.  For more information, tickets & schedule go to http://www.uclabruins.com/sports/m-baskbl/sched/ucla-m-baskbl-sched.html