Texas-UCLA: First Half

Although Texas is ranked eighth in the nation, the sharpies have UCLA as a 14-point favorite today.

You can feel this is a big game here in the Pavilion. The student sections are FULL and the celebs are out, including Denzel Washington, Michael Jalil White and, of course, John Wooden. As usual, the line for autographs and photos with The Wizard were considerably longer than the concession lines.

>> Michael Roll saw his first action in a while, playing three minutes with no shots, but one rebound, one turnover and one foul.

>> In a very physical game, UCLA is scoreless in the last 5:31 and the Longhorns have a 19-14 lead. The Bruins are shooting 33.3% (5-15) after starting 5-8, so they're 0-7. Texas is 9-22 (40.9%). And, unusual so far this season, Texas is outrebounding UCLA, 15-8.

>> UCLA had a 14-13 lead with 13:31 to go, but the Bruins went scoreless for 8:53 and the Longhorns ran off 17 straight points to take a 30-14 lead. The Bruins finally got a hoop from Luc Richard Mbah A Moute and closed to 30-19, but at halftime, Texas has a 37-25 lead.

>> The Bruins shot 10-26 (38.5%) from the floor, but Texas shot 17-32 (53.1%) and that's the difference. And Texas has a 19-13 rebounding edge.

HALFTIME SCORE: Texas 37, UCLA 25