Western Illinois-UCLA: postgame

Of note following UCLA's 77-52 win over Western Illinois:

>> In the all-time series between the schools, UCLA now leads, 2-0.

>> The Bruins and Leathernecks both had 30 rebounds; it’s only the second time in 11 games that UCLA has not out-rebounded its opponent (the other was Texas).

>> UCLA converted 51% of its possessions tonight, with 19 of 33 (58%) shots made in the first half, but 16 of 35 (46%) in the second half. Western Illinois converted 42%, scoring on just 9 of 29 shots in the first half (31%) and 17 of 33 (52%) shots in the second half.

>> How soon they forget: UCLA forward Jim Nielsen (1967-68), a member of two NCAA championship teams, was introduced to the crowd tonight. His picture was shown in the scoreboard as "Jim Neilson."

Quotes from Western Illinois Coach Derek Thomas:

"I felt we didn’t come out with the passion and fire that we needed to. We got knocked around early and were missing too many shots. We calmed down and really started to do a better job.

"We’ve got to give them [UCLA] credit. They played very physical defense and did a lot to alter shots. On defense, we tried to crowd the ball and pack the paint, but they hit a lot of shots early that really hurt us. I felt our defense stayed tough and did a better job in the second half.

"I also thought we executed on offense in the second half. We did a lot of things that we practiced hard to do. I wish we would have gotten more foul shots considering how hard we were attacking the basket. But we stayed aggressive, got everyone involved and played hard to the end."

Quotes from UCLA Coach Ben Howland:

"[Lorenzo] Mata-Real had a contusion to his left shoulder, but hopefully it’s not serious. I think it happened in the first half. Russell [Westbrook] had a great game, his playmaking ability was really good tonight. We had great team play, but we were stuck at 62 for a while [5:28]. I believe we missed five open shots. But overall, I was pleased with our performance.

"We will take off tomorrow, but we will look at the Davidson film.

"I was not pleased with [the 12 offensive rebounds by Western Illinois]. We’ve got to get better at blocking out. I told the guys on Thursday we’ll be doing some boxing-out drills.

"Bottom line, our season is going to rest on how we do once Pac-10 play begins."