Richard Anderson photo
Wyomng's Tyson Johnson drives on UCLA's Alfred Aboya on Tuesday in Los Angeles.
Wyoming-UCLA boxscore
By Richard Anderson
Wyoming Sports.org
LOS ANGELES -- Confident going in, the Wyoming Cowboys left Pauley Pavilion a little shell-shocked, to say the least.
Wyoming matched No. 13 UCLA shot-for-shot for the first five minutes, then played like it had no shot against the Bruins the rest of the way in a 113-62 loss -- the largest defeat for the Cowboys since UCLA rolled to a 49-point win in 1967.
The loss was just the second of the season for Wyoming in 11 games, while UCLA won its fifth straight and is now 9-2 on the season.
“I think first and foremost, this is the first time that we actually got punched in the mouth,” Wyoming coach Heath Schroyer said. “I think that is great. When you play a Top 10 team in the country, you’re going to be exposed to things. We have to get better. I think playing a team like this at this time of the year, you have to look at it and take from it what you can. We have to get better at certain things, and we will.”
Early on, it appeared as if the Cowboys were able to match the Bruins offensively -- neither team played much defense at first. The Cowboys hit their first seven shots, including two 3-pointers by senior guard Sean Ogirri -- and led 16-12.
But the Bruins, led by guard Darren Collison and forward Michael Roll, just kept firing away and scored 10 straight points, then closed with a bang on a 25-8 run for a huge 59-34 halftime lead.
“When they started going on a run, we didn’t stick together, doing the things that got us here,” Ogirri said. “They just exposed it.”
It only got worse in the second half. It proved to be a combination of sloppy play by the Cowboys and red-hot shooting from the Bruins. Wyoming committed a season-high 29 turnovers (14 in the first half), while UCLA turned those miscues into 40 points.
“I think we hit a few tough shots and I also think they did a good job of taking us out of certain things,” Schroyer said. “When you turn the ball over 29 times against a Top 10 team, you can’t defend the turnover. Every three on two, when you have three McDonald’s All-Americans running the lane … we gave up 40 points off of turnovers.”
Roll and Collison, meanwhile, were nearly unstoppable at times. Roll had a career-high 25 points, hitting 5 of 7 3-pointers. In just his second start of the season, Roll has now scored 53 points in his last three games, compared to 49 in his first nine.
"All of our turnovers led to buckets,” Ogirri said. “They also got a lot of offensive rebounds and turned them into buckets. You take away those and it would have been a closer game.”
Collison added 19 on 7 of 8 shooting from the field. Five Bruins scored in double figures, with Malcolm Lee scoring 16, followed by Drew Gordon with 14 and Alfred Aboya with 12. UCLA shot 60 percent from the field and also hit 13 of 24 3-pointers.
“We’re disappointed,” Ogirri said. “That’s what happens when you play a Top 10 team and you’re not ready. We have to get better and we have to get tougher.”
Ogirri led the Cowboys with 14 points -- all in the first half. Tyson Johnson finished with 11, with Brandon Ewing and Mikhail Linskens adding 10 each. Wyoming actually shot 54 percent from the field, but hit just 5 of 13 3-pointers.
UCLA also grabbed 14 offensive rebounds in the game for 26 points.
“I think when you give up 66 points to second chance and turnovers, you’re not going to win, obviously,” Schroyer said. “Those are things we have to get better at and we will.”
The Cowboys will return to action Dec. 29-31 in the Utah State Duel in the Desert in Logan, Utah.
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