UCLA
3-0
San Diego
0-3
Leaf Helps No. 16 UCLA Defeat San Diego, 88-68
November 17, 2016 | Men's Basketball
LOS ANGELES โ Freshman TJ Leaf recorded 26 points and 10 rebounds to lead No. 16 UCLA past San Diego, 88-68, in a non-conference game in Pauley Pavilion on Thursday night.
Fellow freshman Lonzo Ball finished with 13 points, eight assists and seven rebounds to help the Bruins (3-0) earn their third win in seven days.
In all, UCLA had six players who scored in double figures. Thomas Welsh had his second double-double in three games, totaling 12 points and 11 rebounds. Isaac Hamilton also finished with 12 points, while Aaron Holiday had 11 and Bryce Alford scored 10.
After having averaged 110.5 points in their previous two games, the Bruins finished with 88 on Thursday night in their third regular-season contest.
"I thought TJ was really good," UCLA head coach Steve Alford said. "I thought both he and Tom [Welsh] and G.G. [Goloman] was the same way. We wanted to attack inside. This was a team, in our minds, that didn't have a big inside presence or a rim protector so it was a game where we had to go inside."
San Diego's Brett Bailey scored 22 points, tying his career high, while Cameron Neubauer had 14 for the visiting Toreros (0-3).
UCLA never trailed San Diego after the game's opening minutes, but never saw its lead consistently swell to double digits until the second half. The Bruins led at halftime by a 41-33 margin before Leaf helped ignite UCLA early in the second half.
"We wanted to give it to them inside, where they're a little undersized," Leaf said. "They are tough, but undersized inside. We wanted to make our presence known around the basket, and I think we did that."
Leaf, a 6-foot-10 forward from El Cajon, Calif., scored eight of UCLA's first 11 points in the opening 4:11 of the second half to help the Bruins secure a 52-43 cushion at the 15:49 mark.
Ball followed with a layup before Leaf threw down a dunk with 13:45 to play and UCLA claimed a 58-43 lead. The Bruins pushed their advantage to as many as 20 points in the game's final three minutes after San Diego had clawed its way to a 13-point deficit with 5:26 to go.
Welsh, who registered his 12th career double-double, finished with four blocks โ all in the first half, one block shy of tying his career high (set against Monmouth on Nov. 13, 2015).
UCLA will return to action against Long Beach State (1-3) in Pauley Pavilion on Sunday, Nov. 20, before playing in next week's Wooden Legacy โ hosted by Cal State Fullerton at both Titan Gym and the Honda Center in Anaheim on Nov. 24, 25 and 27.
