UCLA
1-0
Purdue Fort Wayne
0-1
UCLA Downs Purdue Fort Wayne, 96-71
November 06, 2018 | Men's Basketball
LOS ANGELES โ Kris Wilkes scored a career-high 27 points and had 10 rebounds to lead No. 21 UCLA past Purdue Fort Wayne, 96-71, in the season opener for both schools on Tuesday night in Pauley Pavilion presented by Wescom.
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Freshman Moses Brownย notched a double-double in his collegiate debut, tallying 19 points and 17 rebounds. The 7-foot-1 center from Queens, N.Y., made 9 of 10 shots from the field.
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Sophomore Jaylen Hands filled the stat sheet for UCLA (1-0), totaling 18 points, seven assists, two steals and two blocks.
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John Konchar scored a team-leading 25 points for Purdue Fort Wayne, which finished with three players scoring in double figures. Matt Holba had 12 points and Kason Harrell finished with 11.
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"Really pleased," said Steve Alford, the Michael Price Family UCLA Men's Head Basketball Coach. "Openers are always a little bit scary. I thought our guys did a lot of good things with our preparation. We really tried to do some of the things we wanted to do defensively."
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Wilkes was electric from the start for UCLA and kept it rolling through the opening half, totaling 19 points by halftime. The Bruins led the visiting Mastodons, 48-31, at the intermission.
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Purdue Fort Wayne (0-1) missed its first seven shots of the game, allowing the Bruins to secure a double-digit cushion. UCLA pushed its margin to 25-12 with nine minutes to play in the opening half.
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The Bruins' lead never fell to any fewer than 13 points in the second half. Leading 54-41 at the 15:02 mark, UCLA used a 10-3 scoring run to secure a 64-44 advantage over the next three minutes.
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UCLA led by as many as 28 points (78-50) after a layup from freshman Jules Bernard, who finished with five points, three assists and three steals in his collegiate debut.
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Freshman David Singleton had four points in his first collegiate contest, while redshirt freshman Jalen Hill finished with six points and seven points in his UCLA debut.
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Sophomore Chris Smith made all three of his 3-point attempts, going 4-for-7 from the field. He finished the game with 13 points, eight rebounds and a pair of assists.
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"For the most part, defensively we are pleased," Alford said. "I thought that offensively we did a lot of good things. We settled down in the second half didn't turn the ball over as much. We had 22 assists, and that's a good number."
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UCLA will return to action against Long Beach State on Friday evening. Game time in Pauley Pavilion is 8 p.m. (PT).
