by no means our best effort, in fact probably one of our worst in recent weeks. basically, we came out looking like someone spiked our pre-game gatorade with nyquil, as we were half a step slow, out of sync, and just plain sluggish. it even looked like we were tired on our jump shots; very peculiar indeed. luckily, one of our players came to play: Jordan Farmar. He finished with 23 points, 7 assists, and 7 rebounds, but his leadership and clutch plays were even better than his statistics. an example: with about 13 minutes left in the second half, OSU scores to take a 5 point lead (i'm pretty sure this is their largest lead of the night). Farmar comes down the floor, goes around a high pick and buries a 21-footer to bring us within two. Then OSU comes down the floor and takes a shot, misses, and farmar boxes out and draws an over-the-back foul on a bigger OSU player (maybe Jeffers, i don't remember). he then goes to the line and hits both free throws: in just a few seconds, he nearly single-handedly takes us from our biggest deficit to a tie game. another sign of how much we needed him: the team minus farmar shot 15-49 from the field (yikes!!). unfortunately, farmar did get another technical, though this time OSU had the ball so we didn't lose possession like in the Cal game (see, he's even improving in this area!).

afflalo had a solid game, though like the rest of the bruins, he did not shoot well. he tied a career high with 9 boards, meaning our starting freshman backcourt ended up with 16 of the team's 33 rebounds. this ability and willingness to rebound by our guards is another reason why we can get away with doubling in the post - even if our big men are left scrambling, we have guards that can box out and get the ball.

speaking of our double-team-in-the-post defense, it was not nearly as effective against OSU, as it looked like they were ready for it. Also, their main post presence, David Lucas, is very skilled with the ball and gets his shot off very quickly from pretty much anywhere within 12 feet of the rim. he was difficult to double, and even when we forced him to pass, OSU has so many perimeter shooters that one of them usually got an open look. it also didn't help that thompson picked up two fouls in the 1st half, making him less agressive on d. despite this, i believe that in a ncaa tourney situation, the doubling strategy will be an effective weapon.

thompson was definitely one of the players who looked sluggish. he just seemed out of rhythm. he ended up 5-15 from the field, meaning he's 9-30 in the last two games. by the end, however, he seemed to at least be hitting is free throws again, as i believe he hit 5 of his last 6. he finished 7 for 10 from the line.

josh shipp was hurting last night. badly. he looked worse than against notre dame, and in the final minutes, he was on the bench and morrison was on the floor. it will be interesting to see if howland keeps him out of any games. obviously shipp is a big part of our team, but it would be nice to have him healthy before the tourney. morrison will most likely get the start tomorrow anyway (it's senior day), so maybe shipp sits the game out? i guess it all depends on how shipp feels, but he just looked very uncomfortable last night.

also of interest, Howland went to Hollins as the center du jour (well at least during crunch time). while in the game, fey somehow managed to shoot 1 for 6 from the field, although, as in recent games, his d was okay. as for his o, i'm not sure how a guy listed at 7-0 and 270 pounds catches the ball on the block, faces single coverage, but gets forced FURTHER from the basket, and then shoots with his momentum going away from the hoop. fey did it on at least two occasions last night. in any event, hollins was very active, as he had 9 points and 6 boards in 20 minutes - he had a couple of key offensive rebounds and putbacks.

in general, though our performance was unspectacular, it is a good sign that we can pull out a W even when thompson does not have his A game AND we shoot miserably, especially from 3-pt land (5-23). we should be very happy as the bruins were fortunate to come out with this win. the only ones luckier (and happier) should be those who were playing "the game within the game" and had UCLA -7 (we didn't lead by eight until the last points of the game were scored).

Local roundup (plus one from Corvallis):
Box Score
M. hoops: Farmar does it all in win over OSU
Creating a shot: Farmar's effort lifts UCLA's NCAA hopes
Bruin Victory Is Bid Business
Bruins continue automatic drive
Farmar to the rescue
Late UCLA run edges Oregon State
UCLA Edges Out Oregon State, 69-61
Beavers come up cold late