Bruins get act together in big hit

UCLA Bruins want to see more of this.

A Kevin Love rebound. A 30-foot Kevin Love pass to a running Darren Collison. A quick Collison handoff to Alfred Aboya for a layup.

The second-ranked Bruins beat George Washington, 83-60, Wednesday night for their 25th consecutive victory at Pauley Pavilion. The Kevin Love-to-Collison-to-Aboya highlight gave UCLA (7-0) a 70-45 lead and was appreciated by most of the crowd of 9,691 because Collison was back on the court and Aboya is still on it.

Collison, the 6-foot junior point guard who was named a preseason All-American, had missed the first six games because of a sprained left knee. He is adjusting to wearing a brace but still had 14 points and five assists in 26 minutes.

Aboya had the bone beneath his right eye fractured Friday against Yale, but he played with bright yellow protective goggles that came from the Lakers and he didn't cut back on his physical play, fouling out after scoring six points

Kevin Love had his fourth double-double of the season with 11 points and 11 rebounds and sophomore Russell Westbrook, who switched smoothly between point guard and shooting guard, led the Bruins with a career-high 19 points and eight assists. He also had seven rebounds.

UCLA Coach Ben Howland said Collison made dramatic improvement between his first practice since suffering his injury Nov. 2 in an exhibition game against Azusa Pacific, and his second practice Monday.

"He made a big jump," Howland said. "Now he's playing out there not thinking about the injury anymore. It's incredible how he played after he'd not done anything in 24 days and not having played a game for 26 days."

Collison said he felt "pretty good" after the game. "It was a confidence factor for me," he said. "Being able to push off the left leg. I didn't think I'd play that many minutes, but I was starting to get in the flow."

Aboya, who said the goggles were painful and gave him a powerful headache, was appreciative of having his point guard back. "You see how easy the game is with Darren," Aboya said. "UCLA is a different team with Darren Collison."

Collison made his first appearance with 15:56 left in the first half and received a standing ovation when he replaced Josh Shipp.

His first points of the season were two free throws with 6:04 left in the first half. His first basket was a three-pointer with 1:40 left in the half. He had a shaky time defensively at first and came out of the game the first time after Maureece Rice and Cheyenne Moore made back-to-back three-pointers that pulled George Washington within 19-15. The Colonials drew within three points, 23-20, when Hermann Opoku had a layup.

After getting outrebounded, 16-15, and allowing the Colonials (2-2) to make six three-pointers, UCLA led a team that had lost to Maryland Baltimore County only 44-35 at halftime.`

The Colonials had five fouls, four turnovers, three shots and only one basket in the first 3:42 and with 14:20 left in the first half UCLA led, 13-2, before George Washington began working for open jump shots.

UCLA had a 12-2 spurt to start the second half and establish the expected rout. Luc Richard Mbah a Moute had a dunk, Shipp had back-to-back three-pointers and a Collison layup made the score 56-37.

"We really did a good job in the second half, coming out and attacking the press," Howland said. "I was especially pleased with Westbrook's penetration to a jump stop to kicking it back out. He hit Josh for those two threes in a row."

Up next for UCLA is eighth-ranked Texas on Sunday at Pauley. "I just watched them from my living room destroy Tennessee," Howland said of the Longhorns' 97-78 win over the Volunteers last week. "It wasn't even close. And Tennessee is very, very good."

But as George Washington Coach Karl Hobbs said, "UCLA is very good. There is a reason why they are projected to be a Final Four team."

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