Mocs seek upset of 22nd-ranked Bruins

Nov 24, 2013 - 4:11 PM Los Angeles, CA (SportsNetwork.com) - The 22nd-ranked UCLA Bruins will try to keep rolling as they host the Chattanooga Mocs in a non-conference contest as part of the Las Vegas Invitational at Pauley Pavilion.

A 3-pointer from Deonte Burton as the buzzer sounded dashed the Mocs' hopes against Nevada in their last outing. The loss was the second straight and third in the last four games for Chattanooga, which is just 2-3 overall. The Mocs will be facing Morehead State in Las Vegas in their next bout.

The Steve Alford era at UCLA has gotten off to a fantastic start with the Bruins sporting a 4-0 record entering Sunday. The last three victories have been especially impressive as UCLA has had an inflated average margin of victory nearing 30 points in those contests. UCLA will also be in Las Vegas when it next hits the floor against Nevada.

Sunday's matchup is the first ever between these two programs.

Z. Mason nailed a 3-pointer of his own to stake the Mocs to an 81-80 lead with just over 20 seconds to play against Nevada. However, Mason also missed a pair of free-throw attempts in the last 10 seconds to give the Wolf Pack a chance, which they capitalized on with Burton's triple.

Mason's failings in crunch time put a blemish on an otherwise strong performance as he netted a team-high 24 points against Nevada. Mason (15.2 ppg, 8.2 rpg) also collected eight rebounds in the contest. Gee McGhee (16.4 ppg) is shooting better than 50 percent from the field to lead the Mocs in scoring. Adding more depth in terms of scoring are Greg Pryor (13 ppg) and Casey Jones (10.4 ppg). Pryor tallied 19 points and also handed out five assists against Nevada in one of his best games of the season. Despite a record below .500 the Mocs are enjoying a better than 20-point scoring differential this season. They have scored 91 points per game and are shooting just below 50 percent from the field.

On Friday UCLA went up against Morehead State and secured a victory with an 81-70 final. Jordan Adams erupted for 30 points in the contest and Kyle Anderson recorded a triple-double. Thanks in large part to Anderson the Bruins had 23 assists in the contest, while turning the ball over only nine times.

Anderson's effort (13 points, 12 rebounds, 11 assists) was the first triple- double by a Bruin since 1995. Anderson (10.3 ppg, 9.8 rpg, 8.0 apg) has been stuffing the stat sheet all season after being one of the most versatile players in the country a year ago. Adams (22.3 ppg) is prone to offensive outbursts like the one he had against Morehead State. Adams is shooting better than 50 percent from the field and has scored at least 20 points in three straight games. The Bruins, who have six players averaging in double figures this year, got an additional boost to the attack on Friday as Travis Wear made his season debut and scored 11 points in 22 minutes. Norman Powell (11.0 ppg), Zach LaVine (10.5 ppg) and David Wear (10.0 ppg) fill out the double-figure scorers list.