The UCLA Bruins have a chance to prove themselves on national TV for their final out of conference matchup against the St. John's Red Storm. In just the 10th meeting between two storied college basketball programs, the Bruins and Storm have played a sloppy first half with St. John's currently leading 35-30 despite shooting 36.7% from the field.
How then are the Red Storm leading the Bruins who are shooting almost 50% from the field? St. John's is shooting slightly better from behind the arc (4-8 to 3-9) and are shooting significantly better from the free throw line (9-9). St. John's getting to the line put three Bruins in first half foul trouble, three Bruins have two fouls going into the second half.
With 3:14 left to play, Tyler Lamb pulled UCLA within one with a three pointer, but then St. John's scored four unanswered to close out the half. Lamb leads UCLA with 10 points, and is 2-4 from behind the arc. Neither team is going for particularly high percentage shots, if UCLA worked the ball in more often than they look the long jump shot it's likely they'd be shooting better than 50% at this point.
D'Angelo Harrison leads St. John's with 11 points, despite shooting 3-10 from the field. Two of those makes were from behind the arc, and he's a 3-3 from the free throw line. UCLA has an almost 1-1 assist to turnover ratio, that combined with the fouls has been the main reason St. John's leads at the half.
For more on UCLA's performance in the Big Apple, check out Bruins Nation.