Las Vegas Sun

March 29, 2024

In Shabazz Muhammad’s debut, UCLA loses to Georgetown

Shabazz

ASSOCIATED PRESS

Georgetown’s Jabril Trawick (55) drives past UCLA’s Shabazz Muhammad (15) in the second half of their NCAA college basketball game in the Legends Classic, Monday, Nov. 19, 2012, in New York. Georgetown won 78-70.

NEW YORK — Markel Starks scored 23 points and Georgetown beat No. 11 UCLA 78-70 in the semifinals of the Progressive Legends Classic on Monday night at the Barclays Center, spoiling the college debut of Shabazz Muhammad.

Otto Porter had 18 points, 11 rebounds and five assists for the Hoyas (3-0), who will face No. 1 Indiana in Tuesday night's championship game. The Hoosiers beat Georgia 66-53.

The Hoyas opened the second half on a 12-0 run — with Greg Whittington hitting two 3s — to take a 43-29 lead, their biggest of the game.

The Bruins (3-1) were within 59-53 on a 3-pointer by Norman Powell. But the Hoyas went on a 7-1 run that was capped by a hook shot by Nate Lubick with 6:17 to go. The Bruins did get within 77-70 on a 3 by Muhammad with 50 seconds to play.

The 6-foot-6 Muhammad, one of the most highly sought after high school players last season, was declared eligible by the NCAA on Friday and this was his first game. He finished with 15 points on 5-of-10 shooting and was 2 of 4 from 3-point range in 25 minutes of playing time.

The NCAA said that UCLA's sanctions against Muhammad were sufficient after the school required him to sit out three games and repay $1,600 in impermissible benefits. The NCAA and UCLA found that Muhammad accepted travel and lodging during three unofficial visits to Duke and North Carolina.

Jordan Adams had 22 points to extend his UCLA record of a freshman scoring 20 or more points in every game to start his career.

Travis Wear added 12 points and eight rebounds for UCLA.

The Bruins played the last 12:13 without starting forward and Travis' twin David Wear who appeared to injure his back or a hip when he crashed hard to the court as he tried to defend a layup by Lubick. Wear remained on the bench the rest of the game but was in obvious discomfort.

The Hoyas seemed to get the best of the physical play despite being outrebounded 40-31 by the Bruins. The Hoyas finished with eight blocks — five by Porter — while UCLA had four.

UCLA had scored at least 80 points in its first three games.

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