UCLA used 10 players during its season opener, and only two starters had to play more than 28 minutes. Part of that was a function of a 25-point blowout of Purdue Fort Wayne, but the days of heavily leaning on eight players appear to have gone the way of the now-silenced “Frisbee Cheer.”
The Bruins used guards Chris Smith, Jules Bernard and David Singleton extensively off the bench against the Mastodons, with center Kenneth Nwuba and walk-on guard Armani Dodson making cameo appearances. Smith was the most impressive of the reserves, notching 13 points, eight rebounds and two assists in 23 minutes while making all three of his three-pointers.