UCLA suspended Kyle Anderson and Jordan Adams, lose against Oregon
By Joe Nardone
February 27, 2014; Los Angeles, CA, USA; UCLA Bruins guard/forward Kyle Anderson watches game action against the Oregon Ducks during the first half at Pauley Pavilion. Anderson was suspended for this game for a violation of team rules Mandatory Credit: Gary A. Vasquez-USA TODAY Sports
Even before the UCLA Bruins were set to play the Oregon Ducks we knew that some key pieces would be missing for the game itself. That’s because UCLA announced that Kyle Anderson as well as Jordan Adams were not going to be allowed to play in it because they violated team rules.
So, naturally, UCLA came into the game at a big disadvantage. Losing their best player, Kyle Anderson, alone would have been a deathblow, but when you couple that with also losing Jordan Adams (17.2 ppg), the UCLA team that was trotted out on Thursday night barely resembled the UCLA team that is pretty good at the game of basketball.
Even with all of that, though, the Bruins took Oregon to the wire. Eventually, however, UCLA could not keep up with the Ducks as they lost, 87-83.
The win was bigger for Oregon than the loss was for UCLA. Oregon is fighting, clawing and/or (maybe even) scratching to find themselves back on the right side of the NCAA Tournament bubble. Beating UCLA is a huge win for them, but it remains to be seen if beating the Bruins sans Anderson and Adams will be held against them by the Selection Committee.
It was only a one game suspension for the two UCLA stars. So they are good to rejoin the team, put up gaudy numbers and help the Bruins be all sorts of awesome again.