LOS ANGELES – The friendly internal competition between UCLA freshmen Lonzo Ball and T.J. Leaf was never more apparent than Wednesday night.
The race between the two for their first collegiate triple-double was more compelling than the score in second-ranked UCLA’s 102-62 win over UC Santa Barbara at Pauley Pavilion.
UCLA raced to a 16-point lead less than nine minutes into the game and rolled to an 11th consecutive win to start the season.
At halftime, Leaf was two rebounds and four assists shy of his first collegiate triple-double. The power forward finished with 25 points, 10 rebounds and eight assists, exiting the game with 3:43 left and UCLA leading, 93-58.