UCLA beats Cal Baptist in exhibition, 86-58

The home team ran out to a big lead within the first few minutes.

Veterans Josh Shipp and Darren Collison provided most of the offense while James Keefe took care of the rebounding.

And freshman sensation Jrue Holiday, after a slow start, showed what all the fuss is about.

It all added up to an 86-58 victory for the Bruins against an overmatched NAIA opponent before a crowd of 6,832.

Shipp led all scorers with 20 points and Nikola Dragovic, returning from a cyst in his foot and ankle, had 13. Holiday, last season's high school player of the year, had 12 points, seven rebounds, seven assists and six steals.

"He did what he always does," Collison said of his new teammate. "That guy just has a knack for the game."

Mark Roussin's 18 points and Omar Krayem's 16 points led Cal Baptist.

New blood

Making their college debut, the freshmen from UCLA's top-ranked recruiting class looked like, well, freshmen.

They missed shots early, committed fouls and suffered turnovers.

At the end of the first half, the newcomers -- Holiday, J'mison Morgan, Drew Gordon, Malcolm Lee and Jerime Anderson -- were a combined three for 11 with four turnovers.

But there were bright spots. Holiday took an alley-oop pass from Shipp for a dunk and had all those assists. Morgan scored off a spin move on the baseline, then blocked a shot and passed the length of the court for a fastbreak basket.

The freshmen improved as the game wore on.

"There's a lot to pick up in a short amount of time," Coach Ben Howland said. "Yet, they all went out and played really hard."

Workout

It was not a good sign when senior Alfred Aboya picked up a couple of quick fouls, but it gave Howland a chance to give extended minutes to Morgan, for whom conditioning has been an issue.

"That will be something he'll continue to work on," Howland said.

For starters

Howland began with the senior-laden lineup he had talked about at last week's Pacific 10 Conference media day.

Aboya started at center, Shipp and Keefe at the forwards and Collison in the backcourt with the lone underclassman, Holiday.

Sidelined

Former UCLA center Lorenzo Mata-Real was in the stands Monday night. Mata-Real broke his right leg playing professionally in Mexico.

Wharton is a Times staff writer.

david.wharton@latimes.com