<p>It was another sleepwalking affair for a team that can afford to snooze - for now.
<br/>In the middle of a sparse crowd of fans checking watches and stifling yawns, the No. 1 UCLA basketball team cruised to a dreary 74-53 victory over Oakland (6-7), another in a series of overmatched nonconference opponents.
<br/>The Bruins came out of the gate quickly, leading 5-0 in the early going, but could not sustain it in the first half. With just a few minutes to go in the half, the Bruins led just 21-19 because of some poor decisions with the basketball and some very poor rebounding.
<br/>Against a starting front line that averaged just 6-foot-6, the Bruins (9-0) were unable to box out effectively, which led to UCLA being outrebounded 38-33 in the game. It is a disturbing trend for a team that prides itself on its defensive fundamentals.
<br/>"I look at those guys, they must have a heck of a weight program," coach Ben Howland said. "We??ve been outboarded two games in a row now. We weren't blocking out well. If we continue getting beat on the boards, we??re going to lose."
<br/>On the boards and defensively, the Bruins did not have a good interior game. Oakland's center, Shawn Hopes, who is 275 pounds at 6-foot-7-inches, bulled and crashed his way to 17 points behind an array of drop steps and turnaround hook shots. UCLA did not really have an answer defensively, but it did not matter because they were guarding so effectively on the perimeter.<br/>Oakland's two starting guards, Johnathon Jones and Erik Kangas, were a combined 3 for 21 from the field.<br/>The Bruins basically sealed the game with a 12-0 run to end the first half and a relatively hot start to the second half.<br/>Point guard Darren Collison led UCLA scorers with 15 points as the Bruins shot roughly 50 percent in the game.<br/>Saturday's game was the first for the Bruins since last Saturday's Wooden Classic in which the Bruins defeated then-No. 6 Texas A&M 65-62. The intervening week has been filled with finals, perhaps offering some explanation for the lethargic effort to start the game.<br/>"It was a hard week when you have a finals week," Howland said. "We weren't done with finals until Thursday evening."<br/>The Bruins will next face another patsy, Sam Houston State, at home Tuesday before getting some legitimate competition Saturday against 11-1 Michigan.<br/><b>NOTES:</b> Star UCLA 2007 commit Kevin Love was in attendance at Saturday's game. Love played a high school game in Pauley Pavilion on Friday night in which he scored 25 points to go along with 13 rebounds and nine blocks. ? Backup point guard Russell Westbrook was taken out of the game with a leg injury late in the second half. Howland did not know the severity of the injury, only that it was being iced.</p><br><br><a href='; target='_blank'>;