UCLA sophomore guard Tyler Lamb posted an interesting photo to his Twitter profile early Tuesday afternoon.

The photo is of a younger Lamb, donning a fire-engine red Mater Dei High jersey and slashing to the basket through the outstretched arms of a helpless defender. The text accompanying the tweet said, “Back when I thought I knew, what life was.”

Now, two years removed from averaging nearly 19 points a game for one of the most successful high school programs in Southern California, Lamb sits in the Hall of Fame Press Room in UCLA’s J.D. Morgan Center fielding questions about a win over Colorado in which he scored 13 points.

“I thought he had his best all-around game of the year on Saturday,” UCLA coach Ben Howland said of the performance. “He played within himself offensively and knocked down the open shot when it presented itself.”

The days of Lamb knowing everything and filling up the stat sheet with 20 per game are gone.

Now, he averages just more than nine points per game and hasn’t been able to build enough confidence with his shot to score like he once did, something he acknowledges but says he’s working on.

“Last year, I was in a slump and I didn’t have confidence enough to get myself out of the slump and keep shooting,” Lamb said. “This year, I approached it with a new attitude. I’m keeping my confidence up, and my teammates have been helping with that. I feel like I owe it to our team to knock down the open shot and help carry the load.”

Instead of being the first offensive option, he inherited the task of guarding the opposing team’s best player from former UCLA guard and current Minnesota Timberwolf Malcolm Lee.

Lamb held Colorado’s leading scorer – forward Carlon Brown – to just six points on Saturday. Howland will have to pick his poison when deciding who to stick Lamb on Thursday at Washington, as the Huskies have three guards averaging double figures.

Whether his team needs another burst of offense or a tough defensive performance, Lamb’s goal remains singular.

“Scoring is a part of my game, I can’t deny that,” Lamb said. “I like going out there and getting buckets, but it’s ultimately about the win.”

No more Nelson

Former UCLA basketball player Reeves Nelson was released from Lithuanian basketball club BC Zalgiris Tuesday, where he had been playing since Howland dismissed him from UCLA on Dec. 9.

Nelson was only contracted through today, though Zilgiris could have kept him until the end of the club’s season.

“Mr. Nelson’s trial period is over to our team,” club owner Vladimir Romanov said in a statement. “A good player, but he needs more time to get used to the game of basketball and Zalgiris. Unfortunately, we do not have time … so we decided to give up the basketball player’s services.”

Howland said Nelson “has to learn from it.”

Zone shelved for now

UCLA has rarely gone to the zone defensive look that proved successful early in the season.

Howland, who has a reputation for playing tough man defense, said he has been pleased with the way his team has played man defense of late.

“There’s no telling,” he said of the zone look. “We could bring it back in certain situations, but we’ve been focusing on our man defense and we’ve improved as the year has progressed.”