UCLA vs. Washington State, should be a good one . . . Bruins up 5-0 after first TV timeout . .
1:35
My, oh, my . . . UCLA won, 81-74. But "survive" is the better word. The freakin' WSU Cougars hit SEVEN consecutive 3's in 1:22 down the stretch to cut their deficit to three points with 13.6 seconds to go before Kevin Love's two free throws, and then a breakaway dunk by Josh Shipp after Derrick Low FINALLY missed from 3.
Wow . . . the Bruins looked so good defensively until the last five minutes or so. WSU scored 52 points after intermission, 24 of them by Low.
So it's a big victory over against previously unbeaten WSU (another unbeaten, Vanderbilt, just lost in double OT at Kentucky, by the way).
But Ben Howland can't be happy about all of the defensive breakdowns down the stretch. Of course, some sizzling shooting had a lot to do with those 3's as well!
1:02
The Cougars are rallying . . . 51-41, UCLA, with 9;10 to go ..
12:42
It's Bruins 42, Cougars 24 after Kevin Love's 3-point from the top of the key. And Ben Howland immediately called time out after the shot so he could get Westbrook into the game with 16:56 to go. He ain't waiting for no stinking TV timeout!
12:20
It's halftime, and UCLA is in front, 35-22.
And the Cougars are probably fortunate to be only trailing by 13, as Taylor Rochestie hit a contested 3 from deep in the left corner at the buzzer.
The Bruins, or anyone else, for that matter, can't play better half-court defense than they did in the first half.
But, as I said, WSU is fortunate to only trail by 13 points at intermission. It was 28-10 with 4:14 remaining after Russell Westbrook's pull-up jumper. The Cougars scored their final 12 points in the final 3:51 of the half.
12:02
Third TV timeout . . . Bruins 20, Cougars 8 . . . Defense is dominating this thing (no surprise) and there must be 16 turnovers between the teams. But UCLA is hitting shots, or, just enough of them to hold a 12-point lead with 7:15 remaining in the first half.
11:50
Gee, I barely got the last entry posted and the Bruins ran off a 6-1 run. Their defense is clicking.
11:45 a.m.
There have been six turnovers, and Josh Shipp has hit a 3 and Darren Collison a driving layup for the Bruins. And that's been it.
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