UCLA falls at Arizona, 78-73
UCLA fans are used to broken records.
They're just not used to their team playing like one.
The Bruins again jumped to a sizeable lead, again watched it disappear with poor shot selection, poor time management and poor defense, and the Arizona Wildcats took a late lead and held on for the 78-73 win on Thursday night at the McKale Center.
UCLA led by as much and 14 and were ahead until 3 minutes, 19 seconds remained, but by then, the Bruins were spent. With a short bench after the one-game suspension of sophomore center J'mison Morgan and the late-notice absence of freshman forward Reeves Nelson, who didn't play because of trepidation following eye surgery in late-February, there would be no late-game heroics for the Bruins.
"In the first half, we did a very good job offensively - we were 15-for-25 - and in the second half, I thought their pressure bothered us," UCLA head coach Ben Howland said. "Then they did much better job attacking our zone; they were 14-of-22 from the field in the second half."
Arizona came back from a 14-point deficit with 15:53 left to tie it for the first time since the beginning of the game seven minutes later as a Fogg set in.
Wildcats sophomore guard Kyle Fogg had four 3-pointers during the charge, finishing with a career-high 26 points. This, after a then-career-high 25 point outburst in the teams' first matchup on Jan. 2.
"Zone-buster," UCLA sophomore guard Malcolm Lee said simply. "He just knocks down open shots and he can also get to the rim. That's basically it, nice and simple. He was hitting his shots or he was getting all the way to the rim."
Early on, the Bruins bottled up Fogg along with the rest of the Wildcats.
UCLA held Arizona to 39 percent shooting in the first half, and 3-of-12 from long range. Meanwhile, the Bruins shot 60 percent themselves, taking a 39-29 halftime lead, as senior guard Michael Roll (11 first-half points, 21 total) and senior forward Nikola Dragovic (nine first-half points) led the way.
Arizona's efficient point guard Nic Wise was held to zero points until the 14:16 mark in the second half, as UCLA (13-16, 8-9) closed out the perimeter and worked well off screens. With freshman forward Derrick Williams in foul trouble and Wise a non-factor, the Wildcats (15-14, 9-8) seemed lost at times, never more so than during a four-minute stretch in which they scored just five points.
Williams picked up his fourth foul at the 16:17 mark and was in danger of a fifth just two minutes later after tangling with UCLA freshman forward Brendan Lane in the post. Lane dug into the post, spun and landed an elbow, drawing an offensive foul. But Williams fell awkwardly on his left ankle and was still sidelined for the next several minutes.
Unfortunately for the Bruins, so was Lee.
The sophomore shooting guard missed much of Arizona's charge with right leg cramps after scoring 11 first-half points and largely ineffective after the break, scoring just two points the rest of the way.
"They just hit me out of nowhere," Lee said. "I made sure I got a lot of fluids before the game; (UCLA athletic trainer Laef Morris) had me just drinking, drinking, drinking because I knew I'd be playing some big minutes. But it just hit me out of nowhere in the second half. I didn't get no warnings or nothing."
With Lee gone, the Wildcats' perimeter game blossomed, as Lamont Jones had 16 points and Wise emerged from his first-half coma with 12 second-half points. Wise hit 5-of-6 free throws down the stretch, as Arizona shot 83 percent from the line in the second half.
Fogg cooled off by then, but he'd already done his damage.
"He killed us," UCLA head coach Ben Howland said. "The reason why we're playing zone initially is because we have a hard time staying in front of the ball, and yet that still becomes a problem in the zone for us today. That's been an Achilles' Heel for us defensively throughout the year."
When did Bruin Nation get to be such a whine a thon? That site is embarrassing.
L.A. is a tough town for sports' teams. Win, and they will love you-- sorta; but lose, and you definitely are yesterday's news.
Or does anybody care about the 2009 SC football team or the 2009-2010 ucla basketball team.
Didn't think so.
LAWYER JOHN
What the heck was that? At least Anderson can say he didn't hurt the team at the end since he wasn't in. Nice try throwing the ball straight to the big guy before the big guy stepped out of bounds upon catching it with five minutes left though.
mother F&%$#*@ S%$#& a%& sonnova B@#%$!!
ARRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRGGGHHH!!!!!!!!!!
get me my Mother F&%#$@*& bucket...
Anderson is a freaking embarrassment to the program. He is so passive out there and I know it must be a confidence thing, but act like you care out there Jerime! I didn't think he could get worse, but amazingly he is!
Shit. There goes .500. no poise. the choices they make, their decision-making on-the-fly, stinks.
They are used to the team breaking records.
Drago - 39 minutes
Honeycut 38 minutes
Roll - 38 minutes
Lee - 32 minutes despite cramps
No wonder this team fades down the stretch. We're not deep enough, and the main guys get too tired. With Nelson out, we have 3 guys who can play, plus Drago (who plays a lot anyway).
Drago seems to get more stupid as he gets fatigued. His thought process in the second half was baffling.
...wtf?! no mention of Drago's BONEHEAD foul to seal the deal??
Also, Jon, what do you mean, "UCLA fans are used to broken records"? That doesn't even make sense :-/
Let this season mercifully end.
This one's on Dorkovic again with his "ole" defense and horrible shot selection. If he stands around anymore he's going to grow moss on his north side.
I missed the game. What did Milosh do?
early foul before inbound pass = DRAGOVIC FAIL!!!!
Sitting Back!
Why no-one is willing to hold BH accountable for this season is crazy.
why do people want to give him credit for developing every player that makes it to the nba most who of whom were only at UCLA for 1-2 years and no accountability for other players, some who have been there for 4-5 years and have shown no development? No accountability for the numerous recruiting mistakes(transfers and recruiting to the needs of the team. Not to mention the Dragovich experience, no disrespect to Dragovich but he is what he is..A streaky shooter who doesn't play defense.
I AM NOT bashing BH and will admit to thinking that he was doing a great job while he was taking the Bruins to 3 straight final fours. But now I look back see things that make me wonder how much of the early success was due to recruiting momentum caused by the coaching change, assistant coaches and a couple of over-achieving players.
I hope BH uses this season to re-evaluate some of his recruiting and coaching philosophies and is able to get the Bruins on the right track within a year or two. Right now I don't see us making a deep run into the tourney anytime soon, but i'm willing to give BH the benefit of the doubt.
GO BRUINS!