Steve Alford pulled off the biggest win of his UCLA tenure on Thursday night, guiding the Bruins to an 87-77 stunner over No. 1 Kentucky at Pauley Pavilion. Less than a year ago, they had lost to the Wildcats by 39 points.

“This one is very, very special just because of what happened last year,” Alford said. “Not only were they the No. 1 team in the country, but we had seven points in a half last year.

“To turn that around, and be able to get a win in here … our guys needed it. Our guys needed to have fun in this environment, and win.”