Bruins maul Wildcats
LOS ANGELES – Ben Howland has always stressed a hard-nosed approach and the importance of playing tough defense. As he nears the end of his third year as UCLA’s coach, it’s apparent the Bruins realize what he requires from them.
Freshman Darren Collison scored a career-high 15 points, sophomore Arron Afflalo and freshman Luc Richard Mbah a Moute added 12 each, and the 13th-ranked Bruins took command early in the second half to beat Arizona 71-59 Friday night in the Pac-10 tournament semifinals.
“Guys are understanding what it takes to play championship basketball,” senior center Ryan Hollins said. “Our intensity’s definitely stepped up. Our thing is to pressure the ball and be aggressive.”
The Bruins put the game away by outscoring the Wildcats 27-12 to start the second half for a 60-38 lead. The Wildcats hurt themselves by committing five of their 15 turnovers and shooting 5 of 19 during that stretch.
“We had a seven-point lead at the half, but then we came back out and got off to an unbelievable start against an NCAA tournament team,” Howland said. “And although we won by 12, the score is not indicative of the fact that we were pretty much in control the last 16, 17 minutes of this game. It was really fun.
“You want to be playing your best basketball at the end of the season. But not only are we playing good, we’re getting better. This is truly a team.”
The top-seeded Bruins (26-6) will play the winner of the Oregon-California game for the championship today and the automatic berth in the NCAA tournament that goes with it.
The Bruins bring a six-game winning streak into today’s game, mainly because of their defense. They’ve limited the opposition to an average of just over 55 points per game since being beaten 71-68 by Southern California on Feb. 19.
“That’s what coach really emphasizes – defense,” Collison said. “On the defensive end, we did what we had to do.”
Arizona entered averaging 73.4 points per game. The Wildcats’ previous single-game low this season was 60 in a five-point win over California on Jan. 21. They had only 44 points before scoring 15 in the final 4:21 – after the outcome was decided.
“There’s no question the better team won,” Arizona coach Lute Olson said. “They’re just a whole lot more physical than what we are. In the first half, we made a lot of mistakes. I thought if we could do a better job of taking better care of the ball, we could make a run.
“But UCLA’s just better. They really play well together, they play very physical and they have a lot of weapons.”
Despite losing, the Wildcats (19-12) seem assured of an invitation to their 22nd straight NCAA tournament. They need one victory to reach the 20-win milestone for the 19th consecutive season.
Freshman Marcus Williams led Arizona with a career-high 25 points.