History repeats itself
WESTWOOD, Calif. – The Cougars nearly owned the college basketball world for a day. Instead, they watched yet another game at UCLA slip away.
Washington State, 0-24 all time against top-ranked teams coming in, attempted a pair of 3-pointers in the final minute that could have given it a tie or a lead against No. 1 UCLA. But both missed the mark, and the Bruins walked off with a 55-52 win in front of an anxious Pauley Pavilion crowd of 11,102.
“I thought we had them,” point guard Derrick Low lamented after the Cougars led for much of the way. “No one thought we could have beaten them. But we came out toe to toe. We didn’t back down from them.”
Low took the first of the two shots in the last minute with the Cougars down by just a point, but UCLA’s Darren Collison managed to get a hand on the ball and UCLA turned the rebound into two made free throws. Nikola Koprivica’s desperation 3 at the buzzer also fell away.
“It seems like we’ve been here before,” said head coach Tony Bennett. The Cougars have lost in their last three trips to UCLA (12-0, 1-0 Pac-10) by a total of eight points. “We come to UCLA, and it’s painful. We’ve had some close losses.”
Despite their mettle, the Cougars (11-2, 0-1) have to win at USC on Saturday to avoid going 0-2 to open the conference season after losing just once in the non-conference season. But in the loss they impressed at least one onlooker.
“The team we beat tonight, in my opinion, is an NCAA tournament team,” UCLA coach Ben Howland said. “They’re going to beat a lot of people.”
The Cougars helped themselves by jumping out to a 19-9 lead in the first 12 minutes, stifling a UCLA team that clearly did not have its head fully into the game.
But WSU was impressive on defense, too. The Bruins shot 27.6 percent from the floor in the first half, but of their 21 misses from the field seven came courtesy of WSU blocks – three of them from Robbie Cowgill alone. Even after their second-half comeback, the Bruins still shot just 32.7 percent from the floor.
“I’m sure they were off,” Bennett said. “They weren’t on their A-game. But we had something to do with it.”
Collison was Exhibit A, suffering through a miserable first half in which he didn’t score a point and picked up three fouls. But in the second half Collison was a different player, using his quickness to score 13 points while also defending Low and getting the Bruins going in transition.
On multiple occasions in the second half, UCLA took advantage of its superior athleticism to shoot open 3-pointers in transition. Doing so allowed them to overcome a deficit that was as large as nine points shortly after halftime.
Even with Collison’s defense causing him problems, Low led all scorers with 14 points. He was forced to create offense off the dribble for himself late in the game, though, and it appeared that chasing Collison took its toll on the WSU junior.
“It’s real tough,” Low said. “If we can play with the No. 1-ranked team in the nation and almost beat them, then I think we’ve got a chance against a lot of teams if we can keep our head on our shoulders and stay focused and hungry.”
Notes
The Cougars did not help themselves at the free-throw line, going 11 of 19, including three misses in the second half that would have tied the game. … Kyle Weaver played all 40 minutes for the Cougars, picking up nine points and 10 rebounds. … As a whole, however, the Bruins cleaned up on the glass, grabbing 40 rebounds to the Cougars’ 28. … Arron Afflalo also had 13 points for UCLA.
UCLA 55, Washington State 52
| FG | FT | Reb | |||||
| Washington St. (11-2, 0-1) | Min | M-A | M-A | O-T | A | PF | PTS |
| Harmeling | 28 | 0-5 | 0-0 | 1-3 | 0 | 2 | 0 |
| Cowgill | 27 | 2-5 | 0-2 | 0-3 | 0 | 3 | 4 |
| Low | 34 | 6-11 | 1-4 | 0-1 | 4 | 3 | 14 |
| Koprivica | 32 | 5-9 | 0-1 | 1-5 | 2 | 2 | 12 |
| Weaver | 40 | 2-7 | 5-5 | 1-10 | 3 | 1 | 9 |
| Rochestie | 6 | 0-0 | 2-2 | 0-0 | 0 | 1 | 2 |
| Baynes | 9 | 1-2 | 0-0 | 0-1 | 0 | 2 | 2 |
| Clark | 24 | 3-5 | 3-5 | 1-5 | 1 | 2 | 9 |
| Totals | 200 | 19-44 | 11-19 | 4-28 | 10 | 16 | 52 |
Percentages: FG .432, FT .579. 3-Point Goals: 3-12, .250 (Koprivica 2-5, Low 1-3, Harmeling 0-3). Team Rebounds: 0. Blocked Shots: 8 (Cowgill 4). Turnovers: 10 (Weaver 4, Cowgill 2, Koprivica 2, Baynes, Low). Steals: 3 (Cowgill, Weaver, Rochestie). Technical Fouls: None.
| FG | FT | Reb | |||||
| UCLA (12-0, 1-0) | Min | M-A | M-A | O-T | A | PF | PTS |
| Shipp | 32 | 4-13 | 2-2 | 0-3 | 0 | 0 | 11 |
| Mbah a Moute | 38 | 2-7 | 2-3 | 4-10 | 1 | 3 | 7 |
| Mata | 28 | 2-2 | 1-2 | 2-6 | 0 | 3 | 5 |
| Collison | 31 | 4-11 | 3-4 | 1-7 | 4 | 3 | 13 |
| Afflalo | 36 | 4-12 | 2-2 | 0-1 | 2 | 3 | 13 |
| Westbrook | 9 | 1-5 | 1-2 | 2-3 | 0 | 0 | 3 |
| Wright | 2 | 0-0 | 0-0 | 0-0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Aboya | 12 | 0-1 | 0-0 | 0-4 | 0 | 2 | 0 |
| Keefe | 1 | 0-0 | 0-0 | 0-0 | 0 | 2 | 0 |
| Roll | 11 | 1-4 | 0-0 | 1-1 | 1 | 3 | 3 |
| Totals | 200 | 18-55 | 11-15 | 14-40 | 8 | 19 | 55 |
Percentages: FG .327, FT .733. 3-Point Goals: 8-19, .421(Afflalo 3-7, Collison 2-3, Roll 1-2, Mbah a Moute 1-2, Shipp 1-5). Team Rebounds: 5. Blocked Shots: 5 (Mbah a Moute 3). Turnovers: 11 (Collison 3, Afflalo 3, Mbah a Moute 2, Aboya, Keefe). Steals: 6 (Mbah a Moute 3). Technical Fouls: None.
Halftime–Washington State 28, UCLA 24. A–11,102.