The reality for UCLA is that no amount of swishes could have
drowned out the screech.
How well No. 7 Arizona played was to be expected considering it
was already on a maddening two-game losing streak. But what was
stunning was how even with all the momentum of a 5-0 start in
Pac-10 play, the UCLA bandwagon was stopped dead in its tracks by
the Wildcats, who jolted the Bruins 97-72 on Saturday.
UCLA (9-4, 5-1 Pac-10) was going for a 6-0 record for the first
time in a decade but ended up going with an attitude against
defending conference champion Arizona (11-3, 3-2) that seemed
reminiscent of last year.
“We took being 5-0 for granted,” Bruin guard Dijon
Thompson said. “I don’t think we listened to coach (Ben
Howland) when he said they would come out and play hard.”
The actions on the court spoke louder than Howland’s
words. Two days after being upset by USC, the Wildcats seemed to
take the Bruins by surprise with a ferocious attack that unleashed
all their pent-up frustration.
The weapon of choice was the 3-point money shot, as Arizona was
14-for-23, setting a new Pauley Pavilion record for most made. The
60.9 percent shooting from beyond the arc was even greater than the
torrid 54.4 percent the Wildcats shot from the field overall.
“We didn’t get stops because they got all the shots
they wanted,” UCLA forward T.J. Cummings said. “We
weren’t at our best, and they were at their best. We
didn’t come out aggressive like we’re supposed
to.”
Arizona guard Salim Stoudamire scored 25 points, including seven
3-pointers on 11 tries, and guard Hassan Adams added 23 points,
making four 3-pointers.
Two consecutive Stoudamire bombs sparked a 15-6 run that gave
Arizona a 48-37 lead at halftime.
When the Wildcats weren’t making shots from the outside,
the Bruin defense allowed them to go right by them on the dribble
penetration.
UCLA gave it up to Arizona’s big men as well with center
Channing Frye equaling a career high with 26 points on 11-for-19
shooting to lead all scorers. He also pulled down a game-high 10
rebounds with the Wildcats holding a 39-31 edge on the glass.
The Bruins did cut the lead to 53-46 with 15:48 remaining on a
Cummings jumper, but then the Wildcats went on a 20-4 run, with
Frye scoring eight of the points to put UCLA away. Arizona led by
as many as 30 points on two Frye free throws at the 4:54 mark.
In what was supposed to be a fight for respect in the Pac-10,
the Bruins ended up fighting just to keep the score close enough so
it wouldn’t be worse than the 87-52 blowout Arizona handed
UCLA almost exactly one year ago, the worst loss in Pauley
history.
“You try to tell yourself they’d cool off, but they
didn’t,” said Thompson, who led UCLA with 19 points.
“They were just having fun.
“When you have them playing that well, what can you
do?” he added.
Not much, apparently. Once the Wildcats had built up a
good-sized lead early in the first half, for the rest of the game,
they slapped on their zone defense, which has given the Bruins
problems all year long.
“I’m not sure we could play any better than what we
did,” said Arizona coach Lute Olson, who notched his 510th
win to become the school’s all-time winningest coach.
“That was an Arizona team that completely dominated us in
every facet of the game,” said Howland, who will lead UCLA at
No. 2 Stanford (13-0) on Thursday.
“The biggest thing is how you respond to adversity, to
defeat and to disappointment. It should hurt. It should bother
(us). You saw how Arizona responded to defeat today.”