There will be no Lavin-esque magic for UCLA in Ben
Howland’s first year at the helm.
With the season on the line Thursday night, the Bruins’
composure vanished.
Then their lead disappeared.
By the time second-seeded Washington was celebrating its 91-83
victory in the quarterfinals of the Pac-10 Tournament, all Howland
could do was talk about what must change for UCLA to get back to
its winning ways.
“We’ve got to get better, and we’ve got to get
stronger,” Howland said. “I don’t want to go
through this again.”
Howland has struggled through rebuilding seasons before at both
Northern Arizona and Pittsburgh, but this season has been an
exercise in futility even by those standards. After a surprising
5-0 start to conference play, UCLA (11-17) won just twice more all
season, finishing with a losing record for the second straight
year. The last time that happened was before World War I.
“You can never be satisfied with a losing season,
especially at UCLA,” sophomore center Ryan Hollins said.
A lack of confidence certainly wasn’t to blame for the
latest defeat. The seventh-seeded Bruins talked all week about how
they thought Washington might be a good match-up for them, and for
a while it actually looked like they might miraculously extend
their season.
For much of the game, UCLA did everything that it hasn’t
done for the past two months.
T.J. Cummings took a key charge. Trevor Ariza dished out five
assists. Michael Fey actually hung onto the basketball in the
paint.
But in the waning moments, it was the same old Bruins. UCLA
turned the ball over in key moments down the stretch and failed to
stop Washington’s dribble penetration, allowing the Huskies
(18-10) to rebound from an eight-point second-half deficit.
“Our inability to guard them off the dribble hurt us,
especially in the last 10 minutes,” Howland said.
UCLA actually led 73-65 with less than eight minutes to play
when the wheels came off. Brian Morrison threw a no-look pass out
of bounds, sparking an 11-2 Husky run that ripped the momentum
right out of the Bruins’ hands.
With All-Pac-10 guard Nate Robinson on the bench with four
fouls, Washington’s Will Conroy, Brandon Roy and Tre Simmons
picked up the slack. Each relentlessly drove to the basket, taking
advantage of the plodding Bruin backcourt and reaching the rim
seemingly at will. The Huskies shot 32 foul shots in the game, the
majority coming in the decisive second half.
“Our guys kept fighting,” Robinson said. “As
long as we stuck together, we knew (UCLA) would break.”
The Bruins did have their chances, however, once they withstood
the Washington run.
Morrison, who finished with a game-high 23 points, nailed a
contested three-pointer from the left corner to give the Bruins
back the lead with 3:20 to play. He added two free throws less than
a minute later, and it appeared the Bruins might pull off the
first-round upset for the second year in a row.
But down the stretch it was Washington who made the plays.
Simmons stole a Cedric Bozeman pass, and converted a three-point
play at the other end to give Washington an 83-80 lead with 1:33 to
play. Then center Hakeem Rollins tipped a Ryan Hollins shot with
less than one minute remaining that would have brought UCLA within
one.
Washington converted its free throws, sealing the Bruins’
fate.
After the game, all the players could do was rehash the toughest
moments of a tough season.
“This is the loss that hurts the most,” freshman
forward Trevor Ariza said. “It ends our season.”
Maybe UCLA should be thankful for that.