For 16 games, UCLA overcame more than a full season’s
share of injuries.
The Bruins survived their freshmen playing more minutes and
bigger roles than anyone could have previously anticipated.
They found ways to emerge victorious in each of their five
contests decided by six points or less.
In the team’s 17th game, however, UCLA was finally
overcome by what it has spent a better part of its season
weathering, the result was a tough-to-swallow 69-65 defeat at the
hands of No. 13 Washington on Saturday at Pauley Pavilion.
Following the game, the Bruins weren’t at a loss for words
as to why their 19-game home-winning streak against the Huskies
ended, a stretch that dated back to before freshmen Mike Roll and
Darren Collison were born.
But all of the reasons mentioned had to do with Xs and Os, and
not X-rays and MRIs.
UCLA coach Ben Howland emphasized his team’s second-half
defense, which allowed Washington to shoot 64 percent from the
field in the final 20 minutes.
“Bottom line is we have to play better defense, because if
a team scores 64 percent against your defense, you’re not
going to beat most teams, much less a team that’s very good
like Washington,” Howland said.
Sophomore Arron Afflalo pinned it on his and Jordan
Farmar’s shooting, the duo combining to make only seven of 22
shots.
“We get a bulk of the shots on this team, and if we
don’t knock down our open shots, we’re not going to win
too much,” sophomore Arron Afflalo said.
It could also just as easily been summed up with UCLA’s
final play of the game.
Trailing 67-65 and out of time outs with under 10 seconds
remaining, Farmar raced up the court, penetrated the paint, and
jumped in the air.
Most everyone in the building thought the sophomore was going to
take the shot. That group included UCLA freshman Luc Richard Mbah a
Moute, who wasn’t expecting the ball when Farmar passed it to
him and was called for traveling with 3.8 seconds left for taking a
small step.
But that step paled in comparison to the one UCLA (14-3, 4-2
Pac-10) could have taken in cementing itself as the Pac-10’s
premier team this season with a victory Saturday.
Even though the Bruins currently sit atop the Pac-10 standings,
Saturday’s game was an opportunity to significantly distance
themselves from their competition. Instead, UCLA, which dropped
seven spots in the Associated Press poll after the loss, is mired
in a dogfight with Oregon, California, Stanford and Washington
(14-2, 3-2), as all five teams are tied in the loss column.
“It’s the second time this season we’ve blown
an opportunity,” said Afflalo, who scored 16 points and was
4-for-11 from behind the arc.
“Every time we get one step away from being an elite team
and being a top-10 team and really making a statement and getting
on a roll, it seems like we take a step backwards.”
It didn’t start out that way in the first half.
Like they did against Washington State, the Bruins jumped out to
an early lead, building a 32-17 advantage over the Huskies that had
Pauley Pavilion more raucous than at any point this season.
Roll scored 14 of his career-high 17 points in the first half,
providing an offensive outlet that has thus far this season
remained largely untapped.
Farmar once again served notice he doesn’t need to score
to control games, dishing out eight of his career-high 12 assists
in the first 20 minutes.
And the Bruins smothered Washington’s Brandon Roy from the
opening tip, holding the Huskies’ leading scorer to only 10
points, his second-lowest scoring total of the season.
But in the second half, UCLA’s energy on offense and
stamina on defense dissipated along with its double-digit lead, the
wear of an injury-plagued season finally becoming all but too
apparent.
The Bruins missed Josh Shipp and Cedric Bozeman’s offense
in a stagnant 25-point second half.
They missed the energy of freshman Alfred Aboya, whose status
remains uncertain after he sprained his right knee with 7:11
remaining in the first half, drawing the only groans from the
10,232 fans in the first half.
And they missed the rebounding and inside presence of Lorenzo
Mata, out until mid-March with a fractured leg, as Washington
dominated the glass, pulling down 14 offensive rebounds.
Even the Bruins’ healthy returning starters in Farmar and
Afflalo, already hampered by a sprained ankle and hip pointer,
respectively, suffered Saturday a gashed hand and a bloody knee and
elbow, respectively.
But after the game, a player in a Bruin uniform asking
“What if?” or “What might be if UCLA was
completely healthy?” wasn’t to be found.
That distinction belonged to Washington coach Lorenzo Romar, who
paid UCLA and its coaching staff the ultimate compliment or echoed
Bruins fans’ growing frustration, and probably both.
“Never, never (have I seen this many injuries before).
Coach Howland and his staff are doing a fantastic job holding
things together,” Romar said. “The fact that they can
come out and play hard shows how competitive they are.”
Later he said, “(UCLA) is a very good team that when they
are healthy, they have to have the most depth in the
country.”
But such compliments don’t change the fact that UCLA is
not healthy, that the Bruins’ depth won’t be on display
this year, and that at least for this season, potential has yielded
to present-day reality ““ one that is sobering but also one
UCLA will not use as a crutch for the remainder of this season.
“In competitive athletics, you have to be able to deal
with the next set of circumstances or any adversity that you may
have,” Howland said. “There’s always adversity
within any season.
“We’ve obviously had a lot more than our fair share
this season, but we have to continue to fight through it.
That’s just the way it is.”
With reports from Bryan Chu, Bruin Sports senior
staff.