ANAHEIM “”mdash; Before UCLA took on Texas A&M, coach Ben
Howland challenged his players to match the Aggies’ physical,
bruising style of play.
The message got through.
The No. 1 Bruins (8-0) survived a grueling test at the Wooden
Classic in the Honda Center on Saturday, holding off the No. 6
Aggies 65-62 in what was UCLA’s toughest challenge of the
season so far.
“Defensively, I knew (the Bruins) were physical on the
perimeter,” Texas A&M coach Billy Gillispie said.
“They were probably a bit tougher in the paint, as far as
physical play ““ a little bit tougher than I’d seen on
tape.”
Not that the Aggie big men weren’t aggressive. Texas
A&M out-rebounded UCLA 34-23 and outscored the Bruins in the
paint 32-24.
“That was one of the points coach said before the game
““ he was like, if they outboard us, they’re probably
going to win,” UCLA sophomore forward Luc Richard Mbah a
Moute said.
Mbah a Moute, who missed practice on Thursday with a groin
strain, had his second consecutive rough game, scoring four points
and grabbing an unusually low two rebounds in 35 minutes of
action.
But the Bruins were able to contain the Aggie big men by
double-teaming the post players and rotating quickly and deflecting
passes out of the double teams. The Bruin guards also forced a lot
of turnovers on the perimeter and a few in the backcourt.
For the game, UCLA forced 20 turnovers while only giving the
ball away 13 times. The Bruins had 10 steals in the contest.
“Turnovers were the key to the game,” Gillispie
said. “It was like we couldn’t dribble the
ball.”
SLIDESHOW
Click here for more photos from the men’s basketball game vs. Texas
A&M.
In the first half, the Bruins and the Aggies played each other
pretty evenly. Josh Shipp scored 12 of his team-high 18 points in
the first half, and the Bruin defense was solid. But the rest of
the Bruins besides Shipp were struggling to score.
With 47 seconds left to go in the half, Texas A&M forward
Joseph Jones tied the game at 27. That’s when Bruin sophomore
point guard Darren Collison made what proved to be two extremely
critical plays.
Collison, held scoreless for the first 19:38 of the first half,
nailed two 3-pointers, including a tough buzzer beater, to give the
Bruins a 33-27 cushion at halftime.
“Those were key baskets because we’ve been a very
good second-half team this year,” junior guard Arron Afflalo
said. “Any advantage we have going into halftime usually
turns out to be a positive for us.”
In the second half, the Bruins led narrowly the whole way but
seemed to be in control with a seven-point lead and just 1:33 to
go.
But the Aggies scored consecutive baskets to cut the Bruin lead
to three, and when Collison stepped out of bounds with just over 30
seconds to go in the game, Texas A&M had a prime chance to tie
the game up.
But Jones missed an open 3-pointer, the Bruins were fouled after
getting the rebound, and Collison sealed the game with two clutch
free-throws.
“(Jones) is a good shooter and we’re fortunate that
(his shot at the end) didn’t go in,” Howland said.
“Our defense was really tough down the stretch in those last
three minutes.”
Texas A&M senior guard Acie Law IV scored a game-high 21
points and made a few key baskets to keep Texas A&M within
striking distance throughout the game.
But in the final minutes of the game, the Bruins switched
Afflalo on Law, and the guard was noticeably frustrated.
“I thought down the stretch, those last three or four
minutes, (Afflalo) really fought hard to keep Law in check,”
Howland said. “(Law) didn’t make a lot of plays in the
last three or four minutes of the game.”
DRIBBLERS: With junior center Lorenzo Mata
fouled out and sophomore forward-center Alfred Aboya still feeling
the effects of being poked in the eye by Law in the first half,
Howland turned to sophomore center Ryan Wright in the closing
minutes against the Aggies.
“Ryan Wright came in and gave us valuable minutes off the
bench today,” Howland said. “His big body and his
toughness was critical.”
Mbah a Moute said he was fine after the game and wasn’t
feeling any ill effects from the groin injury he sustained earlier
in the week.
QUICK HIT: Saturday’s game was just the
third-ever contest between UCLA and Texas A&M. The Bruins have
now won all three meetings against the Aggies, having defeated them
117-53 in 1971 and 81-71 in 1961, both under former UCLA coach John
Wooden.