BERKELEY “”mdash; When UCLA fell behind Cal 16-8 with 10:28 in the first half on Thursday, it was the same old story for the No. 3 Bruins.
In each of the Bruins’ last five games, UCLA has fallen behind by deficits of six or more in the first half.
On Thursday against Cal, it was leading scorer Arron Afflalo who was scoreless for the first 15 minutes in the game, and the Bruins shot 44 percent in the first half.
“We can’t explain it,” Afflalo said. “Our effort is there defensively, but it is just a matter of settling down and making shots.”
In the first half, Cal’s big men Ryan Anderson and Theo Robertson were able to take advantage of the Bruins’ sluggish play and combined for 13 points.
Lorenzo Mata and Alfred Aboya, the big men in charge of guarding Anderson, both were in foul trouble and struggled on defense.
But Anderson, who finished the game with 13 points, also soon fell into foul trouble, and the Bears’ inside game was never the same.
“I think playing in front of their first sellout crowd, playing against a top-ranked team, they were excited,” UCLA coach Ben Howland said of the Bears. “Once we got our composure, we started playing much better.”
Following the Bears’ initial lead, the Bruins responded with an 18-4 run that gave UCLA the lead, and eventually one that the Bears couldn’t overcome.
Point guard Darren Collison thought the Bruins can play like that all the time.
“We need to get off to good starts,” Collison said. “The way we have been playing in the second half is the way we can play to start the game, and when we play against the best teams in the conference, that is what we need to do.”
ALUMNI IN ATTENDANCE: Former Bruins Maurice Jones-Drew, Matt Barnes and Rico Hines were in attendance at Thursday’s game at Haas Pavilion.
Jones-Drew, one of the leading candidates for AFC rookie of the year, shook hands with each of the Bruin players after the win and congratulated coach Howland on the victory.
Jones-Drew, who trains at Cal during the off-season, said he was happy to finally see some UCLA pride in the Bay Area.
“I always want to see my boys do well,” Jones-Drew said of the UCLA players. “Hearing all this Cal talk every day was making me sick.”
Jones-Drew, who also attended the Bruins’ basketball game last season at Stanford, had a prediction for this year’s Bruin team.
“They are going to win the national title,” Jones-Drew said. “You can write that down right now.”
Barnes, who is now playing for the Sacramento Kings, is one of many former Bruins currently playing in the NBA.
CAL INJURY WOES: After losing centers Jordan Wilkes and Devon Hardin earlier this season to long-term injuries, Cal’s injury bug came to haunt them against this week.
6-foot-7-inch junior forward Eric Vierneisel, who came in averaging 4.6 points per game, rolled his ankle on Wednesday and was unavailable to play against the Bruins.
He is expected to be out for two to three weeks.
“It is very unfortunate for them,” Howland said. “Without all their horses, it’s really tough for them. We went through our injury problems last season, so we know how they feel.”
Compounded by Vierneisel’s injury was the fact that Ayinde Ubaka, Cal’s second-leading scorer, missed most of practice this week with a viral infection and was noticeably weary on Thursday.
“He is our leader and I know he doesn’t want me to tell you this, but he was not the same player tonight,” Cal coach Ben Braun said. “Give UCLA a lot of credit, but I know Ayinde can do much better.”
Ubaka finished Thursday’s game with zero points, the first time he had been scoreless since his sophomore year.
DRIBBLERS: Thursday’s attendance of 11,877 was Cal’s first sellout of the year. Nican Robinson, a former walk-on at UCLA, is now a member of Cal’s basketball team. Collison’s scoring streak of scoring in double figures ended at 12. Thursday was UCLA’s largest win at Cal since the Bruins won 83-62 in 2000.