PALO ALTO “”mdash; One hook shot on the left block by center Lorenzo Mata.
A right-handed layup by forward Luc Richard Mbah a Moute on the right block.
It was apparent that it was UCLA’s strategy to get the ball inside against the Stanford Cardinal early in the game on Sunday. And the plan worked, at least for the first three minutes, as UCLA rushed out to a 9-2 lead.
“Coach told us to be aggressive,” Mata said of the Bruins’ start. “I got the ball in rhythm, and I made my shots.”
As the game went on, however, UCLA’s big men got in foul trouble, and the Bruins’ lead quickly evaporated. With nine minutes left in the second half, all three of the Bruins’ big
men ““ Mbah a Moute, Mata and Alfred Aboya ““ had four fouls.
As a result, the Bruins’ 17-point first-half lead turned into a 51-51 tie.
“The foul trouble inside really hurt us in the second half,” coach Ben Howland said.
“Our intensity wasn’t the same, and we lost the game.”
During the Cardinal’s second-half 15-0 run, much of their points came as a result of aggressive attacks to the basket.
Stanford took 25 free-throw attempts in the second half compared to the Bruins’ 10.
“We knew we had to be the aggressor,” Cardinal forward Lawrence Hill said. “We knew (UCLA) had picked up some fouls in the first half, and we wanted to take advantage
of that.”
Most importantly in the second half, the Bruins also went away from getting the ball inside. After scoring five points in the first half, Mata only finished the game with seven,
and Mbah a Moute only had four points total on three shots.
Also, Stanford’s Robin Lopez, who came out early in the first half with two fouls, never was in foul trouble again.
“It’s our job as the guards to get (the big men) the ball,” junior Arron Afflalo said. “We need to do a better job of doing that.”
“I didn’t feel like I was involved during the entire game,” Mbah a Moute, who played a season-low 17 minutes, said. “(The big men) had a few lay-ups in the second half, but we were not consistent during the game.”
Overall, the Bruins’ big men did a solid effort on Stanford’s two heralded freshmen twin centers, Robin and Brook Lopez, holding them to a combined 13 points and 14 rebounds.
But with no offensive output from the Bruins’ big men, it wasn’t enough for the Bruins to be victorious on Sunday.
BATTLE OF THE BOARDS: The Bruins’ were outrebounded for the second time in three games, 40-28, as Stanford’s inside players were eventually able to take advantage of the Bruins’ lack of an inside presence in the second half.
With all the three regulars in foul trouble, even seldom-used Ryan Wright made an appearance, playing seven minutes. The Bruins’ top rebounder on Sunday, in fact, was
shooting guard Arron Afflalo with six.
“I don’t know what to say,” Mbah a Moute, the Bruins’ leading rebounder on the season, said of the Bruins’ rebounding. “They were aggressive and we weren’t. I don’t know why.”
STANFORD BOOKS TICKET: With Sunday’s victory, the Stanford Cardinal are now likely to make the NCAA tournament.
The Cardinal have won six of their last seven games, including victories over No. 23 Washington State, No. 25 USC and No. 3 UCLA, with their lone loss coming to No. 7 Oregon.
“This win means we are not a sleeper anymore,” Robin Lopez said. “People know who we are.”
DRIBBLERS: Sunday’s attendance of 7,334 was Stanford’s largest attendance of the season. The Cardinal ended a two-game losing streak to the Bruins after UCLA swept the season series last year for the first time since 1995. Sunday’s loss was the Bruins’ second this season, and during both games, the opposing team has rushed the court.