The No. 4 UCLA men’s basketball team did what it had done many times earlier this season by erasing a big early deficit, but this time the Bruins’ opponents found a way to retaliate and subsidize the comeback.
Cal (16-16, 6-12 Pac-10), seeded eighth in the Pac-10 Tournament, was able to avoid being swept by the Bruins (26-5, 15-3), winning 76 to 69 in overtime. The Bears did so by successfully stopping the conference’s Player of the Year, Arron Afflalo, on the offensive end while Ayinde Ubaka was able to have his way with the Bruin junior attempting to defend him.
“Yeah, we’re doing a good job of fighting back, but it’s not enough,” Afflalo said. “It’s probably the worst game of my career considering the stakes.”
UCLA’s sophomore point guard Darren Collison struggled throughout the first half in an attempt to find teammates and penetrate the lane, recording five turnovers while also being held to zero points in the half.
With both Collison and Afflalo going scoreless in the half, the Bruins found themselves in a deep hole, trailing by 12 points heading into the second half.
“I think our lack of execution in the first half really hurt us,” sophomore forward Luc Richard Mbah a Moute said.
Collison was able to bounce back from his shaky first half, and had a chance to send the Bruins into the third round of the tournament with less than 15 seconds remaining after Ubaka tied the score at 61-61, after having tied it less than 40 seconds earlier as well.
The sophomore was unable to convert on a deep 3-pointer with four seconds left on the clock, however, and the game was sent into overtime, where the Bears took control of the game.
Ubaka, who in the first meeting between the two teams in Berkeley was scoreless, scored eight points in the overtime period to tie a career-high of 29 points.
“Ayinde is a winner; in every game this year that has gone to overtime or has been decided down the stretch, he has put his fingerprints on it,” Cal coach Ben Braun said. “He is willing to take charge and he is willing to take big shots.”
UCLA’s inability to score in the first half put the team in a position where it was forced to come out with an increased amount of intensity to be able to claw itself back into the game, which in the end sucked all the energy from the Bruins before the start of the overtime.
Bruin coach Ben Howland said the subpar performance from the free-throw line was a result of the fatigue his players were dealing with after making a 20-4 run, including 13 straight UCLA points in a five-minute stretch, to open the second half.
Even during the run, however, the Bruins missed eight free throws after being fouled on several lay-in opportunities and drives to the bucket.
“If we make our free throws, we win the game tonight,” Afflalo said.
After playing an inside game to start the second half, the Bruins reverted back to their perimeter game, which was full of struggles as they shot just 8-25 from beyond the 3-point line.
“Going to the line and driving the lane was definitely benefiting us a lot during our run,” junior center Lorenzo Mata said.
The Bruin inside presence became limited as sophomore center Alfred Aboya fouled out with just over five minutes left in regulation.
“It’s definitely hard when one of us fouls out and the other two have to play more minutes,” Mata said. “Alfred is one of our more energetic players and losing him was tough down the stretch.”
Though the Bruins aren’t looking to make excuses, UCLA’s future remains in the hands of the selection committee and the remainder of the nation’s top teams as Selection Sunday approaches.
On the line for the Bruins going into Thursday’s game was an opportunity to advance to the next round of the conference tournament to play Oregon in hopes of eventually winning both the Pac-10 regular season and postseason championships, and perhaps clinching a No. 1 seed in the West Region of the NCAA Tournament.
After the loss to the Bears, however, UCLA may not be playing the majority of its tournament on the West Coast, as it had hoped to entering the tournament.
The Bruins hope to look past the tournament seeding and recover from two consecutive losses to the Pac-10’s seventh- and eighth-place teams before next week.
“We never thought we’d be out in the first round of our own Pac-10 Tournament,” Collison said.
“It’s something that we have to put behind us now and get ready for practice.”