SAN JOSE “”mdash; All week long, the UCLA players heard tales of a gargantuan man who had the game to match his size.
Then the Bruins saw him in person and he was even bigger than they thought he was.
“He’s huge,” sophomore forward Alfred Aboya said of senior center Aaron Gray after the game. “That’s a huge human being right there.”
But in Thursday’s game, it simply didn’t matter how big Gray was. And it didn’t matter who took the responsibility of trying to stop him. The UCLA big men were simply better.
Gray finished the game with 10 points and six rebounds in 32 minutes, numbers well below the 14 points and 10 rebounds he averaged during the season.
“He’s the biggest man I’ve played against this season,” junior center Lorenzo Mata said. “We all did a good job of helping out on him. (Freshman forward James Keefe) did an exceptionally good job.”
UCLA’s defense against Gray was particularly effective in the first half despite the fact that the Bruin big men were plagued by foul trouble. Sophomore forward Luc Richard Mbah a Moute and Mata picked up two early fouls and were limited to four and eight minutes, respectively, in the first half.
As a result, much of the burden fell on sophomore center Ryan Wright and Keefe to stop Gray inside. Wright and Keefe played a combined 13 minutes in the first half (neither played in the second half), and the Bruins didn’t miss a beat on defense with them in the game.
With UCLA mixing up single and double coverage on Gray and playing the 7-foot, 270-pound center with physicality, he continued to struggle no matter who matched up with him.
“We’re very good at defending the post,” Keefe said. “We have plenty of guys that can get there and cause havoc and that’s what we did tonight.”
One of the ways in which UCLA’s big men made up for the size differential was with their speed.
Mbah a Moute was able to get in the passing lane and deflect passes to Gray on multiple occasions, and the Bruins weren’t shy about taking the ball right at Gray on offense.
“We took advantage of him because he was slow,” said Aboya, who was also instrumental in stopping Gray.
“As soon as he got the ball we were on him. We didn’t give him any space to see his teammates and pass the ball.”
In the second half, it was Mata dominating the boards and making the big plays instead of Gray. Mata had four points and eight rebounds in the second half alone. He finished the game with eight points and nine rebounds. On one play, Mata displayed an unprecedented dribble-drive to the basket from the wing, scoring easily on just a couple of dribbles; that play was something that Mata has rarely, if ever, done in his entire Bruin career.
“I thought Lorenzo played one of his best games of the year,” UCLA coach Ben Howland said.
KANSAS NEXT: Prior to UCLA’s win over Pittsburgh, No. 1 seed Kansas got an enormous scare from No. 4 seed Southern Illinois.
The Salukis’ devastating defense allowed them to keep pace with the Jayhawks in the first half despite their inability to hit a shot. Southern Illinois shot 27.6 percent (8-for-29) in the first half and still only trailed Kansas, who shot 61.9 percent, by three points because Southern Illinois had 10 offensive rebounds and forced 10 Kansas turnovers.
Star Saluki guard Jamaal Tatum, the Missouri Valley Conference Player of the Year, was held to just two points on 1-for-8 shooting and was 0-for-5 from 3-point range in the first half. But in the second half, Tatum and the Salukis came out of the gates with a vengeance. Tatum scored four points immediately, and Southern Illinois went on a 9-0 run to open up the second half.
But behind the clutch play of Kansas sophomore forward Brandon Rush, who made all four of his shots in the second half, the Jayhawks took the lead right back and finished the game on top.
Rush made a tough lay-up off a drive with 25 seconds to play and Tatum missed a 3-pointer on the other end as the Salukis fell just short.
“Somebody had to step up and make a big play,” Rush said. “I’m glad I did it for a little bit.”
The Jayhawks will face the Bruins on Saturday at 4:10 p.m. for a trip to the Final Four in what is being hyped to be one of the most exciting games of the tournament.
“I’ve seen them score 90 in some games and score 50 in others,” Afflalo said. “They can play many styles. They’re all about winning.”