SAN JOSE “”mdash; Josh Shipp said Kansas was the best team the Bruins had faced all year.
Darren Collison and Arron Afflalo agreed.
In response, all they did was hold the No. 1-seeded Jayhawks to a season-low 55 points and 41 percent field goal shooting in the game.
It was the type of defensive performance that the Bruins, who have held eight of their last 10 NCAA Tournament opponents to under 60 points, have become famous for this time of the year.
“Considering the talent, I would have to say (that is our best our defensive performance this season),” Shipp, a sophomore forward, said. “We knew, considering how athletic they were, we were going to have our best effort.”
In a game that most likely featured 8-10 future NBA players, it was the Bruins’ defense that put on the show Saturday night.
The Jayhawks committed 21 turnovers, and only had two players in double figures.
Junior Bruin guard Arron Afflalo had two layups off of Jayhawks turnovers, and the Bruins had 17 points off of turnovers as a team.
“We feed off our defense; we’ve been saying that all year,” Collison said. “Collectively, we won as a defensive team tonight.”
Coming into the game, coach Ben Howland said the Bruins’ emphasis would be to limit the Jayhawks’ athleticism and make the regional final a half-court game.
And after playing for a frenetic pace for the first six minutes, with the Bruins down 29- 23, that’s exactly what coach Howland did.
“We called a timeout, and just executed better on both sides of the floor,” Howland said. “We stopped doubling their guards on the outside, and I thought that really helped.”
As Howland dictated, the Bruins made a concerted effort to make Kansas earn their points on every possession after the first six minutes.
The Jayhawks only shot 36 percent in the second half, and the Jayhawks’ leading scorer, sophomore guard Brandon Rush, was held to only two points in the final 11 minutes of the game.
“Rush is an unbelievable player, and we held him to 18 points,” Howland said. “In the second half, we really tightened things up against him.”
With Rush in check, the Bruins were able to cause havoc for the Jayhawks’ two point guards, sophomore Mario Chalmers and freshman Sherron Collins.
Chalmers had a season-high seven turnovers, and the Bruins had 15 steals, including five by Darren Collison, and four each by sophomore forward Luc Richard Mbah a Moute and Shipp.
It seemed like the Bruins were in every passing lane.
“I think we really started to disrupt their rhythm in the second half,” Mbah a Moute said. “We knew, considering their size, we had to be really aggressive.”
All in all, with the Bruins having one of their best defensive performances of the season, there was one key moment that said it all on Saturday.
Sophomore center Alfred Aboya, often UCLA’s unsung hero, lay on his back after taking a charge with two minutes to go, with his hands raised in the air.
“We booked our ticket to Atlanta, and we did it through defense,” Aboya said.
COLLISON CRAMPS: Sophomore guard Darren Collison was cramping in his upper legs and calves toward the second half. Athletic trainer Carrie Rubertino and the Bruin coaching staff made a concerted effort to keep Collison hydrated in the second half.
POSTGAME CEREMONY: As the Bruins cut down the nets after the game, coach Ben
Howland was the last one to climb the ladder.
With his scissors in his hand, Howland led the Bruin fans still in attendance and the Bruin team in a rendition of the Bruin eight clap.
“I just wanted to thank all the Bruin family for being out here and supporting us,” Howland said. “But I also wanted to make sure I didn’t fall on the guards, and all you guys see me break my head.”
DRIBBLERS: Much of the UCLA football team was in the Bruins’ family section during Saturday’s game. With UCLA on spring break, most of the players from Northern California were able to take in the game. There were significantly more Bruin fans out of the 18,102 in attendance on Saturday than there were on Thursday night for the game against Pittsburgh.