TUCSON, Ariz. ””mdash; When Arizona point guard Jerryd Bayless’s off-balance 3-point shot barely nicked the front end of the rim as the final seconds ticked off the clock, UCLA center Kevin Love and the No. 4 Bruins could finally breathe a sigh of relief.
“As soon as the game ended, we got that rebound, we just looked up in the sky and said, “˜Thank you’,” Love said.
The Bruins (26-3, 14-2 Pac-10) almost let the game slip out of their grasp in the final, frantic minute of the game, but the defense of forward Luc Richard Mbah a Moute forced Bayless to take a bad shot, ensuring the Bruins’ 68-66 victory over the Wildcats (17-12, 7-9) at the McKale Center Sunday in front of 14,624 spectators.
The victory over Arizona is the Bruins’ seventh consecutive win over the Wildcats, and with it UCLA maintains a one-game lead over Stanford in the Pac-10 conference race.
“Obviously a huge win for us to win here,” coach Ben Howland said. “This is a very good team we beat today, and I’m just really proud of how we hung in there at the end.”
In order to escape with the win, the Bruins had to do exactly that: hang on.
With 25 seconds left and UCLA clinging to a two-point lead, guard Darren Collison got an offensive rebound off his own missed shot, dribbled around, passed it to forward Josh Shipp, who then proceeded (much to the chagrin of Howland) to pass the ball to guard Russell Westbrook. By the time Arizona forward Chase Budinger fouled Westbrook to send him to the line, there were just 14 seconds left. Westbrook failed to make the game a two-possession contest, making one of two shots for a 68-65 lead.
“I want Josh getting fouled always at the end of close-out games,” Howland said. “He and Darren are our best two foul shooters. Russell made one of the two but it became a one-possession game.”
After the made free throw, Bayless took in the in-bounds pass, dribbled the length of the court, and drew a foul on Love with seven seconds to go.
The near crisis for the Bruins came when, after Bayless made the first shot, he missed the second, and Love and Westbrook both went for the rebound, knocking the ball out of bounds with 5.7 seconds on the clock.
“We both tried to grab it,” Love said. “We should have called it out, and that’s just one of those things where the break doesn’t go our way.”
Bayless received the in-bounds pass, and because of the aggressive on-ball defensive play of Mbah a Moute, put up an ill-advised shot that missed, sealing the game for the Bruins.
“(I wanted to) just make him drive, make him take a tough shot,” Mbah a Moute said. “I didn’t want him to take a three, so that was the main thing. Just make him drive.”
Crucial for the Bruins down the stretch was the play of Love, who finished with 24 points and 15 rebounds for his 18th double-double of the season.
After leading by as many as 11 points twice in the first half, the Bruins fell behind 47-43 in the second half. That’s when Love took over.
The Bruins made a conscious effort to get the ball inside to Love, who either scored when he received the ball or drew fouls, scoring seven consecutive points for the Bruins at one point. The last came on a converted 3-point play to stretch the Bruin lead to 65-61 with 3:19 remaining.
“He’s so versatile,” Collison said. “You try and do the pick and pop, you got close out on the 3-pointer. If they double, he can pass the ball so well to get guys open shots like he did. And then if he’s one-on-one, he’s simply going to take you or get fouled.
“I think they were so worried about us on the perimeter that Kevin was getting some easy looks inside. You have to play us straight up. You just can’t focus one player.”
The win sets the stakes for Thursday’s showdown with Stanford up that much higher, as the game will be for the Pac-10 title.
“We’ll be ready for it,” Shipp said. “It’s that special game. It’s for the conference title so we will definitely be ready.”