UCLA won another close game, and this time no one should be crediting the refs.
UCLA, particularly its guards, struggled with foul trouble much of the game against Western Kentucky. Junior Darren Collison sat for long stretches of the game and fouled out with 5:39 left to play. Junior Josh Shipp and Sophomore Russell Westbrook both played much of second half with four fouls.
After the game, the Bruins stopped short of blaming the officials and credited the Hilltoppers’ guards for working for calls.
“We got in the wrong position at the wrong time,” Westbrook said. “They were driving us.”
UCLA’s foul trouble helped to key Western Kentucky’s second half comeback, forcing Shipp and Westbrook to play more conservatively on defense.
“I didn’t want to extend the pressure too far just to get a silly foul,” Westbrook said.
Additionally, not having Collison on the floor made it more difficult to combat the Hilltoppers’ full-court press.
“I thought Russell did a good job of handling the press at the end,” Collison said. “The refs, they just made their calls. It is what it is. I got in foul trouble, and my teammates got it done in the second half.”
With Collison on the bench and Western Kentucky continuing to press, the Bruins had to resort to more creative methods to move the ball up-court, and at times even freshman center Kevin Love helped bring the ball up.
“I thought at the end we showed poise, even with Darren fouling out and with two of our starters with four fouls,” coach Ben Howland said. “We did make some silly fouls that we would like to avoid in the future.”
MBAH A MOUTE UPDATE: Junior forward Luc Richard Mbah a Moute continued to work his way back from the sprained left ankle he sustained two weeks ago against USC in the Pac-10 tournament semifinals.
Mbah a Moute had a much better statistical game against Western Kentucky than he did against Texas A&M, finishing with seven points, seven rebounds and four assists. But he also had four turnovers, including two on traveling calls.
After the game Mbah a Moute was icing his ankle but said it was mostly a precautionary measure. He said that the ankle felt fine, but that he wasn’t sure it if would swell up overnight.
X UP NEXT: UCLA will go on to play Xavier in the regional final on Saturday. Game time is set for 3:40 p.m. The Musketeers defeated West Virginia 79-75 in overtime earlier in the day Thursday.
Howland said that, while he was coach at Pittsburgh, he had tried to recruit Xavier guard Drew Lavender.
“He visited Pitt when I was head coach there,” Howland said. “I know how good he is.
“(The Musketeers are) very, very sound; they play great man-to-man defense. We’ve got our hands full. We understand that.”
DRIBBLERS: The predominantly pro-UCLA crowd gave James Keefe a standing ovation when he went to the bench with under 30 seconds to play in the first half. At the time Keefe had seven points, five rebounds and three blocks “¦ Western Kentucky forward Boris Siakam fouled out with 1:25 to play. The crowd chanted “Left, right, left, right” as Siakam walked to the bench, but paused to allow Mbah a Moute to shoot the first of two free throws. It then yelled for Siakam to “sit down!” “¦ After the game, Howland said that he couldn’t remember another time when one of his teams had given up 58 points in a half.