Last week in a hallway tucked within the McKale Center in Tucson following a dismaying 84-72 defeat to Arizona, UCLA men’s basketball coach Ben Howland described the upcoming homestand as a “gut-check week.”
With the Bruins riding a two-game losing streak and the Washington schools coming to Los Angeles, starting with the Washington Huskies in first place of the Pac-10, it proved to be the most important week of the season for UCLA.
Consider the first part of a critical week successful. The No. 20 Bruins (20-6, 9-4) found their momentum again with an 85-76 victory over the first place No. 22 Huskies (19-7, 10-4) Thursday night at Pauley Pavilion.
Coming into the game in a tie for third place in the conference with California, the Bruins moved into a three-way tie for second place in the Pac-10, half a game behind the Huskies.
“I was really proud of our team,” Howland said. “We prepared for three days for this and put a lot of energy into preparing for it. A lot of physicalness and it paid off for our guys.”
Senior guard Josh Shipp scored a team-high 20 points in a game in which every Bruin starter scored in double figures ““ Darren Collison (17), Nikola Dragovic (15), Alfred Aboya (13), and Jrue Holiday (10).
Especially notable were Aboya’s points, as the senior center started after battling flu-like symptoms during the week. Following the game, Howland said that the training staff attempted to administer an IV to Aboya at halftime, yet were unable to find a vein due to dehydration. Aboya would return.
For Shipp, the Bruins’ first win against a ranked opponent after failing in three tries was a much needed confidence boost.
“We needed this big win; we knew how important this game was,” Shipp said. “They’re in first place. They’re where we want to be. For us it was definitely a momentum booster, a confidence booster, and we’re happy we were able to get this win.”
After a low-scoring first half in which each team shot a shooting percentage in the high 30s on the way to a 34-27 advantage for UCLA, both the Bruins and the Huskies found their shooting touch in the second half. UCLA shot 62.1 percent while Washington shot 61.8 percent.
After a Dragovic layup put the Bruins up by eight with 13:49 left in the game, the Huskies responded with a 10-2 run to tie the game at 55-55 with 11:25 left, forcing a Bruin timeout.
Emerging from the timeout, seemingly determined not to experience another prolonged scoring drought similar to earlier this season, the Bruins went on a 10-3 run. The run gave the Bruins a 65-58 lead, forced a Washington timeout and provided enough of a cushion for the remainder of the game.
“We knew they were going to have runs, but luckily enough for us we were able to slow those runs down and go on runs of our own,” Shipp said.
Following a week of doubts about the Bruins coming off two losses in Arizona, Collison said Thursday was special.
“It definitely feels good, especially beating a good team against Washington,” Collison said. “It doesn’t matter where we’re playing at, we want to make sure we send a message across by just getting this win against them.”