UCLA senior point guard Darren Collison knew he couldn’t leave Washington State’s redshirt senior guard Taylor Rochestie open.
After a missed layup, Collison raced back to try to catch Rochestie with two minutes left, as the Bruins trailed 70-65. At that moment, Rochestie could have passed to teammate Caleb Forrest, who ran unguarded on the other side of the court. He could have slowed his dribble and tried to waste time.
Instead Rochestie stopped suddenly, leaped into the air, and flicked a perfect 3-point shot towards the hoop. Collison, still a few feet away, could only stare, incredulous, as the shot fell through the net and all but clinched a shocking, 82-81 victory over the Bruins.
“I was real surprised,” Collison said of Rochestie’s risky 3-point shot. “But he did what he had to do.
“He is the reason they won the game.”
Rochestie scored 16 points in the final seven minutes of the second half and finished with a career-high 33 points. He made all 10 of his free-throw tries, and also assisted four other baskets. The senior played every minute of the game and led the Cougars with amazing poise in those frantic closing minutes.
The brilliant performance gave Rochestie and the team’s three other seniors ““ Forrest, redshirt forward Daven Harmeling, and star center Aron Baynes ““ their first ever win at Pauley Pavilion.
“Today, to finally get over the hump, against a team like this, in an arena like this, it meant a lot to me,” Rochestie said afterward. “It meant a lot to the team. It meant a lot to the seniors.”
UCLA players and coach Ben Howland lauded Rochestie, but they also harped on their own poor defensive play. The Bruins allowed the Cougars to shoot 68 percent in the first half and 58 percent for the entire game.
Washington State finished with the most points it had scored in a game this season. And the total is the largest the Bruins have allowed at home since Feb. 12, 2005, when they lost to Arizona 83-73 during Howland’s second season with the team.
“The way we’ve been successful here the past three or four years is by playing good defense,” Howland said. “And our defense really, really was not good today.”
“We made a lot of mistakes, and it starts with me,” Collison said.
In the first half, the Bruins struggled to defend Washington State freshman guard Klay Thompson. Howland said the Bruins failed to trail Thompson on screens, and as a result, Thompson found several open looks. He finished with 15 points in the first half, but did not score in the second, once the Bruins locked down.
In the second half, it was all Rochestie. In the final stretch, he knocked down a big 3-pointer over Collison, and minutes later rebounded his own missed shot to tip in another basket.
“He is capable of this,” Howland said. “This is a fifth-year senior from Santa Barbara High School that nobody wanted. He got a scholarship late to Tulane, went down there and then the storm hit.
“It’s a great story. I have a lot of respect for that kid, he’s a great competitor. He willed them today, especially in the second half. He’s a great player and I will be voting for him for all-league.”
Collison ““ the man who tried to guard Rochestie ““ definitely agreed.
“He shouldn’t be underrated after the performance he put out there today,” Collison said.
LEE SHINES: Howland said the most encouraging part of Saturday’s loss was freshman guard Malcolm Lee’s performance.
Lee replaced freshman guard Jrue Holiday midway through the first half. Holiday had struggled against Washington State’s Klay Thompson, but Lee did a much better job.
Lee limited Thompson to two points in the final minutes of the first half and zero points in the second half.
“That is a bright spot out of today, that Malcolm Lee played very well,” Howland said. “He played under control offensively and within himself, and did a great job defensively. We’re going to have to look to play him more ““ he’s our best defensive wing right now.
“And we need defense. Defense is going to be a priority here.”
SIDNEY IS A TROJAN: Fairfax High center Renardo Sidney, considered one of the best high school basketball players in the nation, announced Sunday in a press conference that he would attend USC.
Reports surfaced earlier last week that Sidney would choose the Bruins. And Sidney had attended two UCLA home games earlier this season. But according to a Feb. 20 report in the Los Angeles Times, UCLA withdrew its interest in Sidney.