SEATTLE ““ It was the culmination of a weekend-long party for the purple-clad masses gathered at Hec Edmundson Pavilion on Saturday night. For the hometown crowd, the final result would be just a fitting end to their team’s farewell celebration, a decked-out gala featured for prime time national television.
But for the small handful of blue-and-gold soldiers, there was nary a single face not filled with frustration and dejection, hardened by the pain of a losing battle, one as bad as any the team’s suffered in a long time.
The UCLA’s men’s basketball team (12-14, 7-7 Pac-10) entered its second matchup with defending conference champion Washington (18-9, 8-7) prepared for another close battle. Instead, they got a 97-68 beat down.
“That was embarrassing,” freshman center Reeves Nelson said. “We didn’t really put up much of a fight.”
The loss was UCLA’s worst under seventh-year coach Ben Howland, topping a 27-point defeat to Portland earlier this season. It was also the biggest losing margin ever against Pac-10 foe Washington.
To make matters worse, it was all broadcast as part of ESPN’s game of the week.
“It’s College GameDay; we want to play well,” senior guard Michael Roll said. “We did the complete opposite.”
Redshirt junior guard Mustafa Abdul-Hamid’s buzzer-beating shot that propelled the Bruins to a one-point win over the Huskies back in January seemed a long-forgotten memory, as UCLA couldn’t find any shooting rhythm.
The same could not be said for Washington.
“It looks like they were shooting all night last night,” Roll said. “It seemed like everything went in.”
The Huskies shot a whopping 67.9 percent from the field in the first half, including five 3-pointers to turn the momentum permanently in their favor. Meanwhile, the Bruins were 1-for-8 from beyond the arc in the opening period.
UCLA plays its final set of home games this coming week against the Oregon schools as it continues to battle for seeding in the all-important Pac-10 tournament.
“Obviously this is going to hurt for awhile,” Howland said. “But we’ve got to come back on Monday with good concentration and get ready for our next game.”