UCLA captures first win in NCAA tournament in three seasons

SAN DIEGO—UCLA hung on in the second round of the 2011 NCAA tournament, outlasting No. 10 seed Michigan State 78-76 to earn a weekend stay in Tampa, Fla.

A year later, in 2012, the Bruins practiced all season in the Los Angeles Memorial Sports Arena for the Big Dance, only to stumble before their arrival.

Last year, UCLA was at least invited but barely participated, standing in the corner and toeing the dance floor as Minnesota stole the second-round spotlight.

The Bruins’ Friday-night tournament opener against the Golden Hurricane of Tulsa wasn’t always pretty, but it was enough to shake off two years’ worth of tournament shortcomings. No. 4 seed UCLA pulled away late to earn a 76-59 victory over Tulsa, surviving and advancing to a Sunday matchup at Viejas Arena.

“I think, obviously, we watched all the games, all the upsets today and watched some high seeds go down,” said redshirt senior forward David Wear. “It feels good to get that first win under our belt, play in this environment, get the jitters out of the way and just play in front of the crowd and all the lights of the NCAA tournament.”

With just over four minutes to play, junior guard Norman Powell stole a Tulsa inbound pass, sprinted up the baseline and finished at the rim. A foul shot later, UCLA led 64-54, closing the door on its first NCAA tournament victory in three seasons.

“I thought it was a great energy boost for our team, being able to make that play,” Powell said. “Coach (Steve Alford) emphasized getting out-of-bounds stops and that’s what we did and I was able to just make a good play and get the and one.”

Listlessly wading through an 83-63 loss to Minnesota in last year’s tournament, the Bruins were more engaged right out of the gate against the No. 13 seed Golden Hurricane (21-13). A 3-pointer from Powell gave UCLA (27-8) a 23-17 lead with 7:04 to play in the first half, and a late Golden Hurricane push was thwarted by a 5-0 run to close a half that ended with a 35-30 UCLA advantage.

“I thought Tulsa did a great job in the first half in particular, and we got out of rhythm, and we didn’t make shots we normally had been making, but for 40 minutes our defense was really consistent,” Alford said.

The Bruins shot 54.8 percent in the second half but struggled to pull away, turning the ball over five times and failing to strike after hard-earned defensive stops. Two free throws from Tulsa’s D’Andre Wright cut their lead to just five.

UCLA admittedly battled some nerves throughout the contest, but turned up the intensity down the stretch rather than continuing a tournament trend of turning away.

For past Bruin squads – and for plenty of favored teams during the NCAA tournament’s second round this year – that first win proved elusive. Now that single game is firmly in UCLA’s grasp. It similarly took just a single domino – a convincing win over Oregon to open up the Pac-12 tournament – to spark an out-of-nowhere conference championship run.

“Everyone was pretty jacked,” Wear said of Friday’s game. “I think we’re going to be a little more calm now, exactly how we were in the Pac-12 tournament. I think we were really amped up for the first game, got that first one under our belt, then just started flowing and playing basketball.”

UCLA hopes the nerves will settle against budding Cinderella Stephen F. Austin, the South region’s No. 12 seed, which knocked off No. 5 seed VCU in overtime Friday. Tipoff is set for 4:10 p.m. on Sunday.