Shaquille O’Neal, Baron Davis and Jerry West sat courtside at Pauley Pavilion Thursday night, but even their combined star power couldn’t outshine the UCLA players on the court.
The NBA greats watched as the Bruins pieced together big play after big play en route to upsetting the No. 1 Kentucky Wildcats 87-77. Of all the show-stopping highlights, there was one that will remain on repeat across the country tonight.
With just under 10 minutes remaining, freshman Prince Ali caught the ball outside the arc. Without a second thought, the guard drove right down the middle of the key, as he had time and again at practice. Ali elevated for a dunk – unfazed by the presence of 6-foot-8, 230-pound Wildcat Alex Poythress waiting in the paint. As his hand found the rim, the whistle blew, announcing the 3-point play.
“Prince Ali goes down the lane and dunks on somebody and I’m trying to look at Prince and in the background I see Baron Davis just going absolutely nuts,” said junior guard Bryce Alford. “There’s not too many places you can have people doing that, that are that caliber of players that are back and watching us play.”
READ MORE: Bruin Sports columnist Matt Cummings on the Ali dunk.
Alford was also responsible for a handful of highlight-reel-worthy moments Thursday as he contributed 15 points to UCLA’s 10-point win.
The junior’s 3-pointer four minutes into the matchup put the Bruins up by seven, a lead they wouldn’t relinquish for the next 36 minutes. His catch-and-shoot trey off a baseline screen made it 17-12 in UCLA’s favor just over 11 minutes in. But it was Alford’s wild, out-of-bounds save into the arms of sophomore center Thomas Welsh, who then gave it back to Alford for an off-balance runner, that had the crowd on its feet.
There was more.
Preceding his teammates big plays, junior guard Isaac Hamilton inbounded to himself off Kentucky guard Tyler Ulis’s backside, scoring a reverse layup to make it 26-21 with six minutes to go in the first half.
Freshman guard Aaron Holiday managed to outrebound Kentucky’s bigs by grabbing eight boards to go with his 10 points, three of which came on a second-half trey that exasperated Wildcat coach John Calipari.
“I just tried to come out and bring energy so that basically what happened last year won’t happen again,” Holiday said. “My first game I didn’t do too well so after that I just tried to come out and prove myself.”
READ MORE: Bruin Sports columnist Tanner Walters on what this means for UCLA basketball.
UCLA proved itself Thursday, finally finding redemption after sacrificing a 83-44 loss to Kentucky last season.
“87-77,” Bryce Alford said. “I would say we kept it pretty competitive.”
I’m an ignorant Bruins fan and I want to apologize to Coach Alford for criticizing him unfairly since he was hired. Most of the time, one game doesn’t change anything, but the show of teamwork and coaching last night to beat the Kentucky one-and-done machine was an extraordinary achievement. Not just because it was a victory against a #1 team that destroyed last year’s Bruins — but because of the way Coach Alford, his staff, and the players combined their talents into a celebration of full-team basketball. It doesn’t matter what happens the rest of the year — this was basketball done right. I’m happy for the players and coaches, and look forward to seeing every game I can. (And again, sorry Coach — I’ll cheer extra loud for the next few years to make it up to you and the players!)