For a team that’s so fun and explosive, No. 3 UCLA is becoming awfully predictable.
Jump out to quick double-digit leads behind sweet shooting at a breakneck pace and cruise into halftime sitting high and comfortable. There must be something in the snack at halftime because it’s as good of a bet as anything that the Bruins come out a little flat, letting the other team crawl back into the game.
Sometimes UCLA will wake up halfway through the second half to push the game out of reach, and sometimes it’ll let the opponent hang around.
Against Arizona State (9-10, 2-4 Pac-12), UCLA (19-1, 6-1) kicked it into another gear after the comeback attempt in a 102-80 win. The Bruins led by as much as 25 points in the first half before the Sun Devils cut it to just seven with 12 minutes left in the game.
Then UCLA started going to freshman forward T.J. Leaf, who scored 12 points in the second half. The explosive, high-flying Bruins were back.
Coach Steve Alford said that he’s not concerned about the little lulls that seem to now happen every game.
“I just think you’re not going to win games by 40 points in this league,” he said. “It’s just not going to happen. We’re up 25 at one time and we win by 22, and we’ll take that. We didn’t obviously play well during that stretch but you got to give it to your opponents – they made shots during that stretch and drew fouls during that stretch. I think that’s going to happen, I’m just really really pleased with another double-digit win.”
[Gallery: UCLA dominates ASU 102-80]
Senior guard Isaac Hamilton lit up the Sun Devils for 33 points, hitting nine 3-pointers that tied the single-game school record. He shot 7-for-9 from outside in the first half before finishing the game hitting 64.3 percent of his long bombs.
No one seemed to know during the game that he was so close to the school record.
“No, I don’t even think he knew,” said freshman guard Lonzo Ball. “We just all knew he was hot.”
Leaf added in 19 points, nine rebounds and six assists while Ball commanded the offense to the tune of 10 points and 12 assists. Ball ended with seven rebounds, leaving him three short of a triple-double.
Arizona State tried running with UCLA but just couldn’t keep up. The Sun Devils hit 41 percent of their shots while the Bruins shot 60.3 percent from the field.
“I love when teams try and run with us ’cause I think we’re the best transition team in the country and the best running team in the country,” Leaf said. “So when teams try to run with us, it’s almost like a challenge. They’re challenging us to see if they can do it better, and we take that personal.”
The only thing more predictable than a UCLA lull in the second half might be the result when teams try to outshoot and outscore the Bruins.
Arizona State – like everybody else – found out that there are just too many weapons on this UCLA team.