Wildcats slash Bruin winning streak
M. hoops loses battle of three-point shot against Arizona
Saturday, 88-79
By Scott Yamaguchi
Daily Bruin Staff
TUCSON, Ariz. — With the University of Arizona’s leading scorer
and rebounder sitting on the bench because of academic problems,
the UCLA men’s basketball team was hoping to dominate the paint at
the McKale Center on Saturday and come away with another pair of
conference road victories.
After all, the Bruins were the Pac-10’s best rebounding team,
and freshman center Jelani McCoy, who leads the league in blocked
shots, turned in his best offensive performance of the year in
Thursday’s 87-73 victory over Arizona State. In Blair’s absence,
there didn’t seem to be anything in the way of UCLA’s inside
game.
What UCLA didn’t expect, however, was an outside shooting
performance unlike any it had seen before. And when the game was
over, the dust had finally settled and Arizona had become the first
team to shoot more than 50 percent on the Bruins, snapping UCLA’s
10-game winning streak, 88-79.
The Wildcats shot 51.7 percent from the field, but even more
impressive was their 65.0 clip from beyond the three-point
line.
"When they shoot 13-for-20 from the three point line, that’s
just too hard to beat," UCLA head coach Jim Harrick said. "It’s too
difficult to win that way, and they had a game that was
unbelievable."
Most impressive was sophomore guard Miles Simon, who finished
with 28 points and seven assists and made six of his nine
three-point attempts. After UCLA (12-4 overall, 5-1 Pac-10) had
scored six consecutive points for an early 6-2 lead, it was Simon –
normally a 35.7 percent three-point shooter and averaging 13.5
points per game – who nailed a trey from the left corner,
establishing the Wildcats’ perimeter game and starting them on a
10-0 scoring run.
Less than a minute and a half after Simon’s three-pointer,
Arizona forward Joe McLean capped the run with a trey of his own –
this one from the right side.
UCLA’s Toby Bailey and Charles O’Bannon kept the Bruins in the
game with a pair of three-pointers, but both were answered by
McLean and Simon, respectively, and when Simon hit a pair of free
throws with 11:00 left in the half, Arizona (13-3, 3-2) had its
biggest lead of the game at 25-14.
"We’ve been outstanding for two years defending the three-point
shot," Harrick said. "Today, we weren’t outstanding."
About the only thing the Bruins could do to stay with the
Wildcats was to hit some three-pointers of their own, and they did.
Kris Johnson cut the lead to eight with a trey from the left side
with 10:36 left in the half, and Bailey’s third three pointer
actually gave UCLA a 34-33 lead with 4:47 to go.
The Bruins maintained the one-point lead and had the ball with
45 seconds left, but an errant pass was picked off by Arizona’s Ben
Davis, who finished with 15 points and 14 rebounds. Davis missed
his breakaway dunk, but Simon was fouled by omm’A Givens in the
ensuing scramble for the loose ball, and his free throws gave the
Wildcats a 44-43 halftime lead.
UCLA pounced with seven straight points to start the second
half, including a three pointer from O’Bannon, but things began to
fall apart from there.
"We had a chance," Harrick said. "We had everything done that we
wanted to do, and then we just turned the ball over in the second
half in key, key situations."
More importantly, the Bruins’ offensive strategy seemed to
change. Instead of looking to Bailey, O’Bannon and Johnson – the
three of whom combined for 35 points in the first half – UCLA tried
to take advantage of Blair’s absence with a strong inside game.
And for the most part, it worked. Sophomore forward J.R.
Henderson, who had just two points in the first half, finished the
game with 18. But it came at the expense of Bailey, O’Bannon and
Johnson’s outside game, and Arizona’s continued success from the
perimeter – they made eight three-pointers in the second half –
made the ultimate difference.
Two three pointers by Simon and one by Michael Dickerson – all
in a row – brought the Wildcats to within 56-55, and a long three
pointer by Reggie Geary gave them the lead for good, 64-63, with
eight and a half minutes left.
"We kept saying to ourselves that they can’t shoot like this the
whole game, and they just kept shooting like that," said Bailey,
who had just three points in the second half and finished with
18.
Simon’s sixth three-pointer pushed the Wildcats’ lead to 75-69
with about six minutes left, and another trey by Dickerson put the
nail in UCLA’s coffin.
ANDREW SCHOLER/Daily Bruin
Charles O’Bannon (shown here against Stanford) hit two of UCLA’s
eight treys against Arizona Saturday, but the Bruins were no match
for the Wildcats.
ANDREW SCHOLER/Daily Bruin
Sophomore J.R. Henderson
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