No. 11 Bruin basketball outperforms No. 1 Wildcats on both sides of court

John Calipari looked on in disbelief.

UCLA point guard Lonzo Ball had just snatched the ball away from Kentucky’s Malik Monk before driving to the basket for an easy dunk.

Seconds later, the freshman nailed a 3-pointer off of freshman forward TJ Leaf’s assist to push the Bruins’ lead back up to nine with a little under five minutes to play.

“We had our chance down seven, turnover, dunk, give up a 3, all within 13 seconds,” Kentucky coach Calipari said. “They just played to their strengths. It’s all discipline.”

Those 13 seconds highlighted the key to No. 11 UCLA’s second straight upset of No. 1 Kentucky – filling up the stat sheet with assists and efficient shooting while putting together key defensive stops to fuel its transition game.

The Bruins took 14 fewer shots than the Wildcats – 80 to 66 – but finished with a better field goal percentage of 53 percent to 41.3 percent.

Players were able to get the open jumper or shot in the paint with their ball movement, passing the ball around the perimeter before working it inside to throw off defenders.

Not only did six different players score in double figures, but five of them also had one or more assists.

“We came in a high-scoring team that shared the ball and put six guys in double figures,” said coach Steve Alford. “We probably had too many turnovers tonight. But that’s a credit to Kentucky’s defense. I think our guys will learn from that. We had some silly turnovers that hurt us as well.”

UCLA finished with 18 assists on 35 baskets but also had 18 turnovers against a disruptive Kentucky defense powered by long and big defenders.

Those turnovers, including five from Ball in the first half, hurt the team and gave the Wildcats extra possessions to pad their lead.

But each time Kentucky threatened to open up a wider margin, a timely 3-pointer would stop the momentum or defensive stop would halt their momentum.

The Bruins finished 10-of-23 from behind the arc, with five different players hitting wide-open long-range shot after the Wildcats blew their defensive assignments.

“I’m guessing six of them we left a shooter,” Calipari said. “All we talked about for two days is the one way they’re going to beat us is bouncing it, they’re not beating us shooting standing 3s.”

The Bruins outshot the Wildcats’ from 3-point range and then, according to senior guard Isaac Hamilton, focused on taking away the transition game to force the home team into difficult jumpers and layups.

Every Kentucky shot close to the basket was contested and UCLA finished with six blocks and 30 defensive rebounds behind rim protectors Leaf, freshman forward/center Ike Anigbogu and junior center Thomas Welsh.

Although Welsh and Anigbogu fouled out, coach Steve Alford was pleased with his team’s overall execution.

“We came in here with a certain identity and we left here with the same identity – we just did it against the No. 1 team in the county,” Alford said.

Kentucky, a team grounded in its defense, couldn’t stick to the game plan.

UCLA, a team rooted in its blend of offense and defense, did. And it worked.