Midway through the first half, Lonzo Ball limped off the floor.
He landed awkwardly on senior guard Isaac Hamilton’s foot jumping to defend a deep 3, and headed to the locker room to retape his ankle.
The freshman guard has been the catalyst for the men’s basketball team all year, and the Pac-12s and NCAAs are only weeks away.
He reentered the game before the second half ended, appearing to play fine.
In his absence, freshmen forward T.J. Leaf and forward/center Ike Anigbogu stepped up, scoring 24 of the team’s first-half points as the Bruins (24-3, 11-3 Pac-12) took a slight 45-36 lead over the Arizona State Sun Devils (13-15, 6-9) into halftime.
ASU kept the game close, hitting 41.2 percent of its shots from beyond the arc and forcing eight UCLA turnovers.
But the Sun Devils couldn’t capitalize on those miscues, coming up with only three points off the Bruins’ mistakes.
UCLA, on the other hand, had 12 points off ASU’s seven turnovers and 14 points off the Bruins’ 25 total rebounds.
Junior center Thomas Welsh led the way with seven boards while Leaf and Anigbogu added three each.
Leaf also hit big shots each time the Sun Devils tried to pull away, going 8-of-10 from the floor and chipping in three boards as the Bruins went on a 13-3 run to retake the lead with six minutes left in the half.
ASU cut into the lead with its own 7-2 run to end the half.
But UCLA will take that nine-point halftime lead, and more importantly, it’ll take having Ball back on the court.