As Reeves Nelson slammed the ball through the hoop, there wasn’t a single eye in the Staples Center crowd not fixed on his hulking frame. The dunk cemented the most important win of the UCLA men’s basketball team’s season and reminded the entire conference to watch the game when this young star is playing.
Nelson’s presence was the unmistakable difference that allowed UCLA (13-17) to beat Arizona (16-14) for the first time in three tries this season, a 75-69 victory in the first round of the Pac-10 Tournament on Thursday afternoon.
“When I get the ball I try to make the other team pay attention to me,” Nelson said minutes after leading his team with 19 points and 11 rebounds.
The freshman forward was making his first return from a four-game absence because of a string of eye injuries that forced him to wear protective goggles in the game. His vision was plenty good enough on Thursday though.
“I think teams are scared of him a little bit just because of how hard he plays,” senior guard Michael Roll said. “That’s what we need.”
UCLA led nearly the entire game, up by as much as nine points early in the second half, but Arizona never let them pull too far away. The Bruins blew a 14-point lead in Tucson exactly one week before against these same Wildcats, the memory of which was sure to keep UCLA fans on edge.
“Last week, we didn’t really huddle, didn’t say anything; we were all over the place,” senior forward Nikola Dragovic said. “Today, we huddled and said, “˜Let’s get a stop right now.'”
Many of those stops came from the perimeter, where Arizona hit only 4-of-19 from long range. One of the keys to the Bruins’ consecutive losses to the Wildcats this season was Kyle Fogg, who recorded back-to-back career highs against UCLA in those contests. On Thursday, he made just one 3-point attempt.
“He missed a couple open shots that he hasn’t missed against us,” coach Ben Howland said.
With the 2010 season on the line, two Bruin careers were as well. Dragovic and Roll certainly played like they knew that, scoring 18 points apiece.
“Our two senior starters have to play well for us to win, and they both delivered for us today,” Howland said.
Arizona senior Nic Wise led his team with 16 points and kept UCLA’s guards on their toes with his quick drives, but the Bruins didn’t let it affect them on the other side of the court.
“I feel like whatever they threw at us, we answered it right back,” Roll said.
The Bruins were without freshman forward Tyler Honeycutt for the final eight minutes of play after he fouled out. The team’s leading rebounder still finished the game with six points and eight rebounds.
Honeycutt, who joined Nelson on the Pac-10 All-Freshman team announced earlier this week, appeared a bit frustrated when coming out of the game, but he vowed to keep out of foul trouble in the next game.
“I’m going to try and keep my hands in my pockets a little bit so I can stay out there,” Honeycutt said.
It might not make up for all the losses. It might not save the season from its myriad of disappointments. But UCLA definitely showed it hasn’t given up.
“I’m just really not ready to go home,” Roll said.
UCLA to face California in Pac-10 semifinals: Fifth-seeded UCLA will take on the tournament’s top seed California at 6 p.m. on Friday in the semifinals of the Pac-10 Tournament. The Bruins beat the Golden Bears in Berkeley in early January on a jumper by Roll with time running out on the clock. But Cal responded with a 14-point victory at Pauley Pavilion a month later.
While the rest of the teams are fighting for the automatic NCAA Tournament bid awarded to this weekend’s winner, the Bears are the only team in the conference that appears to be guaranteed a spot already. Helping his team to its first Pac-10 title in 50 years, Cal senior guard Jerome Randle was awarded the conference’s Player of the Year honors last week.