TEMPE, Ariz. “”mdash; Junior Michael Fey was tired after the
game. It was etched on his face, and for good reason.
Not only did he just spend 26 minutes defending perhaps the best
post player in the country, but he also had to try and keep up with
a game played at breakneck speed.
Facing the daunting prospects of both defending a National
Player of the Year candidate and defeating a team that hadn’t
yet dropped a home game all season, Fey and the Bruins accomplished
both in defeating Arizona State 86-82 last night on the road.
Sun Devil junior Ike Diogu, who came into Thursday’s
contest leading the Pac-10 in both scoring and rebounding, was held
mostly in check due to constant and aggressive double teams,
scoring 15 points ““ eight below his season average ““
while grabbing nine rebounds. Defensively the Bruins swarmed the
All-American forward, while on offense they executed in transition
time and time again, running the fast break whenever possible.
“This is a huge win for us,” said UCLA coach Ben
Howland, who has now seen his team win four consecutive conference
games. “Our doubling of Ike Diogu was critical. The only way
you can give yourself a chance is double teaming him, and he still
gets 15 and 9 tonight.”
Most importantly, the victory puts UCLA in great position in the
conference standings. With one game already in the bank on this
road swing, the Bruins will not feel as much pressure Saturday
against No. 17 Arizona.
As they have tended to do in recent games, the Bruins started
out slowly in the first half. Down 32-22 with just over six minutes
remaining, UCLA went on a 10-0 run to get itself back in the game,
capped off by a three-pointer by freshman Josh Shipp. Perfectly
convinced that the shot was good, senior Dijon Thompson raised his
fist in the air just a moment after Shipp released the ball, and as
the shot sailed through the net the frustrated Sun Devils were
forced to call timeout.
The Bruins jumped all over the Sun Devils immediately to start
the second half, opening on an 8-0 run and establishing a firm lead
they would never relinquish. Once again running out on nearly every
possession, UCLA executed its transition offense to perfection.
“Even if they made a shot we did a good job of getting the
ball out quickly and attacking them,” said freshman Jordan
Farmar, who led UCLA with 20 points.
Arizona State would eventually challenge the Bruins, drawing to
within 71-69 off a tough basket by Diogu with four minutes
remaining, but Shipp leaked out unguarded on the ensuing possession
and Farmar hit him with a long pass over the top of the defense,
leading to a thunderous dunk in transition.
Sun Devil coach Rob Evans was disappointed with his team’s
transition defense, or lack thereof.
“We didn’t do a good job getting back,” he
said. “It was something we had worked on all week. We knew
they were going to come out like that.”
Down six with under a minute to go, the Sun Devils began fouling
intentionally, and the Bruins sealed the victory at the free-throw
line. Freshman Arron Afflalo, who finished the night with 17
points, calmly sank two free throws to put the game out of reach,
and for the game UCLA shot 18-for-21 at the charity stripe.
With their fourth straight victory, the Bruins are now looking
forward to what may be their biggest test of the season thus far: a
matchup against the talented Wildcats on the road. The McKale
Center has been a house of horrors for UCLA in recent years, but at
least one Bruin is taking Thursday’s victory as a sign of
good things to come.
“This gives us some momentum going into Arizona, which we
need to win really badly,” Thompson said. “At least I
do, I want to win there before I leave.”