SAN ANTONIO “”mdash; This was the third year, the one that was supposed to be different.
Gone were the Florida Gators and their dominant front line. Here were the Bruins, with two previous years of Final Four experience to draw on, and freshman Kevin Love, arguably the best post player in the country.
Surely this year had to be different.
And yet there was Memphis’ Joey Dorsey, swatting away Russell Westbrook’s layup with 3:44 left to play. And there was Derrick Rose, diving after the ball, flipping it back to Chris Douglas-Roberts, who eventually worked it back to Rose for what was one more in a long series of layups, building the Tiger’s lead to 63-52.
The game wasn’t over yet, but it might as well have been.
The year and opponent were different, but the outcome was the same.
For the third straight year UCLA lost in the Final Four, this time to Memphis in the national semifinals with a score of 78-63. And once again the game hinged on athletic ability.
While in the past two years it was the Florida’s inside presence that overwhelmed the Bruins, this year it was Memphis’ backcourt of Rose and Douglas-Roberts, who were simply too tall, too strong, and too quick in transition for UCLA’s guards to contain.
Rose finished with 25 points, 9 rebounds and 4 assists. Douglas-Roberts had 28 points.
“They did a good job of exploiting our mismatches, and taking advantage of a lot of mistakes on our offensive side,” junior forward Luc Richard Mbah a Moute said. “Every time we made a mistake, they turned it into an opportunity for them.”
Memphis likes to play at a quicker pace than UCLA had the depth or speed to handle, so the Bruins entered the game knowing they needed to limit their mistakes and slow down the tempo.
“We knew they were very good, but we thought with our defensive ability, we were going to cause a little havoc,” junior guard Darren Collison said. “Unfortunately, things didn’t go that way.”
The Tigers were able to dictate tempo in the early going, and for the first 10 or so minutes the Bruins survived the quicker pace. Josh Shipp hit two of his first three 3-pointers, Westbrook got free for several fast break baskets and eight minutes into the game, Memphis only led 22-21.
The Bruins managed to slow things down from there, and for the rest of the first half, baskets were harder to come by for both teams. Right before halftime, with Memphis up five, Love made a key steal which lead to a layup by Darren Collison on the other end.
Despite committing eight turnovers, the Bruins’ only trailed 38-35 heading into the break.
“We knew what we were going into,” coach Ben Howland said. “We had to play really, really under control and make very few mistakes in order to beat a team this good.”
After halftime, Memphis began to capitalize more and more on UCLA’s miscues. The Bruins’ shooting turned cold in the second half ““ they shot 12-for-37, and 1-for-8 from 3-point range ““ and they were out-rebounded by the Tigers 23 to 17. Rose, Douglas-Roberts and the rest of the Tigers were quick to punish the Bruins in transition.
“It seemed like if we took an uncharacteristic shot or we took a quick shot, they were right down within five seconds, scoring a layup,” Love said.
Even in the half-court, where UCLA’s defense usually dominates, the Tigers presented a matchup nightmare. The Bruin guards, especially the 6-foot-3-inch Collison, struggled with the size of the Memphis backcourt.
The Bruins actually played their strongest defense when Collison went to the bench with four fouls for several minutes in the second half. At that point Westbrook switched to Rose, and the 6-8 Mbah a Moute covered Douglas-Roberts.
“I felt like I had a big advantage on (Douglas-Roberts) in terms of size, and I could stay in front of him,” Mbah a Moute said. “He had a hard time scoring against me, so I definitely wanted to be on him.
“But, you know, that’s a game-time decision, and we have to go with that decision.”
With Collison on the bench, UCLA narrowed Memphis’ lead to 59-52 with 7:20 to play.
But Collison re-entered the game a minute later, and UCLA didn’t score again until after Collison fouled out with 2:53 to play. At that point the Tigers’ lead was 65-52 and the game was out of reach.
Collison was also a non-factor offensively, finishing with two points on 1-for-9 shooting to go along with four assists and five turnovers. Westbrook was the lone offensive bright spot for the Bruins, shooting 10-for-19 to finish with 22 points. The usually reliable Love faced double-teams almost the entire game, and finished with 12 points and nine rebounds.
As the clock ticked down in the final minute and their lead was at 15, the Tigers slowed the ball down for one of the first times all game and enjoyed a standing ovation from the predominantly pro-Memphis crowd. Meanwhile, the Bruins were forced to begin to look ahead to another disappointing end to a season.
“I had to keep my emotions in check just because we had such a special year,” Love said. “I felt like this was the year that we were going to get over the hump and do it. But we played a great Memphis team, and we just didn’t come out with the win.”
After the game was over, Lorenzo Mata-Real, the team’s only senior, sat dejectedly in front of his locker, a towel draped over his head. He was asked if he felt any different now than he had after the previous two year’s losses. He just shook his head.
“Same feeling, man,” Mata-Real said. “Same feeling.”