Facing a 20-point deficit against one of the nation’s top
teams, Dijon Thompson knew UCLA’s hopes rested on his
shoulders.
Like he already has several times this year, the senior forward
sparked the Bruins’ second-half comeback, carrying his team
to an improbable 95-86 victory over No. 12 Washington.
After shooting only 3 of 8 in the first half, Thompson hit 8 of
his 9 shots in the second half, each bucket more clutch than the
last.
The 6-foot-9 senior led all scorers with 29 points, at one point
burying seven consecutive second-half jumpers.
“Dijon got it going, he made some really tough
shots,” UCLA coach Ben Howland said. “I can’t say
enough about him. He’s playing very well for us, the best
basketball of his career at UCLA.”
Thompson and freshman Jordan Farmar seemed to find a rhythm with
five minutes left in the game, repeatedly running the two-man game
to perfection. Thompson came off screens and nailed critical
jumpers off crisp passes from Farmar.
His three pointer on the wing completed UCLA’s comeback to
tie the score at 72-72 with less than nine minutes remaining. On
three subsequent key possessions, he would either tie or give UCLA
the lead on long-range jumpers.
Nearly as impressive as Thompson’s shooting was his
rebounding against the Huskies. Two nights after pulling down a
season-high 16 boards against Washington State, Thompson snatched a
game-high nine rebounds against the Huskies, many of which came in
traffic.
Thompson’s emergence as the Bruin’s best rebounder
speaks volumes to the work he put in the gym in the offseason.
Leading UCLA with 9.1 rebounds per game, Thompson has shored up
what appeared to be a glaring weakness in his game.
“It’s a goal that I made for myself that being a
senior I was going to step up individually and try to lead this
team,” Thompson said.
No better example came than at the very end of regulation. At
the line to ice the game, Thompson converted his first free throw
before missing the second. Rather than giving up on the play, the
senior immediately grabbed the offensive rebound and softly laid
the ball off the glass in between two bewildered Washington
defenders.
For the Husky players, who had been jawing with the Bruins after
jumping out to the early lead, Thompson had only one thing to
say.
“Their eyes were bigger than their stomachs,” he
said.
Criticized in the past for not having the heart and fortitude of
a winning ball club, the Bruins have now staged two eye-opening
comebacks in a row.
The heart UCLA displayed clearly pleased the almost-12,000
screaming fans in Pauley Pavilion, who in recent years have become
more accustomed to brutal defeats rather than uplifting victories.
In his senior year, Thompson has lofty expectations for his final
season as a Bruin.
“It’s the pride we have in ourselves. We refuse to
lose here at home,” he said.
“That’s our goal.”