On Saturday afternoon, the No. 4 UCLA men’s basketball team was able to do what no other Bruin squad had done in over 30 years ““ remain undefeated at home.
The Bruins (25-3, 14-2 Pac-10) also had several other motivations heading into their matchup against the Stanford Cardinal (17-10, 9-7), the biggest being an upsetting loss in Palo Alto after blowing a 17-point lead.
“I would say that was our primary motivation,” junior guard Arron Afflalo said. “Anytime you lose to a team, you want to avenge that loss.”
UCLA outplayed Stanford for nearly the entire game, never losing its lead before cruising to a 75-61 victory that ensured at least a share of the Pac-10 regular season title, something that they’re not fully satisfied with.
“We don’t play to tie,” sophomore guard Josh Shipp said. “We haven’t won anything yet, so there is nothing to celebrate about.”
And the fans in Pauley Pavilion were far from celebrating near the end of the game, but rather were begging and pleading for Afflalo to stay at UCLA for his senior season, with loud chants of “one more year” echoing throughout the arena.
“I heard them,” Afflalo said. “I haven’t put in too much thought about it. That’s something that’ll be answered in due time.”
Though Afflalo and the Bruins got off to a sluggish start offensively, they kept themselves in the game by shutting down the Cardinal in the early possessions of the game.
UCLA coach Ben Howland noticed a different mindset in his team prior to the game, as the entire squad was ready to go half an hour earlier than in any other matchup of the season, realizing the magnitude of the game.
“Everybody has to be at their utmost focus and be intense on every little thing you do, and that includes preparation,” Afflalo said. “Get here a little earlier now and do all the little things that are going to put you over the top.”
Every member of the Bruin roster did what was required of him and paid little attention to all of the extraneous factors to capture the win against a short-handed Stanford team that was playing without Anthony Goods, who missed his fourth consecutive game due to an ankle injury.
“With all the different things that were going on in tonight’s game, it was great for us to compete and play hard and still keep in mind what we’re playing for, and not get distracted by all the outside factors,” Afflalo said.
Coming into the game, UCLA’s big men knew they would have their hands full trying to contain Cardinal freshman Brook Lopez both on the glass and in scoring situations. Stanford came into the game as the top team in the Pac-10 in rebounding, averaging nearly 40 a game.
“They’re great players and they’re tough to guard,” junior center Lorenzo Mata said of Lopez and his twin brother Robin.
The Bruin big men, however, were able to successfully block out the Cardinal underneath the basket, and limited them to a mere 27 rebounds, while gathering 31 of their own, including 11 on the offensive end that helped create second-chance scoring opportunities.
“We were beaten on the board last time against Stanford,” Howland said. “To hold them to just five offensive rebounds ““ I think that’s the stat of the game. They had 18 against USC on Thursday night and for us to keep them to just five was huge.”
Mata, along with sophomores Luc Richard Mbah a Moute and Alfred Aboya, had the tough task of dealing with Lopez, who still managed to score 23 points and grab nine rebounds regardless of what the Bruins were able to throw at him.
Mbah a Moute, who fouled out after 23 minutes of playing time, played a pivotal role in UCLA’s interior attack, scoring 11 points, including nine in the first five minutes of the second half, and gathering seven rebounds.
“Luc did a fantastic job today,” Howland said. “That 3-pointer from Luc was a key juncture. We never looked back from that point.”
UCLA will need to keep up its winning ways when it heads to the state of Washington to take on No. 9 Washington State on Thursday and Washington on Saturday, in hopes of clinching sole possession of the Pac-10 regular season title for the 29th time in the program’s rich history.
“People enjoy winning,” Afflalo said. “Now it’s gotten to the point where losing is not an expectation by anybody.”