TUCSON, Ariz. “”mdash; Looking around McKale Center, one could hardly make out any other color but red. On senior day in the ‘Cats’ last home game of the season, 14,611 screaming fans were amped up to see their beloved Arizona Wildcats beat UCLA.
Darren Collison, Josh Shipp and company weren’t intimidated.
No. 5 UCLA (23-3, 12-2 Pac-10) spoiled the party for Arizona (17-9, 8-7) behind Collison’s 17 points and 15 assists and Shipp’s career-high-tying 24 points.
“We’ve never swept on the road. Arizona was coming off a bad loss, and it was senior day, so there were a lot of things affecting our chances of winning,” Collison said. “This should factor in when they look into our seeding.”
Collison may have played his best game as a Bruin against Arizona. He was involved in the vast majority of UCLA’s points. The sophomore point guard single-handedly picked apart the Arizona defense, attacking the basket and always finding the open man as the Wildcat defense collapsed on him.
The 15 assists were a new career high for Collison and were one shy of the UCLA all-time record for assists in a game. Former UCLA point guard Earl Watson still holds the record with 16 assists in an NCAA Tournament game against Maryland in 2000.
“Darren Collison was unbelievable,” coach Ben Howland said. “To have 10 assists in the first half, 15 for the game and only two turnovers ““ that’s the kind of play that we want to see out of him consistently.
“It’s not asking for much,” he said jokingly.
Collison embarrassed the Wildcat defense with two perfect alley-oop passes to junior center Lorenzo Mata. He also hit five 3-pointers, including a couple of long ones with the shot clock running out that left Arizona coach Lute Olson shaking his head.
“I don’t know how many times I thought that we defended well and they hit the long (shots) just before the buzzer,” Olson said.
It has been well-documented that Collison wanted to go to Arizona out of high school to be a part of Olson’s winning tradition. However, Olson didn’t make an offer to Collison because he didn’t have room for him on a roster full of talented guards.
Looking back on it, that might be a decision the longtime Wildcat coach regrets.
“I don’t think that there is a better point guard in America than Collison,” Olson said. “He gets in the lane and he’s one of the toughest guys in the league to keep out of the lane because he is so quick. Plus he defends like crazy.”
Even though Arizona did make a run and were within just one point at halftime, UCLA pretty much controlled the game from the outset, taking full advantage of a soft Arizona defense.
UCLA didn’t even shoot a foul shot for the first 30 minutes of the game. The Wildcats had only one team foul with two minutes remaining in the second half and had to use up a quick six team fouls just to put the Bruins at the line as they desperately tried to get back into the game.
The lack of aggressiveness on defense has been somewhat of a trademark for the Wildcats this season and continues to bother Olson. Many of UCLA’s shots in the game went uncontested.
“When talking to our team, I said that (UCLA’s defense) is an example of what needs to be done, that’s the kind of effort that it takes,” Olson said. “If someone scores a bucket off of you it should hurt, and it doesn’t hurt right now (for some guys). That’s the biggest problem we have.”
For UCLA though, a team that was 3-3 on the road before sweeping the Arizona schools, the defensive intensity was there throughout the game.
The feeling of finally pulling off a road sweep couldn’t have been any sweeter.
“We’ll be happy coming back on the plane for once,” junior guard Arron Afflalo said.
BRUINS MOVE UP IN POLLS: UCLA moved up to No. 4 in both the Associated Press and the ESPN/USA Today polls on Monday. The Bruins moved up just one spot in the AP Poll, ahead of North Carolina, who lost earlier in the week to Virginia Tech.
The Bruins moved up three spots from No. 7 to No. 4, moving in front of Pittsburgh, Texas A&M and North Carolina, who all lost last week.
UCLA remained ranked behind Florida, who dropped to No. 3 in both polls after losing to Vanderbilt over the weekend.
COLLISON PLAYER OF THE WEEK: Darren Collison was named Pac-10 Player of the Week for his performances against Arizona State and Arizona this weekend.
TV TIMES ANNOUNCED: The game times for the Washington State and Washington road games have been announced. The March 1 game against Washington State will start at 7:30 p.m., while the March 3 game against Washington will start at 11 a.m. to accommodate CBS and national television.