Third-quarter skid costs women’s basketball its game against Stanford

PALO ALTO, Calif.—The Bruins have won seven straight games when holding a halftime lead.

But they couldn’t hold on this time.

“I told the team in the locker room that, on one hand, I’m so proud of the confidence that they’ve earned in these first three road games,” said coach Cori Close. “But on the other hand, I’m really frustrated.”

UCLA women’s basketball (9-6, 2-1 Pac-12) blew a seven-point halftime lead and fell 86-80 to No. 6 Stanford (12-1, 2-0) on Sunday afternoon, falling short of the upset and snapping its six-game win streak.

The Bruins jumped out to a 17-6 lead over the Cardinal after a 13-0 run midway through the first period, going 3-of-3 from long range.

UCLA shot 52.9 percent from the field and went 7-of-9 from beyond the arc in the first half. However, redshirt freshman guard Lindsey Corsaro – who finished 4-of-6 from 3 – said the Bruins fell in love with the jump shot too much in the third quarter when it wasn’t there.

“Usually our identity all year has been get it to the post,” Corsaro said. “I think we shot the ball so well in the first half that we were looking for (the perimeter shot) first (instead of the post) in the second half.”

The Bruins held forward Alanna Smith – Stanford’s top scorer who averaged 18.9 points heading into the game – to just three first-half points. However, UCLA couldn’t contain her for two more quarters, allowing Smith to register 21 points in the third and fourth quarters combined.

The Cardinal trailed 45-38 going into the third frame, but answered with a 13-0 run. Smith knocked down four straight shots, including three from downtown to give Stanford a 56-50 lead.

UCLA outscored Stanford in every quarter besides the third – when the Cardinal outscored the Bruins 26-12. But despite the poor shooting, Close said it was the Bruins’ skid on defense that allowed Stanford to get back into the contest.

“The reality was, it was defense,” Close said. “Our offense comes easier when we get stops and we can play in transition.”

UCLA cut Stanford’s lead to three points with less than a minute left in the final quarter, but couldn’t make free throws down the stretch. The Bruins shot 75 percent or better in seven consecutive games prior to Sunday, according to the sports information director, but shot just 46.7 percent from the charity stripe against the Cardinal.

“I think we’ll get that fixed, but it definitely was a really big factor in this game,” Close said. “When you get opportunities to get to the free throw stripe, especially on the road, you’ve got to deliver on those.”

Senior guard Japreece Dean made 22 straight free throws coming into the game, but never got to the line. Dean finished with 22 points and four assists.

Sophomore forward Michaela Onyenwere logged her fifth double-double of the season, but was held to just 11 points after entering the game with back-to-back performances of 25 points or more.

“I think that we learned a lot about ourselves playing these three games,” Dean said. “I still think we grew as a team, and we’re ready for the next one.”

The Bruins opened up Pac-12 playing going 2-1, defeating the Trojans and the No. 18 Golden Bears on the road before falling to the Cardinal. UCLA will host No. 11 Oregon State and No. 5 Oregon next week.

No. 2 UCLA men’s volleyball gets warmed up with wins against Princeton, UCSD

The Bruins capped off the first week of 2019 with back-to-back wins.

No. 2 UCLA men’s volleyball (2-0) defeated unranked Princeton (0-4) and UC San Diego (0-2) at home by scores of 3-0 and 3-1, respectively.

Coach John Speraw said the team has room for improvement after the first two games, with nine players on the 24-man roster being freshmen or transfer students.

“My impressions are that (we have) a great group of guys and the chemistry is great, but there’s tons we need to improve on,” Speraw said. “We do have some guys that are new to the program, so there’s a huge learning curve and not enough time to have gone through everything.”

UCLA hit for .381 against Princeton and recorded 38 kills to its opponent’s 26. Redshirt junior opposite Brandon Rattray posted 15 kills against the Tigers and hit for .348. Rattray transferred to UCLA from the Hawai’i prior to the season starting.

Rattray was joined in the starting lineup against UC San Diego by junior outside hitter Austin Matautia, also a Hawai’i transfer. Matautia said he is working to learn the new system early on in the season.

“It’s a whole different system compared to what I’m used to playing,” Matautia said. “We’ve just got to keep our foot on the pedal. I don’t think we’ve necessarily played our best yet and I guess that’s a good thing as the season is just starting.”

The Bruins finished the match against the Tigers with set scores of 25-17, 26-24 and 25-18. Princeton was held to a .238 team hitting percentage and was led in scoring by opposite George Huhmann, who finished the match with 11 kills. UCLA also finished the match with 24 digs, whereas Princeton totaled eight.

Senior setter Micah Ma’a said that with a lot of new faces, players are figuring out where they fit in the team and he has noted some strengths the new group has to offer.

“I think we can serve the ball pretty well, it’s just going to be about if we can be consistently serving the ball really well,” Ma’a said. “Besides that, we’re going to try to be scrappy behind it so that we can keep our serves on the line.”

UCLA logged 20 aces in the first two matches of the season, including 11 versus UC San Diego. The Bruins also finished the match against the Tritons with 12 total blocks.

UCLA took the first two sets 25-20 and 25-13 against UC San Diego. However, the Tritons took the third set 25-23, despite only hitting for .120 compared to UCLA’s .400.

“You probably won’t see another set like that this season where we lose like that,” Speraw said. “We had nine service errors and that’s a big part of it, and we had a bunch of egregiously bad decisions on defense.”

The Bruins finished the match with three players recording double-digit kills. Senior outside hitter Dylan Missry, Rattray and junior middle blocker Daenan Gyimah tallied 16, 13 and 10 kills, respectively.

Speraw said the team can draw positives from close early-season sets.

“You watch out there and a lot of what is costing us points are things that we can solve in time, so I’m optimistic even though at times I’m obviously frustrated with some things,” Speraw said. “The nice part is we win and learn. If you can survive a match playing like we played tonight then that can be a win in the long run.”

UCLA will next travel to face CSUN on Wednesday.

Bruins return to form in 98-83 rout of Golden Bears, picking up second Pac-12 win

This post was updated Jan. 5 at 5:39 p.m.

The Bruins are playing inspired basketball again.

UCLA men’s basketball (9-6, 2-0 Pac-12) took down California (5-9, 0-2 Pac-12) 98-83 on Saturday afternoon at Pauley Pavilion and secured its second straight victory under interim head coach Murry Bartow.

Before Bartow took over for the fired Steve Alford, the Bruins had lost four straight nonconference matchups including a pair of home losses to Belmont and Liberty. UCLA, however, appears as though it has righted the ship.

“The guys are excited right now and they’re playing well,” Bartow said. “It’s just two games, but it’s a good start.”

The Bruins scored a season-high 98 points and shot 53 percent from the field. They also had six different players finish the night in double-figures. Sophomore guard Kris Wilkes led the team in scoring with 18 points on 7-of-16 shooting.

Freshman center Moses Brown scored 16 points and hauled in nine rebounds after posting a 17-point, 10-rebound performance on Thursday. Brown said the teamwide success on the stat sheet Saturday afternoon is an indicator of the chemistry that has formed among the players.

“We’re just a big family,” Brown said. “We want the best for each other and a stat line like this is just a result of us coming together as a team.”

Sophomore guard Chris Smith – who made his second straight start – recorded 15 points, five rebounds and three steals. Freshman guards David Singleton and Jules Bernard provided a spark off the bench as well, scoring a combined 26 points on 7-of-11 shooting from deep.

Bernard said the team’s transition over the past week has sparked a new level of confidence in the players.

“We’re optimistic,” Bernard said. “We have two games going in the right direction and we see what we’re capable of. And when you give great players confidence, you never know what they could do.”

UCLA took the lead from Cal with 5:52 remaining in the first half after redshirt junior guard Prince Ali converted on a four-point play opportunity. The Bruins extended their lead to as much as 15 points in the second half, but struggled to put the Golden Bears away for good.

UCLA committed 22 turnovers in the contest, a trend that has plagued the team in recent weeks. Cal turned those mistakes into 19 points, but were unable to climb back into the game despite cutting the lead to single digits multiple times down the stretch.

The Bears had four players score in double figures, including Darius McNeill, who led all scorers with 23 points.

The Bruins will next head out on the road to face Oregon on Thursday, and will also visit Oregon State and USC before returning to Pauley Pavilion on Jan. 24.

Women’s basketball achieves 84-79 overtime victory after back-and-forth battle with Cal

This post was updated Jan. 5 at 3:17 p.m.

BERKELEY — The Bruins are the top offensive rebounding team in the Pac-12 – and it got them the win.

After a missed second free throw by redshirt senior forward Lajahna Drummer, sophomore forward Michaela Onyenwere kept UCLA women’s basketball (9-5, 2-0) alive with an out-of-area offensive rebound for the putback to tie the game at 71 with 17 seconds left in regulation.

“We wouldn’t have won the game without that offensive rebound,” said coach Cori Close. “That (rebound) wasn’t one that was near her, it was one she had to go fight for. … If we miss that free throw, we would’ve had to foul and put them on the free throw line and then try to extend the game.”

The Bruins went on to secure an 84-79 overtime win, handing No. 18 California (9-3, 0-1) its third consecutive loss on Friday night.

Onyenwere led UCLA in scoring with 29 points, marking her 10th game this season scoring in double digits. The forward went 3-for-5 from beyond the arc, draining three 3s for a second consecutive game after going 0-of-5 in the Bruins’ first 12 games.

“My teammates trust me and my coaches trust me,” Onyenwere said. “So that gives me the confidence to shoot the shots that I have been practicing for a really long time, and shoot the shots that I do in practice every day.”

The contest was back-and-forth to start, with 10 lead changes in the first quarter alone. But the Bruins pulled away in the second quarter, forcing California to eight turnovers and outscoring it 25-16. UCLA entered the second half with a 42-32 lead.

But with six of the last eight meetings between these two teams determined by eight points or fewer, California wasn’t going away.

The Bears took over in the third quarter, outscoring the Bruins 23-11. UCLA could not find the basket for the final two minutes and 53 seconds and watched their 10-point lead disappear entirely. The Bruins exited the third trailing 55-53.

“We were down significantly in the rebounding margin in that particular quarter and we weren’t making our shots,” Close said. “Their zone sort of made us slow down a bit, and we weren’t able to play at the tempo that we would like to play.”

California forward Kristine Anigwe and guard Asha Thomas both played a large role in the Bears’ comeback, logging 18 and 13 points, respectively, in the second half. UCLA eventually evened out the rebounding battle in the fourth quarter, out-rebounding California 12-8 to force overtime.

UCLA held the lead throughout overtime – but not without a fight from the Bears. A 3 by Thomas cut the Bruins’ lead to one to make the game 80-79 with just 21 seconds left.

But UCLA sealed the victory with free throws.

“We put (senior guard) Kennedy Burke on Asha Thomas. She’s not only 6-foot-2, but she has a 6-foot-5 wingspan,” Close said. “So we told her to just really lock up on Asha Thomas. We were going to double up and try to face guard (Thomas) and then double up on Anigwe.”

Burke said the Bruins’ defensive play was important to the team’s overtime performance.

“I think it started on defense,” Burke said. “Michaela, Laj (Drummer) – they were just really big dogs today. Without them, it wouldn’t be the same.”

Burke recorded 19 points on the game, including two free throws that cut UCLA’s deficit to one with under two minutes in regulation.

The Bruins will remain on the road and will face No. 6 Stanford (11-1, 1-0) on Sunday. The Cardinal defeated USC 72-64 on Friday.

“Stanford is obviously a really good team this year, and they are playing at a really high level,” Close said. “But we have to come in really focused and ready to be counted on to do our jobs and to be great teammates to each other, and play to our strengths.

Men’s basketball leads Cal 50-42 at halftime, setting out for second straight win

The Bruins are headed toward their second straight win to open up conference play.

UCLA men’s basketball (8-6, 1-0 Pac-12) leads California (5-8, 0-1 Pac-12) 50-42 at the break behind a 14-point half from freshman David Singleton.

Singleton finished the half 5-of-7 from the floor in 15 minutes of action and knocked down four of his five attempts from beyond the arc.

Redshirt junior guard Prince Ali also added 11 points on 4-of-5 shooting, including a four-point play near the end of the half.

UCLA deployed a full-court press for the majority of the opening 20 minutes, forcing California into 14 turnovers. The Bruins converted those mistakes into 14 points.

Despite having success on the defensive end, UCLA turned the ball over 12 times. The Golden Bears were only able to score seven points off those turnovers, but remain within striking distance with 20 minutes to play.

Darius McNeill led the way for California in the first half, scoring 16 points and grabbing four steals.

The Bruins have not lost to the Bears since February 2016.

UCLA gymnastics leaps into action with season-opening victory over Nebraska

The Bruins have begun their journey to defend their NCAA title.

No. 1 UCLA gymnastics (1-0) defeated No. 11 Nebraska (0-1), scoring 197.250 points to the Cornhuskers’ 195.700 in the Bruins’ season opener Friday. The meet at Pauley Pavilion marked the beginning of coach Valorie Kondos Field’s final season.

Despite the win, Kondos Field said that there was still much room for improvement.

“A 197.2 is great, normally,” Kondos Field said. “But for this team, it was good.”

The meet showcased seasoned returners senior Katelyn Ohashi and junior Olympic gold medalist Kyla Ross stepping into larger leadership roles on the team.

Ross – the first female gymnast to win an Olympic, world and NCAA championship – was the only Bruin to compete in all four events and posted the highest all-around score of the meet at 39.650. She also had the highest individual score of the night, recording a near perfect 9.975 on vault.

Ohashi scored a 9.900 on balance beam and debuted her new floor routine to garner a 9.950. As last year’s national floor co-champion, she did not disappoint the crowd despite only having finalized her routine about an hour before.

“We wanted to keep it behind closed doors for a while,” Ohashi said.“I was at home over Christmas break and (Kondos Field) was FaceTiming me like ‘OK, this is what we’re gonna do,’ changing everything. And then I got back and she was like, ‘OK, we’re restructuring it this way.’ (It was) exciting that I just got it down.”

After Ohashi’s floor routine last season garnered millions of views online, Kondos Field said her performance this year had much more riding on it.

“Every other time we had a routine go viral, they were seniors, so we didn’t have to find something to go back to top it,” Kondos Field said. “It’s ridiculous how much she does in that routine that she doesn’t have to do.”

Ross and junior Gracie Kramer both also scored 9.950 on floor exercise. Junior Felicia Hano posted a 9.900 on vault, while freshman Margzetta Frazier made her NCAA debut on the uneven bars, earning a 9.875. Freshman Norah Flatley also made an appearance on vault, uneven bars and balance beam to start her NCAA career.

Though the Cornhuskers only narrowly fell to the Bruins by just under two points, only one athlete had the highest score in an event – Taylor Houchin with a 9.925 on the uneven bars. The Bruins collectively swept Nebraska in every event.

Kondos Field attests UCLA’s expertise to the athletes’ dedication and self-motivation.

“It’s like (the) standard is up here, and they expect that from themselves and they expect it from each other,” Kondos Field said. “It’s really a blessing to coach teams like that, where you’re not trying to figure out how to get them appreciative and motivated every day.”