UCLA Basketball Outlasts Arizona State With Late Run, Hamilton Ties Record

The UCLA Basketball team had one of their best starts to a game this season against Arizona State, but followed it up with a mid-game lull, but finished strong in a 102-80 win.

After starting the game on fire, I mean red hot, the UCLA Basketball team once again took their foot off the gas and suffered a little bit of a scare against Arizona State.

UCLA could not be stopped when this game started. The Bruins hit their first six shots with five of them being three-pointers and took a 21-9 lead. At one point, the Bruins were up by 25, but that did not last. Energy was lost after the hot start which amplified the deficiencies on defense, but also lead to a decrease in offensive production. To sum it up, they tried to coast midway through the game.

The good news is, besides allowing Arizona State to pull within seven points 12 minutes into the second half, UCLA held off the Sun Devils for a 102-80 victory.

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The win was fueled by several great offensive efforts, but standing out was senior guard Isaac Hamilton who had his best game of the season.

After hitting a slump a few games back, Hamilton matched Bryce Alford‘s three-point shooting performance against Colorado last week as he tied Alford’s record for the most three-pointers in a game with nine, which led to his 33 total points.

TJ Leaf and Lonzo Ball also had memorable performances as both were once again shy of getting triple-doubles. Leaf finished with 19 points, 9 rebounds and 6 assists. Ball logged another double-double with 10 points and 12 assists and had 7 rebounds, three shy of a triple-double.

Aaron Holiday also reached a career-high 8 assists, which went well with his 13 points.

Aside from the defense, or lack thereof which allowed ASU back in, another factor that didn’t help the Bruins’ situation was their 14 turnovers. Contributing the most of that was Holiday who had four. The Bruins have this up-tempo offense fully operational, but they also need to be aware of when they might be going too fast. Yes, the Bruins want to get out and score, but if they’re giving the ball up, that will only help out the efforts of the opposition.

Despite the scare halfway through the second half, the Bruins recognized when it was time to apply the pressure. In the last 10 minutes, UCLA outscored ASU 27-19.

With this game now out of the way, the Bruins can focus on they battle everyone is waiting for…

Next: UCLA vs. Arizona Preview: Five Questions for Zona Zealots

NEXT GAME: vs. #14 Arizona, Saturday, January 21, 1 p.m. PT, CBS