UCLA Basketball: Bruins Blow It In The Desert, Lose To #17 Arizona
The UCLA Basketball team had it… and then lost it against Arizona as the Bruins lose 81-75 in Tucson.
The UCLA Basketball team really needed this win and it was all but wrapped up for them, unfortunately, they forgot to play the final 20 minutes against Arizona as a double-digit lead against the Wildcats faded like the Bruin’s NCAA hopes in the second half.
After starting 4-0, UCLA let Arizona counter with an 8-0 run. After that, the Bruins limited not only the amount of shots, but makes the Wildcats put up as they built an impressive lead that irked the U of A faithful. Call it defense… weird, right?
UCLA has occasionally showed flashes of defense this season and brought it back in the first half of this game as they held Arizona to 29.6% shooting. On the offensive side, the Bruins were lights out shooting better than 50%. Isaac Hamilton lead the charge as he had 15 points in the first 20 minutes as UCLA lead 44-34.
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As the teams went into the locker rooms, the boos came down hard from the Wildcat’s fans. It was music to the Bruin’s ears. But that was very short lived.
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The boos changed to cheers in the second as the Wildcats slowly clawed their way back. Though we could look to the huge foul disparity (Arizona had 19 to UCLA’s 31) and blame the Pac-12 referees, it still did not change the fact that UCLA once again took their foot off the gas after a big lead.
It did not help that both Thomas Welsh and Tony Parker fouled out, leaving the Bruin guards to do the heavy lifting. And by heavy lifting, I mean they jacked up contested shots late in the game hoping they would go in.
Arizona also landed body blow after body blow as they outscored UCLA 47-31 in the second half. Four Wildcats scored in double digits as Ryan Anderson, Parker Jackson-Cartwright, Allonzo Trier and Gabe York put on a clinic in front of the McKale center crowd. Kaleb Tarczewski also got into the action as he pulled down a personal best 14 rebounds (nice boxing out, Bruins).
As for UCLA, the only bright spot was Hamilton who finished with 24 points, 5 rebounds and 4 assists.
Next: UCLA Basketball Is In Danger of Missing The NCAA Tournament
With this loss, UCLA now falls to 4-7 in the Pac-12 and have pretty much played themselves out of the NCAA Tournament. To get to the Big Dance, the Bruins would have to win four games in a row in the Pac-12 Tournament to get the automatic bid, but that will not happen as UCLA has not come close to doing that in conference play. NIT anyone?