UCLA Basketball: Bruins Have a Big Win Against Washington, Lose TJ Leaf

The UCLA Basketball team extended their winning streak to 8 games as the Bruins once again muzzled the Washington Huskies, 98-66.

There was a whole lot of good in this game and one piece of bad. The UCLA Basketball team once again beat Washington by more than 30 points, but they also lost freshman forward TJ Leaf for the game, and quite possibly a few more due to a left ankle sprain.

Leaf had gone down five minutes into the game when he was trying to defend UW’s Noah Dickerson who was backing his way under the basket. Leaf jumped up to defend the shot and landed awkwardly on his left ankle.

Yet in the five minutes he was on the court, he had 2 points, 1 rebound, 1 assist, 1 steal and 1 block. Talk about efficient. As for his ankle, Leaf’s status is day-to-day.

As for the rest of the game, the Bruins put on a show for the fans at Pauley Pavilion as everyone got into the action, literally. Ikenna Okwarabizie, Alec Wulff, Jerrold Smith, Isaac Wulff and Armani Dodson had all made an appearance in the waning moments of this contest.

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But seriously, if George Goloman got 8 points, you know it was a good night. GG also added 6 rebounds (3 offensive), 2 assists, 2 steals and 3 blocks. Impressive indeed, but it got even better from there.

Lonzo Ball nearly had a triple-double with a 19 point, 7 rebound, 8 assists performance. He also had 4 steals and 1 block. Ball also moved into the #2 spot for most assists in a season by a freshman and is two assists shy of Gary Payton’s record (stats via ESPN Stats & Info). He currently has 227.

Now let us talk about the guy that is shooting lights out right now, Bryce Alford. In this game, he scored 29 points on 8/14 shooting from the three-point line.

That is right, he shot 57.1% from downtown and nearly tied his own record for most three-pointers in a game. On top of that, Alford is the first UCLA Basketball player to make 100 three-pointers in a game. 8 Clap to that!

The only thing the Bruins have to worry about at this point is Leaf’s ankle. If he is out for a significant amount of time, especially with the Pac-12 Tournament starting next week and the NCAA Tournament starting the week after that, it puts UCLA in a bind and will have to account for his 16.8 points per game, which is 6th in the Pac-12.

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So cross your fingers Bruin fans. Hopefully Leaf’s injury is not very significant and can return healthy and in time to help the Bruins continue their success.