UCLA Basketball: Bruins run through Cal to avoid road sweep
Two days after the UCLA basketball team blew a lead at Stanford, the Bruins pull it together and annihilate Cal with as complete of a game as they have gotten this season.
The inconsistent UCLA basketball team turned things around on Saturday after an extremely disappointing loss to Stanford on Thursday. Against the Cardinal, the Bruins fell back into old habits which left Aaron Holiday carrying the weight through most of that game.
Against the Golden Bears, there was more of a team effort as UCLA beat Cal by 23 points and went over the century mark for only the second time this season in regulation.
Once again, Holiday led the charge as he topped all Bruins with 21 points, but unlike the Stanford game, he had a bit more help.
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Holiday’s veteran counterpart Thomas Welsh was off to a hot start and had a double-double by halftime. He finished with 19 points (aided by 4/6 three-point shooting) and 14 rebounds. Welsh was still in the protective mask which he had to wear after sustaining a hit to the nose against Stanford which required stitches.
Four other Bruins got into double-digit scoring: Kris Wilkes (16), Prince Ali (15), Alex Olesinski (14) and Jaylen Hands (11).
The Bruins were fueled by an incredible shooting performance against big brother. From the field they went 32/55 (58.2%) and from behind the arc shot an incredible 17/30 (56.7%).
The Bruins also did a fine job of limiting Cal from the field as they only shot 30/73 (41.1%). The Golden Bears theoretically should have had been more potent, especially in the paint, considering they had an unprecedented 21 offensive rebounds and beat UCLA on the boards, 40-35.
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The Bruins return home on January 11 to take on Utah, followed by Colorado. Currently, the Bruins are at the top of the Pac-12 Standings with a 3-1 conference record, one game above Arizona, who just lost to Colorado.