UCLA Basketball: Bruins’ hot shot win against Utah keeps them at the top of the Pac-12
The UCLA basketball team’s hot start helps them cruise past Utah and remain at the top of the Pac-12 standings as the offensive production continues to mesh.
Sure we are only five games into the conference season, but would anyone have predicted this start to Pac-12 play for UCLA basketball? After their 83-64 win over the Utah Utes, the Bruins improve to 4-1 in conference, ahead of preseason favorites Arizona and USC, but we will get into that in a moment.
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UCLA returned to Pauley Pavilion to face a pesky Utah team that seem more acute than Ute. On paper, this seemed like a battle that could have left the Bruins gut-punched and looking for answers. Instead, UCLA dealt several gut punches of their own in the shape of outside shooting which continues to be an effective weapon for the Bruins.
In their last game, UCLA shot 58.2% from the field and 56.7% from behind the arc (they even had more 3-point makes and attempts than 2-pointers). They continued the shooting onslaught against Utah, hitting 29/56 (51.8%) form the field and 12/23 (52.2%) from downtown.
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Aaron Holiday, the recently named John R. Wooden midseason nominee, continued to show his offensive dominance with 20 points on the night which came from 7/10 shooting. It was the 8th time this season Holiday has scored 20 or more points, which basically confirms that he is one of the 25 best players in the nation.
Kris Wilkes, despite an injury scare, finished the game shooting 7/11 for 19 points. The only blemish on his night was the fact that he missed the only two free throws of the game for UCLA.
Shooting from the charity stripe has been an issue for the Bruins who were an abysmal 69.8% from the line (214th in the nation) before the game. Against Utah, UCLA was 13/15 (86.7%). Talk about focus.
With this win, UCLA is now 13-4 overall and, more importantly, 4-1 in the Pac-12, staying a half a game in front of Arizona (3-1) and Washington (3-1). Looking at the Bruins in the non-conference season, it seems that they might have struggled once conference play came around, but so far they are showing individual improvement, which is helping the collective effort of the team.
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Though the Bruins have a quite a bit to work on, what is working for them, namely their offensive performance, has them as one of the hottest teams in the Conference of Champions… right now. That will be put to the test on Saturday when the Bruins welcome Colorado who will be looking for more qualities wins as they swept the Arizona schools at home last weekend. Though that was before their Wednesday night beating at the hands of USC.