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UCLA Basketball: Bruins get back to winning with big beatdown of Arizona

By Mike Regalado

LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA - JANUARY 05: Jaylen Hands #4 of the UCLA Bruins and head coach Murry Bartow of the UCLA Bruins watch from near the bench during the second half against the California Golden Bears at Pauley Pavilion on January 05, 2019 in Los Angeles, California. (Photo by Katharine Lotze/Getty Images)
LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA - JANUARY 05: Jaylen Hands #4 of the UCLA Bruins and head coach Murry Bartow of the UCLA Bruins watch from near the bench during the second half against the California Golden Bears at Pauley Pavilion on January 05, 2019 in Los Angeles, California. (Photo by Katharine Lotze/Getty Images) /
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The UCLA basketball team took out their frustration of a three-game losing streak on rival Arizona and it was not pretty as the Bruins dominated the Wildcats.

When you look at what the UCLA basketball team did to Arizona, one would think that this final score reflects the Bruins stomping on a lower division team.

SCORE

But in reality, UCLA got the best of one of the worst Arizona basketball teams Sean Miller has coached in his 10 seasons in Tucson. Despite the fact that the Wildcats were 5-2 coming into this game, they looked worse than the Bruins when they were at their worst this season.

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This game exemplified what UCLA should be doing in every single contest. They came out of the starting gate hot, they sustained their success, and they didn’t back down when Arizona tried to make a few runs of their own.

And for this to happen in a game in which the 1969 NCAA championship UCLA basketball team was honored at halftime, just made it all the more special.

UCLA played as they should play in every single game. They dominated the boards. They took better shot selections. They were slightly more aggressive on defense. This is how UCLA should play.

But let’s not be too quick to crown the Bruins. As stated before, this was not a good Arizona team. Despite the fact that they’re missing their play best player, Chase Jeter, Arizona has not looked this bad in a contest against UCLA for as long as I can remember.

Game Stats

UCLA: FG – 33/67 (57.9%) | 3FG – 9/23 (39.1%) | Rebs – 47 | Ast – 21 | Turnovers – 18

Kris Wilkes – 34 pts | Jaylen Hands – 12 pts, 11 asts | Moses Brown 11 pts, 15 rebs

ASU: FG – 22/66 (33.3%) | 3FG – 8/26 (30.8%) | Rebs – 30 | Ast – 13 | Turnovers – 9

Brandon Williams – 19 pts, 13 rebs, 3 asts | Ira Lee – 11 pts, 7 rebs

The Bruins’ surge was powered by 34 points from Kris Wilkes who seemed to awaken from his recent slumber of bad shooting games. With many Bruin greats in the stands, Wilkes showed that can have his great moments as well. But it didn’t stop there.

There were two double-doubles in this game as Jaylen Hands had 12 points and 11 assists and Moses Brown logged 11 points and 15 rebounds.

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Depsite a broken Arizona team, UCLA played to their potential and that is all that anyone asks. Hopefully, they can maintain this chemistry as they head to the state of Washington next week.