UCLA Basketball: Bruins end their season with a beating from ASU

The UCLA basketball team lost to Arizona State in the Pac-12 Tournament quarterfinals, finally bringing an end to one of the most tumultuous seasons in Bruin hoops history.

It’s finally over. The 2018–19 UCLA basketball season has come to an end as the Bruins once again take it on the chin from Arizona State in what can only be described as an old fashioned whooping.

This was going to be a challenge no matter what as the Bruins were thin in the backcourt to start the game. Last night, in their first round win over Stanford, the Bruins lost their best three-point shooter, David Singleton, who broke his foot in the final minute of the game.

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With Singleton unable to back up the point guard position, that put more weight on Jaylen Hands’ shoulders.

The game was pretty even through the first 10 minutes until the Sun Devils jumped out to a 27-20 lead behind the efforts of their starting five who all finished the game in double digits. Romello White led all Sun Devils with 19 points. Remy Martin once again facilitated an aggressive offense of push as he helped out with 10 points and six assists..

Shortly after that, UCLA went on a run which brought them to within two points, but then ASU retaliated with 14 unanswered points as they went to half time with the 45-29 lead..

It was more of the same in the second half as Arizona State knew they had UCLA up against the ropes so they started to attack early and went on a 14-7 run. Still, UCLA fought back as hard as they could as they kept up with the Sun Devils. But ASU asserting their authority as they protected their lead as they were the better prepared, better overall program. At least for the time being.

Kris Wilkes and Jaylen Hands were the only offensive threats for the Bruins as they scored 25 and 21 points respectively.  No other Bruin scored more than 8 points, a feat that was captured by Alex Olesinski.

So now it is all over. The Steve Alford era has officially come to an end. The terrible turbulence that the season created still has the Bruins fan base a little shaky, but now there are clear skies ahead. The possibilities are endless for UCLA, who now has a chance to take back their rightful place as the best team in college basketball as they look to hire their next head coach. But that is still a few weeks away.

Either way, you can now shake off the funk from this season and be safe in the knowledge that it will only get better after this. Go Bruins.