Men's basketball has huge win over Arizona in final home game before Pauley's renovation

Sophomore forward Reeves Nelson had a career high of 27 points in Saturday’s game against Arizona. Morgan Glier Daily Bruin

Men's basketball has huge win over Arizona in final home game before Pauley's renovation

By RYAN ESHOFF
The Daily Bruin
Published February 26, 2011 in Men's Basketball Sports
Updated: 9 hours ago




When the great-grandson of John Wooden scored the final basket of Saturday’s game, it wasn’t just a timeless close to Pauley Pavilion’s First Age.

It was an exclamation point on a landmark victory for the Bruins.

Tyler Trapani’s lay-in in the final minute capped UCLA’s 71-49 victory over Arizona, a win that closed the book on an old gymnasium but opened up a whole new level of opportunity for the current Bruins.

Renovation hasn’t yet begun on legendary Pauley Pavilion. But in its final home game at the current edition of the arena, UCLA got the paint job started a little ahead of schedule.

In one of its biggest regular season games of the last few seasons, the Bruins played, well, big. Huge, even. Their frontline dominated the paint the entire contest and pummeled Arizona in front of a raucous home crowd.

“We knew this game was going to be a big challenge on a lot of levels, and we knew how important it was,” sophomore forward Reeves Nelson said. “In my opinion, we met that challenge.”

It’d be difficult to disagree. The win vaults the Bruins (21-8, 12-4 Pac-10) into a first-place tie with the Wildcats (23-6, 12-4) atop the conference with just two games to go.

UCLA frontcourt stalwarts Nelson, Tyler Honeycutt and Joshua Smith combined for 59 points, and Nelson grabbed 16 rebounds. The Bruins made just two field goals outside of the key.

“We really got it in, got it in, got it in, and they really went to work,” Howland said of his big three.

UCLA’s aggressive offense and stifling interior defense proved to be too much for the smaller squad from Arizona. The Bruins even got big minutes from redshirt freshman center Anthony Stover, who blocked four shots and was a formidable presence around the rim the entire afternoon.

The forwards also did yeomen’s work on Arizona star Derrick Williams. The sophomore – and likely Pac-10 Player of the Year – scored 15 points, but 13 were in the first half. He was held scoreless through the first 15 minutes of the second as the Bruins extended their 40-30 halftime lead.

Much of that was due to the defense of Nelson, who told Howland after Thursday’s game that he wanted to match up with Williams. Not necessarily known as a defensive specialist, Nelson embraced the challenge.

“If Derrick Williams is a top-five pick in the NBA and I hold him to two points in the second half, I’m proud of my effort,” Nelson said.

UCLA is now 20-0 on the season when it gets a double-digit lead.

“We need to get more 10-point leads,” Howland deadpanned.

Unlike many of their previous contests, the Bruins held onto their lead, and extended it. Arizona cut the deficit to 57-48 on Williams’ only basket of the second half, but UCLA got – what else? – a layup from Smith on the ensuing possession.

The Bruins won going away.

“We’ve had trouble all year putting two halves together,” Honeycutt said. “We made a statement. It also boosts our confidence. It lets us know how good we can be.”

The Wildcats had no answer for the trio of Nelson, Honeycutt and Smith, who outscored Arizona by 10 points themselves. The Wildcats shot just over 31 percent from the field and 21 percent from 3-point land.

“We won the game doing what we want to do, which is playing great defense,” Howland said.

A clinic on interior offensive play didn’t hurt either. Nelson, Honeycutt and Smith not only scored efficiently, but they also effectively shared the wealth with each other. All three players had three assists.

It was fitting, then, for so many reasons, that Trapani’s final bucket came in the paint, where UCLA dominated for 40 minutes Saturday. And it came at the farewell of this edition of Pauley Pavilion, where UCLA dominated for 46 years.

“To have Trapani make that last shot means so much to me, you have no idea,” said Howland, on the verge of tears after the game. “You couldn’t have written it any better.”

________________


UCLA brings the house down by routing Arizona

Bruins say goodbye (for now) to Pauley Pavilion, which will undergo renovations

By Jon Gold Staff Writer
The Los Angeles Daily News
Posted: 02/26/2011 10:21:16 PM PST
Updated: 02/26/2011 10:38:35 PM PST


Sophomore forward Reeves Nelson high-fives fans as he heads to the UCLA locker room after the Bruins’ defeat of No. 10 Arizona in their final home game of the season. Maya Sugarman Daily Bruin

Reeves Nelson walked into a throng of UCLA students a conquering hero, his arms thrown into the air, swallowed whole by the blue hole.

Tyler Trapani - John Wooden's great-grandson - hit a throw-away bucket with the seconds ticking off, making coach Ben Howland break down into tears.

The 1971 UCLA national championship team was honored, introduced by legendary coach Denny Crum.

Oh, and the Bruins just happened to play their most thoroughly dominant game of the season, a 71-49 demolition of Arizona that tied the team atop the Pacific-10 Conference.

Now Pauley Pavilion goes under wraps for a year, renovations sending UCLA on the road, even for home games next year.

What a send-off.

"I told them (on Friday), `This is going to be our best win of the year,' " Howland said. "And it was."

In putting together two complete halves for the first time perhaps all season, the Bruins looked nothing like the team that lost at Arizona by 11 earlier this year.

On that Thursday night in late January, Wildcats forward Derrick Williams had his way, scoring 22 points and generally looking like the Pac-10 Player of the Year favorite.

Nelson remembered that night, and he reminded Howland of it on Thursday, after the Bruins defeated Arizona State, 71-53.

Nelson walked straight up to Howland and demanded - well, "strongly requested," he said - to guard Williams on Saturday in the pivotal matchup.

Sophomore forward Reeves Nelson denies Arizona sophomore forward Derrick Williams a shot. Morgan Glier-Daily Bruin


Even Nelson, though, full of bravado and tattoos, could not have expected the performance he delivered. In addition to scoring a career-high 27 points and grabbing 16 rebounds, Nelson played full-throttle on Williams, holding the potential top-five NBA draft pick to 15 points, including just two in the second half.

"I've been told that some people say I can't play defense, really," Nelson said. "I just take that very personally. I'm still working on my help-side, but I've always been very confident in my man-to-man defense. If Derrick Williams is a top-five pick in the NBA, and I hold him to two points in the second half, then I'm proud of my own effort."

Nelson was at his best when UCLA needed it most.

After sophomore small forward Tyler Honeycutt threw down a slam dunk for two of his 15 points with just less than nine minutes to play in the first half, Nelson exploded, scoring the team's next seven points in less than two minutes.

Freshman center Joshua Smith took his lead, scoring seven quick points, and the Bruins went from three down to nine up in less than six minutes.

"I can't say enough about Reeves," Howland said. "This was an unbelievably complete game. To have that many rebounds, that many points, and to play that great defense against arguably the best player in the conference?"

UCLA (21-8, 12-4) parlayed the first-half success and a rousing crowd - most of the packed house delivered the "Blue Out" that the marketing department called for - into ruthless efficiency in the second half. The Bruins maintained a double-digit lead for much of the half, and after Arizona (23-6, 12-4) put on a mini-run, cutting the lead from 21to nine with 4:36 left, UCLA closed things out with a 14-1 run the rest of the way.

"We've had trouble all year putting two halves together," Honeycutt said. "I think we made a statement. It boosts our confidence not winning by five. It lets us know how good we can be."

It also reminded quite a few in attendance of how good they once were.

As much as Saturday's game was about the present - and UCLA's present is pretty good, the team having won 18 of 22 games - it was just as much about the past.

The '71 team was serenaded by cheers, Pauley Pavilion erupting for Sidney Wicks and Co., and there were Wooden tributes aplenty.

None more fitting than at the end, when a 3-point attempt by walk-on Jack Haley Jr. dropped ever so softly into Trapani's hands.

Trapani corralled the ball, and mustering as much composure as he could, gently lofted the ball off the glass and into the basket.

The last points in the venerated building, the House that Wooden Built, for more than a year.

"I pray a lot," Howland said, once more breaking into tears. "and to have Trapani make that last shot means so much to me. You have no idea. And I know it does to his family. You couldn't have written it any better.

"This was a great day for us."

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Sophomore forward Reeves Nelson battles with Arizona junior guard Brendon Lavender during the first half. Nelson led UCLA with his second consecutive double-double, with a career-high 27 points, and 16 rebounds. Maya Sugarman Daily Bruin

Bruins close Pauley with cheers and tears

UCLA is tied for first place with Arizona after routing Wildcats, 71-49. Reeves Nelson has a career-high 27 points and plays stifling defense on Arizona star.

By Ben Bolch
The Los Angeles Times
7:45 PM PST, February 26, 2011


They lingered on the old court, arms waving and legs leaping and smiles widening.

The celebration was just getting started as the UCLA players raced over to the student section, exchanging high-fives and accepting pats on the back. Sophomore forward Reeves Nelson wrapped a classmate in a bearhug and hoisted him into the air.


Junior guard Lazeric Jones and the Bruins address UCLA fans after their final home game of the season. Maya Sugarman-Daily Bruin

Freshman center Josh Smith connects with Bruin fans after the game. Morgan Glier-Daily Bruin

Former players and coaches gathered at half time to recognize the last UCLA basketball game to be played on the same court that John Wooden held his undefeated record. Wooden’s son James and daughter Nan were present to comemmorate the late UCLA legend. Morgan Glier-Daily Bruin

Bruin fans celebrate from the stands, behind Fox Sports Analyst and former UCLA forward Marques Johnson. Maya Sugarman-Daily Bruin


Saying goodbye had never been so much fun.

In a fitting final tribute to their basketball home of 46 years, UCLA delivered a 71-49 victory over No. 10 Arizona on Saturday at Pauley Pavilion that wasn't so much a showdown as a smackdown, the Bruins holding the Wildcats to their lowest point total of the season.

It was also a tear-jerker of sorts, with UCLA walk-on Tyler Trapani scoring the last basket inside the building where his great-grandfather John Wooden had guided the Bruins to eight of his 10 national championships.

"I'm still kind of baffled at what just happened," said Trapani, who grabbed an airball underneath the basket and banked in a putback with 25 seconds left.

Normally stoic UCLA Coach Ben Howland cried in the locker room afterward and choked up twice when he met with the media, and it wasn't because his Bruins (21-8 overall, 12-4 Pacific 10 Conference) moved into a first-place conference tie alongside the Wildcats (23-6, 12-4) with a week remaining in the regular season.

Howland was moved to tears by the symmetry of Trapani's first career basket in the last game played on Nell & John Wooden Court before it closes for renovations.

"It fell right in his hands," Howland said. "There's something going on there. I really believe that."

Nelson certainly played as if motivated by something divine, his career-high 27 points and 16 rebounds overshadowed by his defense. Nelson held Arizona's Derrick Williams, who had scored 13 points in the first half while being defended by a variety of Bruins big men, to two points after halftime while guarding the star forward exclusively.

"I just took it as a challenge," Nelson said. "I have a tattoo on me that says, 'Tell me I can't. I don't hear you.' "

The Bruins had a sellout crowd of 11,986 rocking when they closed the first half and opened the second on a 22-2 run that transformed a one-point lead into a 51-30 advantage. The Wildcats had one final surge in them, pulling to within 57-48 on Williams' only basket of the second half with 4:36 remaining.

It wasn't nearly enough. A tip-in by freshman center Joshua Smith (17 points) sparked a 14-0 run for UCLA, which held Arizona to 25% shooting in the second half and held a 40-26 rebounding edge overall in its best start-to-finish effort of the season.

"They've become the best defensive team in our conference," Wildcats Coach Sean Miller said.

Nelson hatched his plan to guard Williams on Thursday night, but Howland told Nelson he wanted to start freshman Anthony Stover on the national player-of-the-year candidate and have Smith guard Williams when Jamelle Horne was in the game because Smith would have trouble staying with Horne on the perimeter.

After Williams blistered the Bruins for a few driving layups in the first half, Nelson said he went to Howland and told his coach he was going to guard Williams the rest of the game "no matter what."

Does he usually tell his coach what to do?

"No," Nelson said. "It was a strong request."

In the final minute, Howland was among those on the bench imploring the Bruins to get the ball to Trapani. When Jack Haley spotted up for a three-pointer that fell directly into Trapani's hands, it made for the moment of a lifetime.

"What a cool way to have the last basket ever," Howland said. "I mean, you couldn't have written it any better."

____________


Freshman center Josh Smith celebrates with sophomore forward Reeves Nelson, before Smith attempts to complete a three-point play. Smith came off the bench with 17 points on Saturday. Maya Sugarman-Daily Bruin
UCLA defeats No. 10 Arizona 71-49

By BETH HARRIS, AP Sports Writer
from Yahoo Sports
12 hours, 36 minutes ago


LOS ANGELES (AP)—UCLA struggled all season to put two solid halves together. The Bruins waited until their last game at historic Pauley Pavilion to do it, helped by a last basket that John Wooden surely had an assist.

Reeves Nelson had a career-high 27 points and 16 rebounds, and the Bruins defeated No. 10 Arizona 71-49 on Saturday to tie the Wildcats for first place in the Pac-10 in the last men’s game played in the arena before it closes for renovation.

Fittingly, the late Wooden’s great-grandson Tyler Trapani, a walk-on who rides the Bruins’ bench, got in the game and scored their final basket.

“It was kind of meant to be,” said Tyler Honeycutt, who had 15 points.

Joshua Smith added 17 points for the Bruins (21-8), who share the league’s top spot at 12-4 with two games remaining. They have won 12 of 14 after being out of the top 25 all season.

“It’s really good we’re tied. Our goal is to win the Pac-10 outright,” Smith said. “This was one of these games we needed to win to bump our resume with the NCAA tournament.”

Derrick Williams scored 15 points and Kyle Fogg had 10 for the Wildcats (23-6), who stumbled through a lost weekend in L.A. They arrived with a two-game lead only to be upset by Southern California on Thursday, when Williams, the league’s No. 2 scorer, was held to a season-low eight points.

Then they encountered a UCLA team hellbent on grabbing a share of the Pac-10 crown for itself while leaving Pauley on a winning note in front of Wooden’s family, including his son Jim and daughter Nan.

“It’s hard when you play in an atmosphere like this, things can easily get away from you,” Arizona coach Sean Miller said. “We knew it was going to be a tough weekend. Today we just played against a great team in front of a very good crowd.”

UCLA’s 11 national championship banners will be packed away while the 46-year-old arena is brought into modern times during a remodeling. The Bruins will play at a location still to be determined before Pauley reopens for the 2012-13 season. The women’s team plays their final home game next week.

Jack Haley Jr., whose father Jack starred at UCLA and played in the NBA, airballed a 3-point attempt with 25 seconds to go. Trapani grabbed the ball on the left side and made the layup.

“I’m still kind of baffled at what just happened,” he said. “I usually don’t get in. For me, it’s about being here to get an education and go on in life. I feel like my great-grandpa put me in that spot.”

UCLA coach Ben Howland was overcome in the locker room after the game.

“I got some tears in my eyes,” he said, pausing and lowering his head. “I was thinking about Coach (Wooden). It was so fitting Tyler hit the shot. It fell right in his hands. There’s something going on there, I really believe it.”

A sweep would have given Arizona the regular-season title outright. The Wildcats still could have claimed at least a share of it by winning Saturday. Now it comes down to next weekend, when they host the Oregon schools and UCLA hits the road to face the Washington schools.

“Nobody is happy about the loss, but we lost to a really good team,” Arizona’s Kyryl Natyazhko said. “We have two home games left and we have to get the job done. Every time you play against UCLA it’s a big game. We didn’t play hard enough to stop them.”

UCLA held the Wildcats to a season-low in points; Arizona came in averaging 77.6—second-best in the Pac-10. The Wildcats shot 21 percent from 3-point range, well off their league-leading 41 percent.

The Bruins gained control of a game that was close early with a 22-2 run spanning halftime. Smith scored nine points despite picking up his third foul in the spurt that ended with UCLA ahead 51-30. Nelson added seven. His rebounds helped the Bruins dominate the boards 40-26.

Leading 29-28, UCLA closed the first half on an 11-2 run while the Wildcats were limited to one field goal over the final 5:03. The Bruins picked up where they left off in the second half, starting out with 11 consecutive points in front of 11,986, the biggest crowd of the season that grew more raucous as the lead increased.

Smith proved to be his usual load in the post, barreling through the Wildcats’ defense for layups. He got hit in the eye at the same time he was called for his third foul and sat down.

The Wildcats immediately took advantage, running off 10 straight points to close to 51-40. Fogg and Jamelle Horne hit consecutive 3-pointers.

Arizona scored six straight to get within nine before Smith tipped in Lazeric Jones’ missed 3-pointer with 4:02 left. But the Bruins closed the game on another run.

UCLA wore retro jerseys with “Bruins” on the front along with a “JRW” patch in the shape of Wooden’s “Pyramid of Success” for the coaching legend who died in June at 99.

Among those attending the final men’s game at Pauley were former Wooden assistant Denny Crum, Olympian Rafer Johnson, and Sidney Wicks and Curtis Rowe from the 1971 national title team that was honored at halftime.

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It's a Hollywood Ending for Pauley

By Tracy Pierson
Bruin Report Online, Scout.com, FoxSports.com, MSN.com
Posted Feb 27, 2011


UCLA says goodbye to the old Pauley Pavilion in a game that would be considered a scene from a hokie Hollywood movie, beating #10 Arizona, 71-49. Reeves Nelson played the game of his career...

If you would have written it as a movie script any producer would have immediately rejected it as too hokie.

For John Wooden’s great grandson, Tyler Trapani, to score the last basket in “old” Pauley Pavilion, on the day that UCLA routed #10 Arizona, 71-49, it was surreal.

Trapani, with a few seconds left in the game, had the ball fall out of the sky and into his hands, as if it were an assist from Coach himself.

If you’re a spiritual person, you might believe that Coach was actually in the building Saturday, because UCLA played like they were possessed by Wooden’s spirit.

The Bruins played their best game of the season – no question – in dominating the Wildcats. Again, you couldn’t have written the script any hokier, that for a team which has struggled with its effort and focus all year long to put it so together in the biggest game of the year, which also happens to be the last game in old Pauley.

As we’ve maintained all season, UCLA’s defense will take this team as far as it can go, and if you watched the game Saturday, it would seem the defense has the capability of taking the team a good distance. It was an excellent defensive performance, holding Arizona to 31% shooting from the field for the game, and 25% in the second half. If you took a typical game from earlier in the year and held it up to compare it to this one, it’d look like a different defensive team, even though it was all the same guys in the uniforms.

Perhaps it was the throwback uniforms that got them to play with some throwback intensity. You know Ben Howland, who is superstitious, is going to bring out those uniforms again before the season is over.

You do have to say one slightly cynical thing about the defensive performance, too, which you have to mention because it’s dead on: It’s really amazing how well this team can play defense when they actually try, huh?

There were two guys who made all the difference in the game defensively, and that was Reeves Nelson and Anthony Stover. See, now this is why you can’t be a stats scout. If you were just looking at a box score, you could immediately understand why Nelson was the player of the game, scoring 27 points and hauling in 16 boards. But why would you even consider giving the honor of difference-maker to Stover, whose stat line is modest (except for, perhaps, that big “4” in the blocks column)? If you watch the game again you’ll see that Stover was a huge influence in every one of his 18 minutes played, blocking or altering just about every shot near him, making it near-impossible for any Wildcat to score around the basket. But it wasn’t just his shot-blocking; Stover is, by far, the best screen hedger of any big man on the team, and perhaps the best that Howland has ever had. His hedges are so good it completely disrupts the opposing team’s offensive flow, to the point they have to pretty much re-start their offense. See, now, these are the kind of little things that don’t show up on a stat sheet – hedging and altering shots – that make a huge impact on a game. The players on the court, too, aren’t robots, they have emotions, so that kind of defensive effort and performance by one of their teammates is infectious. Every time Stover is on the court it’s not coincidental that his teammates step up their defense.

Seriously, perhaps the most exciting thing about this season is imagining what Stover, who is only a redshirt freshman, is going to be like by the time he’s a senior. Hopefully Howland will have him teaching a seminar to incoming bigs about how to hedge.

The story of Nelson insisting to Howland that he wants to defend Arizona’s All-American, Derrick Williams, is also the stuff of a Hollywood script. It seemed pretty no-brainer anyway, after Nelson proved how good of a post defender he could be since he shut down USC’s Nikola Vukevic. It was a mistake, as Howland later admitted in his post-game comments, that he left Josh Smith on Williams at the beginning of the game, which resulted in Smith quickly picking up his second foul. You could see Howland cussing at himself on the bench, and we were with you, coach.

UCLA doubled Williams sometimes, and it was generally effective, and contributed to Williams having a poor game offensively, scoring a quiet 15 points. But William being pretty much an offensive non-factor in this game was almost solely due to Nelson’s defensive performance. Nelson was excellent, and it was particularly noteworthy just not because of Nelson’s good post defense, but because Williams likes to start with the ball out on the wing facing the basket quite a bit. Nelson showed he could stay with Williams, moving his feet quickly enough and staying balanced, beating Williams to the spot. It not only was physically a great defensive performance, but you’d have to suspect that Nelson also did his homework on Williams, seemingly knowing Williams’ tendencies well, and beating him to the spot as if he knew where he was going.

In the post-game interview of the players, Nelson made a reference to Bruin Report Online’s Greg Hicks, saying that he wanted to prove that Hicks was wrong for asserting that Nelson couldn’t play defense, and it certainly makes for great video (thanks, Reeves). But he also got it fundamentally wrong: Hicks and BRO never said Nelson couldn’t play defense, but that it seemed he often times chose not to.

Now that he’s shown us what kind of defense he can play when he’s focused and motivated, we’ll all definitely expect it out of him now.

And, if we’re going to get it exactly right, we’ve never really raised much criticism against Nelson’s post defense, but more often his help defense, which he actually references in the video as still needing work, and his jogging back up the court in transition.

No matter what was his inspration, it was an excellent defensive performance by Nelson. He held Williams scoreless for 20 minutes, and to only 2 points in the second half.

This game itself proved the sometimes tired axiom that defense will carry you through is right on. When UCLA’s offense went cold in the second half, and it did so for a very long stretch, UCLA held its double-digit lead against Arizona because the Wildcats just couldn’t get a good look against UCLA’s defense. Of course, give Nelson a great deal of credit for his man-to-man on Williams, but it was a definitely defensive team effort. UCLA was the best it’s been in defending screens. Much of that might have been because Arizona was giving the Bruins so much space on top of the screen for defenders to easily go around it. But the Bruins generally looked more confident and self-assured about how to defend screens, and then, even just as important, how to provide help to cut off any dribble penetration and then rotate a second time and pick up the kick-out. There were so many Arizona possessions in which they just couldn’t punch a hole in UCLA’s defense. Even the two consecutive three-pointers that got Arizona a bit back in the game in the second half came after UCLA had sustained two very good defensive trips, it was just that Arizona hit two forced three-pointers at the end of the shot clock. It was clear, though, that if UCLA kept playing defense like that for the remainder of the game Arizona wouldn’t be able to keep hitting forced, end-of-shot-clock 24 footers.

The other Bruin whose presence had such a big impact on the game is easily Josh Smith. His defense was good, but his bigger impact came on the offensive end. Besides asserting that UCLA’s defense will carry it, the other assertion we’ve been maintaining all season is that good things happen when the big dog touches the ball in the post. It seems that UCLA got that through its collective head in this game. Smith scored 17 points, and just about every time he caught the ball on the block Arizona just simply couldn’t handle him. Williams tried, but he looked like a little gnat on Smith’s back. But then, what really also made a huge impact was Smith’s passing out of the double team. Arizona collapsed a double team on him, but Smith, to his vast credit, has learned not to panic. He repeatedly found cutters or open outside shooters with his passes. Nelson needs to buy Smith a couple of Fatburgers because he was the most immediately recipient of Smith passing out of the double team, numerous times cutting down the middle of the lane for a Smith pass that led to dunk.

Tyler Honeycutt played a solid game, too, getting 15 points, 5 rebounds, 3 assists and 3 blocks, against just 1 turnover. He also looked energized by the emotion of the game, offensively being aggressive going to the basket and not settling for outside jumpers, while also playing good defense. Arizona is a good defensive match-up for him, since the guys he generally guards are more fours than threes. We don’t know if it’s by design, but Honeycutt is most effective defensively when he stays in front of his player but allows him into the paint, which is pretty much a trap to make the player attempt a shot, which Honeycutt has a very good chance of blocking. We’ve maintained that Honeycutt would be such a better defender if he had to defend opposing fours, and this kind of a way to re-create that.

What’s really encouraging is that, if you might notice in this article, we keep touching on the fact that UCLA is learning how to play defense, and each player is finding his defensive niche. We said in the season preview that the team could potentially be very good if this happened, and the game against Arizona is definitely an indication that on many levels it is.

Jerime Anderson also deserves recognition. He was good in every facet of the game in his 15 minutes, scoring four points, including a big basket that to an extent stemmed the tied of an Arizona second-half run, and he had 3 nice assists against no turnovers. He was instrumental in getting the offense back on track when it was sputtering, making the right, well-timed pass in Howland’s offensive set, and re-emphasizing to get the ball inside. He also played very good defense.

Another big factor in the game: 8 UCLA turnovers. When the Bruins take care of the ball, and play strong defense they’re awfully difficult to beat (that sounds strikingly like something I could have written any time between 2005 and 2008). We did notice that Nelson, on a defensive rebound, gave up the ball to a guard rather than trying to bring it up himself, and that definitely helped to limit turnovers.

We do have to say that, while UCLA did play a very good game, its best of the season, it was facilitated by a poor game from the Wildcats. While it seemed that Arizona had been starting to make a case as of late that they are just not Derrick Williams, UCLA, to an extent showed that, well, yeah they are. If you hold down Williams you can hold Arizona to 49 points. Not only is his scoring big, Williams is the key to the rest of the Wildcats scoring, and UCLA stopped that down. The Wildcats, too, appeared flat for most of the game, perhaps because it was coming off a disconcerting loss to USC, the energy of the UCLA crowd, etc. But also, Arizona’s Sean Miller seemed to make some tactical errors. UCLA’s opponents this season have minimized Josh Smith’s impact not by doubling him, but by denying him the ball, and Arizona allowed him to touch it almost at will. Smith is a good passer but sometimes doesn’t work hard to get position to catch the ball, so you’d rather deny him the ball in the post than allow him to pass out of the double team. Arizona never went to a zone throughout the game, which would have helped its defense collapse on Smith and deny him a touch. Then, if you were going to be married to the double team, you would assume the most obvious guy cutting down the lane, Nelson, was going to be getting the pass out of the double team, but it looked like it was the first time that had ever happened to the Wildcats, every time. They were particularly poor defensively away from the ball, with UCLA cutters easily leaving their flat-footed defender in the dust. As I said, too, on offense, Arizona’s screens allowed far too much space for a UCLA defender to trail his man on top of it.

Arizona’s breakdowns and curious tactical choices definitely contributed to the, yes, you have to say it – magical – day. Like it was a Hollywood script.

Hopefully the Bruins have a few more scenes of the potential feel-good movie of the year on location in Seattle.



Click on boxscore to enlarge (from Yahoo Sports)