 |
| UCLA’s Jordan Adams, center, drives between Utah’s Delon Wright, left, and Dakarai Tucker to score. (Mark J. Terrill/The Associated Press) |
Warm applause greeted Jordan Adams as he sat down on UCLA’s bench at Pauley Pavilion, leaving a blowout win with eight minutes left on the clock.
The sophomore guard could’ve easily topped his career high Saturday, but his Bruins already were well on their way to a 80-66 victory over Utah — one that featured another explosive second half for the team. Might as well give him some rest, even if he did briefly sub back in later.
Even without needing him for nearly the last quarter of the game, UCLA (20-5, 9-3) now sits just one game back of first-place Arizona, a former No. 1-ranked team that just suffered its second conference upset.
Adams finished with 24 points, made all three of his three-point attempts and shot 10 of 14 overall. It was his highest career point total against a Pac-12 opponent and the first time he finished with double-digit field goals since a November win over Morehead State.
The last time he scored at least 20 points was in the conference-opening win against USC, one in which he went 8 of 13 from the field. Through the next 10 games leading into this weekend, he shot just 36.2 percent.
“Not one time have we told Jordan Adams not to shoot the basketball,” head coach Steve Alford said. “That’s his role.”
Adams’ confidence never wavered. The difference, according to Alford, was Adams exercised more patience when moving without the ball.
“Sometimes he gets in a hurry,” the first-year Bruins coach said. “We really tried to kind of slow him down with his cutting. He’s done a nice job in practice. I thought he got in a good rhythm tonight.”
The 6-foot-5 standout opened the second half with a jumper, then converted a 3-point play a few minutes later.
With his help the Bruins opened the second half with a 7-0 run that forced Utah to call a timeout at 16:28. The run eventually swelled to 12-0 until finally, the Utes made their first field goal since the break. More than five minutes already had ticked off the clock.
Utah (17-8, 6-7) had yet to lose by double digits this season and suffered its first seven losses by an average of 3.7 points.
“They put some heat on us in the second half and it kind of demoralized us,” Utah coach Larry Krystkowiak said.
It followed a rocky first half from his two stars.
Facing a defense intent on keeping him out of the lane, guard Delon Wright walked into the locker room with only four points and a field goal — one that counted only because freshman guard Zach LaVine reached up into the net and was called for goaltending. Forward Jordan Loveridge was scoreless.
The Utes’ top duo had entered the game averaging 16.2 and 16.0 points, respectively, with Wright ranked as the fifth-most efficient offensive player in the conference. He finished with 16 points — as well as six rebounds and seven assists — but was the only Ute in double digits at the final buzzer.
No comments:
Post a Comment