Sunday, February 5, 2017

No. 8 UCLA Surges Past Washington, 107-66

from UCLA Athletics

feb 4, 2017 | UCLA MEN'S BASKETBALL PAGE | POST LINK


SEATTLE – Lonzo Ball scored a team-leading 22 points to lead No. 8 UCLA past Washington, 107-66, before a sellout crowd of 10,000 at Alaska Airlines Arena on Saturday night.

Ball also recorded six rebounds and five assists in the Bruins' 41-point victory at Washington (9-14, 2-9 Pac-12). He was one of four Bruins to score at least 20 points. Bryce Alford had 21 points, and TJ Leaf and Aaron Holiday each totaled 20.

UCLA (21-3, 8-3 Pac-12) logged its second-largest margin of victory at Washington in program history. In addition, the Bruins scored at least 100 points in a Pac-12 road contest for the first time since Feb. 23, 1995, when UCLA won at California, 104-88.

"I just thought we played really well," UCLA head coach Steve Alford said. "We had a lot of guys play well tonight. I liked how we attacked the zone inside-out. We didn't stand. We had good movement like we normally have against man-to-man, and we shoot the ball so well that I thought we got the looks that we wanted."

Washington's Markelle Fultz scored a team-high 25 points, adding six rebounds and five assists. Noah Dickerson was Washington's only other player to score in double figures, totaling 10 points.

UCLA secured its first road sweep at Washington State and Washington in its last 12 trips to those Pac-12 schools. The last sweep took place in 2004. The Bruins earned a 95-79 win at Washington State on Wednesday, Feb. 1.

The Bruins opened Saturday night's game on an 18-4 scoring run and never saw its first-half cushion fall to any fewer than nine points. UCLA entered the locker room at halftime having built a 52-34 cushion.

UCLA opened the second half by making its first five three-point attempts. In fact, Ball made each of his first three three-point shots to help the Bruins push ahead, 66-43, with 16:42 to play. UCLA used a 10-0 scoring run, capped by a three-pointer by Isaac Hamilton, to lead 83-47 at the 10:56 mark.

Saturday night's game featured numerous highlight reel dunks for UCLA. In the first half, Ball found Leaf breaking toward the hoop for an alley-oop dunk after a three-pointer from Alford – a sequence that was a part of UCLA scoring 10 consecutive points.

Freshman Ike Anigbogu was on the receiving end of a pair of emphatic alley-oop dunks, including one on which he was fouled with 12:53 to play in the second half.

UCLA shot 60.6 percent from the field and 45.8 percent from three-point range. Alford made 5 of 8 shots from three-point distance, while Ball was 4 for 7.

The Bruins won the rebounding battle by a 41-29 margin and totaled 21 assists.

UCLA's defense helped create 20 Washington turnovers and forced nine steals, including four by Ball.

The Bruins will return to action against No. 13 Oregon on Thursday, Feb. 9, in Pauley Pavilion. Game time is 7 p.m. (PT). UCLA's game will be nationally televised on ESPN.

Game Notes: UCLA's 107 points on Saturday marked the Bruins' highest point total on the road in a Pac-12 contest since Dec. 23, 1987, when the Bruins lost at Stanford in double overtime, 116-110 … the Bruins have now won three of their last four games at Washington's Alaska Airlines Arena … with Oregon on deck this Thursday, UCLA will play five of its final seven regular-season games in Pauley Pavilion … UCLA improved its record to 10-2 on the road and at neutral sites this season … with five three-pointers on Saturday, Bryce Alford has now made 291 career three-point shots (he trails Jason Kapono for UCLA's all-time lead in that category by 26 threes).
Finally...The Box


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