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UCLA players Jerime Anderson, from left, Tyler Lamb, and Lazeric Jones celebrate during the second half of an NCAA college basketball game against Washington, Saturday, March 3, 2012, in Los Angeles. UCLA won 75-69.
UCLA executes with win against Washington in final home game
Daily Bruin
Published March 3, 2012, 5:32 pm in Men's Basketball, Sports
The UCLA men’s basketball team believes it can win the Pac-12 Tournament, but evidence against that belief has been heaped around the Bruins all season.
On Saturday against Washington, UCLA painted a different picture. The lasting image was one of a team that seemingly paid no heed to national media scrutiny and was able to play poised in a tight game. The 75-69 win capped off arguably UCLA’s best weekend of conference play.
“I don’t think nothing changed,” senior guard Jerime Anderson said. “We’ve been getting better every single week in league (play). Sometimes balls don’t bounce our way and we get losses, but I could see the improvement in our team every week.”
UCLA (18-13, 11-7 Pac-12), the team picked in the preseason to finish first in the conference, took down a team that could have clinched an outright Pac-12 title with a win.
“We just beat the first-place team in our league that would have won the championship outright,” UCLA coach Ben Howland said. “They were playing for a lot. We got their very best effort, and I was really pleased with how we handled it.”
It was Washington (21-9, 14-4) that could not execute in the waning moments. That had been UCLA’s problem all season – three of the Bruins’ losses in conference play have been by three points or less, including a 71-69 heartbreaker in Seattle in the teams’ first matchup this season.
A slim Washington lead was erased by UCLA early in the second half and the teams began to go back and forth.
The Bruins were in the same situation as their first matchup with the Huskies: needing to get points on Washington’s tough zone defense. This time, they were able to do it with a little determination.
Sophomore center Joshua Smith hustled to grab an offensive rebound and put the miss back in to tie the game at 67. The Bruins turned the ball over on the very next possession, but stole it right back. Then, a couple of senior guards playing their final home games in Bruin uniforms cracked the Husky zone when Jerime Anderson found Lazeric Jones for a straightaway mid-range jumper, part of Jones’ game-high 20 points.
They persisted even after Washington tied the game once more. It took three shot attempts until redshirt sophomore forward Travis Wear tipped home a miss to give UCLA the lead for good with 48.2 seconds left.
Most importantly, as Jones said, “We just went out and got stops.” The Bruins withstood two Husky shot attempts in the final 40 seconds to preserve the win.
Resilience was the theme du jour on a day UCLA changed perceptions of itself.
“I think the adversity of this week probably brought us closer together,” said Howland, referencing the nationally circulated Sports Illustrated story that portrayed him as a coach who had lost control.
“Regardless of what anybody thinks outside, this team is very close,” Anderson said. “We love our coach, respect him and have his back totally. One hundred percent.”
UCLA jumped up to No. 5 in the Pac-12 standings with the win and will face last-place USC at Staples Center on Wednesday in the first round of the conference tournament. The Bruins will enter with momentum and hope to leave with an automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament.
“I think we’re starting to thrive, or surge, at the right time,” Anderson said.
“If I were any (other) team, I wouldn’t want to see us. That’s all I’m going to say.”
The UCLA men’s basketball team believes it can win the Pac-12 Tournament, but evidence against that belief has been heaped around the Bruins all season.
On Saturday against Washington, UCLA painted a different picture. The lasting image was one of a team that seemingly paid no heed to national media scrutiny and was able to play poised in a tight game. The 75-69 win capped off arguably UCLA’s best weekend of conference play.
“I don’t think nothing changed,” senior guard Jerime Anderson said. “We’ve been getting better every single week in league (play). Sometimes balls don’t bounce our way and we get losses, but I could see the improvement in our team every week.”
UCLA (18-13, 11-7 Pac-12), the team picked in the preseason to finish first in the conference, took down a team that could have clinched an outright Pac-12 title with a win.
“We just beat the first-place team in our league that would have won the championship outright,” UCLA coach Ben Howland said. “They were playing for a lot. We got their very best effort, and I was really pleased with how we handled it.”
It was Washington (21-9, 14-4) that could not execute in the waning moments. That had been UCLA’s problem all season – three of the Bruins’ losses in conference play have been by three points or less, including a 71-69 heartbreaker in Seattle in the teams’ first matchup this season.
A slim Washington lead was erased by UCLA early in the second half and the teams began to go back and forth.
The Bruins were in the same situation as their first matchup with the Huskies: needing to get points on Washington’s tough zone defense. This time, they were able to do it with a little determination.
Sophomore center Joshua Smith hustled to grab an offensive rebound and put the miss back in to tie the game at 67. The Bruins turned the ball over on the very next possession, but stole it right back. Then, a couple of senior guards playing their final home games in Bruin uniforms cracked the Husky zone when Jerime Anderson found Lazeric Jones for a straightaway mid-range jumper, part of Jones’ game-high 20 points.
They persisted even after Washington tied the game once more. It took three shot attempts until redshirt sophomore forward Travis Wear tipped home a miss to give UCLA the lead for good with 48.2 seconds left.
Most importantly, as Jones said, “We just went out and got stops.” The Bruins withstood two Husky shot attempts in the final 40 seconds to preserve the win.
Resilience was the theme du jour on a day UCLA changed perceptions of itself.
“I think the adversity of this week probably brought us closer together,” said Howland, referencing the nationally circulated Sports Illustrated story that portrayed him as a coach who had lost control.
“Regardless of what anybody thinks outside, this team is very close,” Anderson said. “We love our coach, respect him and have his back totally. One hundred percent.”
UCLA jumped up to No. 5 in the Pac-12 standings with the win and will face last-place USC at Staples Center on Wednesday in the first round of the conference tournament. The Bruins will enter with momentum and hope to leave with an automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament.
“I think we’re starting to thrive, or surge, at the right time,” Anderson said.
“If I were any (other) team, I wouldn’t want to see us. That’s all I’m going to say.”
__________________
UCLA surging in the wake of adversity
"The victory and Colorado’s loss at Oregon State on Saturday give UCLA a fifth-place tie with Colorado in the final standings. UCLA owns the tiebreaker over Colorado and therefore will be seeded No. 5 in the Pac-12 tournament and plays No. 12 USC in the first round Wednesday at 2:30 p.m."
By Peter Yoon
ESPNLA.com, UCLA Report
March, 3, 2012 4:41 PM PT
Jayne Kamin-Oncea/US Presswire UCLA players had plenty to celebrate after knocking off conference co-leader Washington on Saturday.
LOS ANGELES -- If UCLA keeps playing this way, coach Ben Howland might want to commission an investigative reporter to unearth sordid details about his program every week of the season.
In what has been easily the most difficult week of an unusually difficult season, the Bruins played their best basketball in the wake of a rippling Sports Illustrated report that exposed some dirty little secrets. UCLA capped the regular-season with a 75-69 comeback victory over first-place Washington on Saturday in the Bruins’ final game at the Sports Arena.
It followed a resounding 78-46 victory over Washington State that was the largest margin of victory by any Cougars’ opponent this season and was the second-largest margin of victory by UCLA. The Bruins played their best back-to-back games in the same week that Sports Illustrated reported mass dysfunction in the UCLA program over the past three or four years.
A pair of victories in a weak Pac-12 Conference certainly doesn’t put UCLA back among the nation’s elite, but the resolve the team showed this week in the face of such adversity makes it clear that UCLA is not a program in a shambles.
“It speaks to how together our team is and how together we’ve been all year,” guard Jerime Anderson said. “Regardless of what anybody thinks outside, we’re very close and we love our coach and respect him and have his back totally, 100 percent.”
The Bruins (18-13, 11-7 Pac-12) have been close most of the season. They lost five games by three points or fewer this season, including four in Pac-12 play. A few more made free throws here, a defensive stop there and the Bruins would be sitting atop the Pac-12 standings as had been projected in the preseason.
But the Bruins were unable to close out those games. They held second-half leads at Oregon, Oregon State, Washington and Arizona and lost them all. Saturday, they reversed that trend with a defensive onslaught that limited Washington to only 22 points in the second half. That was a season-low for a half by the Huskies, who were averaging 79.4 points per game.
Team defense takes togetherness and for UCLA to display that type of team camaraderie this week against the top team in the conference says a great deal about the character of the Bruins.
“Kids are very resilient and I think the adversity of this week probably brought us closer together,” Howland said. “I was really proud of our team.”
The Bruins have had to overcome quite a bit this season. Not only did they start poorly with losses to Loyola Marymount and Middle Tennessee during a 2-5 run to begin the season, but they had to contend with the disruptions and eventual dismissal of all-conference forward Reeves Nelson.
All the while, the Bruins were dealing with the inconvenience of playing home games at the Sports Arena and the Honda Center in Anaheim because of a major renovation project going on at Pauley Pavilion. Add in the chaos of the Sports Illustrated article this week and the Bruins easily could have fallen apart. Instead, their bond grew stronger as the adversity loomed larger.
"Now it just feels like everybody is playing their hearts out and it feels good," guard Tyler Lamb said. "We’re playing together."
Clearly Saturday's victory is a momentum builder at just the right time of the season. Next up for the Bruins is the Pac-12 tournament, which at this point is the only path to the NCAA tournament for UCLA. And with the way the Bruins are playing now, there probably aren’t many teams looking forward to facing them in a one-and-done scenario.
“We just beat the first-place team in our league that would have won the championship outright regardless of what happens in Palo Alto,” Howland said. “So they were playing for a lot and we got their very best effort. I was really pleased with how we handled it.”
The victory and Colorado’s loss at Oregon State on Saturday give UCLA a fifth-place tie with Colorado in the final standings. UCLA owns the tiebreaker over Colorado and therefore will be seeded No. 5 in the Pac-12 tournament and plays No. 12 USC in the first round Wednesday at 2:30 p.m.
And going into the tournament on a high note certainly gives the Bruins some confidence.
“Hopefully it gives us some momentum,” said Lazeric Jones, who made two free throws with three seconds remaining to ice the victory Saturday. “We’ve been there all year. We’ve been kind of close. Every close game we kind of slipped at the end but hopefully this can be a turning point for us. Sometimes you need games to show you that you can actually play and hopefully we can come out in the Pac-12 tournament and get some wins.”
UCLA defeated USC twice this season, 66-47 and 73-63. The second-round matchup would likely be Arizona, but the Bruins aren’t really concerned with their opponent. The way they look at it, the difference between fifth place and first is eight points over four games so the Bruins believe they can still run the table in a parity-filled conference, especially considering the tournament is at Staples Center.
“I think we’re starting to thrive and surge at the right time,” Anderson said. “If I were any team, I wouldn’t want to see us, that’s all I have to say.”
Boxscore (Yahoo Sports)
In what has been easily the most difficult week of an unusually difficult season, the Bruins played their best basketball in the wake of a rippling Sports Illustrated report that exposed some dirty little secrets. UCLA capped the regular-season with a 75-69 comeback victory over first-place Washington on Saturday in the Bruins’ final game at the Sports Arena.
It followed a resounding 78-46 victory over Washington State that was the largest margin of victory by any Cougars’ opponent this season and was the second-largest margin of victory by UCLA. The Bruins played their best back-to-back games in the same week that Sports Illustrated reported mass dysfunction in the UCLA program over the past three or four years.
A pair of victories in a weak Pac-12 Conference certainly doesn’t put UCLA back among the nation’s elite, but the resolve the team showed this week in the face of such adversity makes it clear that UCLA is not a program in a shambles.
“It speaks to how together our team is and how together we’ve been all year,” guard Jerime Anderson said. “Regardless of what anybody thinks outside, we’re very close and we love our coach and respect him and have his back totally, 100 percent.”
The Bruins (18-13, 11-7 Pac-12) have been close most of the season. They lost five games by three points or fewer this season, including four in Pac-12 play. A few more made free throws here, a defensive stop there and the Bruins would be sitting atop the Pac-12 standings as had been projected in the preseason.
But the Bruins were unable to close out those games. They held second-half leads at Oregon, Oregon State, Washington and Arizona and lost them all. Saturday, they reversed that trend with a defensive onslaught that limited Washington to only 22 points in the second half. That was a season-low for a half by the Huskies, who were averaging 79.4 points per game.
Team defense takes togetherness and for UCLA to display that type of team camaraderie this week against the top team in the conference says a great deal about the character of the Bruins.
“Kids are very resilient and I think the adversity of this week probably brought us closer together,” Howland said. “I was really proud of our team.”
The Bruins have had to overcome quite a bit this season. Not only did they start poorly with losses to Loyola Marymount and Middle Tennessee during a 2-5 run to begin the season, but they had to contend with the disruptions and eventual dismissal of all-conference forward Reeves Nelson.
All the while, the Bruins were dealing with the inconvenience of playing home games at the Sports Arena and the Honda Center in Anaheim because of a major renovation project going on at Pauley Pavilion. Add in the chaos of the Sports Illustrated article this week and the Bruins easily could have fallen apart. Instead, their bond grew stronger as the adversity loomed larger.
"Now it just feels like everybody is playing their hearts out and it feels good," guard Tyler Lamb said. "We’re playing together."
Clearly Saturday's victory is a momentum builder at just the right time of the season. Next up for the Bruins is the Pac-12 tournament, which at this point is the only path to the NCAA tournament for UCLA. And with the way the Bruins are playing now, there probably aren’t many teams looking forward to facing them in a one-and-done scenario.
“We just beat the first-place team in our league that would have won the championship outright regardless of what happens in Palo Alto,” Howland said. “So they were playing for a lot and we got their very best effort. I was really pleased with how we handled it.”
The victory and Colorado’s loss at Oregon State on Saturday give UCLA a fifth-place tie with Colorado in the final standings. UCLA owns the tiebreaker over Colorado and therefore will be seeded No. 5 in the Pac-12 tournament and plays No. 12 USC in the first round Wednesday at 2:30 p.m.
And going into the tournament on a high note certainly gives the Bruins some confidence.
“Hopefully it gives us some momentum,” said Lazeric Jones, who made two free throws with three seconds remaining to ice the victory Saturday. “We’ve been there all year. We’ve been kind of close. Every close game we kind of slipped at the end but hopefully this can be a turning point for us. Sometimes you need games to show you that you can actually play and hopefully we can come out in the Pac-12 tournament and get some wins.”
UCLA defeated USC twice this season, 66-47 and 73-63. The second-round matchup would likely be Arizona, but the Bruins aren’t really concerned with their opponent. The way they look at it, the difference between fifth place and first is eight points over four games so the Bruins believe they can still run the table in a parity-filled conference, especially considering the tournament is at Staples Center.
“I think we’re starting to thrive and surge at the right time,” Anderson said. “If I were any team, I wouldn’t want to see us, that’s all I have to say.”
Boxscore (Yahoo Sports)
