Bruins sputter out at Pac-12 tournament
Freshman forward Shabazz Muhammad walks off the court after a 78-69 loss to Oregon.
By Sam Strong
March 17, 2013 2:42 a.m.
LAS VEGAS — The 283 mile drive from UCLA’s campus to the MGM Grand doesn’t generally require a full tank of fuel, but after playing three games in as many nights at the Pac-12 tournament, UCLA was running on empty.
The top-seeded Bruins fell to second seeded Oregon in the championship game on Saturday, 78-69.
“We didn’t have enough gas,” said freshman forward Shabazz Muhammad. “Guys were really tired out there. It was really tough.”
Toting an already thin roster of just eight scholarship players, the Bruins lost their second leading scorer – freshman guard Jordan Adams – to a broken foot on the last play of their win over Arizona in Friday’s semifinal.
UCLA had to overcome double-digit deficits in each of its first two games and almost pulled off a similar feat in the final, but after several small runs, they only got as close as two points in the second half.
“We were down eight, we get it back to two, they make another run,” said redshirt senior guard Larry Drew II, who finished with 14 points. “We’re down eight or nine again. I’m so proud of my guys because they never gave up. We never stopped fighting but we couldn’t get over that hump today. Call it legs. Call it fatigue. I don’t know what it was.”
Adams was parked behind the team’s bench in a wheelchair, unable to lead No. 21 UCLA back from the dead as he did on Friday by scoring 24 points. The Bruins (25-9, 13-5 Pac-12) had less than 24 hours to prepare to play without him.
Sophomore guard Norman Powell was inserted in to the starting lineup, while freshman guard Kyle Anderson was reassigned to guard Oregon’s smaller guards. He usually draws one of the opposing team’s big men.
“We had to try to learn all these new sets and different places to go in a day,” said redshirt junior forward David Wear. “It was difficult. We definitely missed him.”
Still, Oregon (26-8, 12-6) was left cutting down the nets at MGM Grand Garden Arena while UCLA packed for a bus ride back to Los Angeles, where they will wait to see where the NCAA Tournament selection committee places them as a likely at-large selection.
Coach Ben Howland and his players agreed that Adams’ injury shouldn’t be viewed as a penalty in the selection process.
“I don’t think that’s fair,” Muhammad said. “One of our good players got injured but that doesn’t mean we’re worse of a team. That’s something that I don’t understand. Why would they bump us off a seed just for a player being hurt?”
The NCAA tournament selection show will air Sunday at 3 p.m. on CBS.
