Bruins flip script in blowout win against Cardinal

LAS VEGAS—Everything seemed set up for a repeat of history Friday night.

After Thursday’s big win over Oregon, reminiscent of a similar victory over Cal earlier in the season, UCLA prepared for a rematch against a hot Stanford Cardinal team that silenced the Bruins on Feb. 22 following their win over the Golden Bears.

Given UCLA’s struggles in the second game of road trips this season, game two of the Bruins’ Pac-12 tournament slate seemed like it would be a carbon copy of their 83-74 loss to the Cardinal in February.

But it was a role reversal, not a reprisal, for the Bruins. UCLA flipped the script, defeating Stanford 84-59 in dominant fashion.

After just six minutes, UCLA already had surpassed the 14-point lead, which was the largest advantage Stanford held in the prior matchup. The 62.2 percent that the Cardinal shot on Feb. 22 was topped by the Bruins’ 65.2 percent shooting Friday night.

Meanwhile, Stanford’s previous recipe for success behind efficient shooting, high quantities of three-pointers and controlling the glass was stymied by UCLA’s defense throughout the game.

“We talked about last time we played them, defensively our sense of urgency was not there at all,” said redshirt senior forward David Wear. “We’re dialed in. This is the Pac-12 tournament. We’re competing for a Pac-12 championship and I think everyone’s locked in and not taking any plays off, and everyone’s getting to rotations and doing what you you gotta do to help this team be great.”

That urgency was immediately evident on Friday, as the UCLA defenders flew across the court to contest each Stanford shot attempt from behind the arc. The Cardinal finished the game having converted on just six of their 21 three-point attempts.

Much of that successful defense was due to shutting down Stanford’s junior guard Chasson Randle, who had 26 points and seven three-pointers in the previous meeting.

“We had to play better defense and we keyed on Randle a lot,” said freshman guard Bryce Alford. “He had seven threes in the last game alone, so he killed us from the three-point line. So we didn’t help off of him much and we kinda limited him as much as we could.”

Coach Steve Alford called the defense played by junior guard Norman Powell and Bryce Alford on Randle as “a big key” to the Bruins success, limiting the guard to just 11 points and one three-pointer.

With Randle locked up, Stanford struggled to find consistent offense, finishing the game shooting just 39.2 percent and with only two players scoring in double figures. The Bruins, in turn, converted on easy shot after easy shot, their transition offense fueled by an improved rebounding effort. The Bruins followed a two-rebound deficit in the prior meeting with a 13-rebound advantage this time around.

For as much of a turnaround this performance was from the game on Feb. 22, Bryce Alford admitted avenging that defeat didn’t weigh heavily on the team’s mind, saying the Bruins thought about the previous loss only “a little bit.” Instead, the Bruins found all the incentive they needed just by looking at the calendar.

“We really just were thinking that we’re a new team. We’re playing a lot of defense and we lost our last game to Stanford … so we were just trying to come out and win games,” said sophomore forward/center Tony Parker. “It’s March. You have to win in March. It’s win or go home now, and we’re playing defense like it.”