Men’s basketball’s tournament chances take major blow in loss to ASU
Freshman forward Kevon Looney scored 14 points in UCLA’s loss to Arizona State before he fouled out with 18 seconds to go. (Courtesy of Ben Moffat/The State Press)
By Jordan Lee
Feb. 19, 2015 12:18 a.m.
TEMPE, Ariz. — It took UCLA 44 seconds to frustrate Arizona State.
The Sun Devils returned the favor the rest of the way.
Arizona State dominated in the paint and on the glass, and forced UCLA into foul trouble as the Bruins dropped a critical conference match-up 68-66 Wednesday night.
Senior guard Norman Powell led UCLA (16-11, 8-6 Pac-12) with 16 points while freshman forward Kevon Looney added 14 of his own, but both battled foul trouble throughout the second half.
Before the majority of patrons had settled into their seats at Wells Fargo Arena, Arizona State coach Herb Sendek had already seen enough and called timeout after UCLA led 4-0 less than a minute into the game.
His team soon settled right in near the basket, where the Sun Devils wrenched control of the game. Arizona State (14-12, 6-7) became one of the few teams this season to edge UCLA in rebounds and points in the paint. What’s more is that it wasn’t even close.
The Sun Devils outscored the Bruins 36-22 down low and hauled in 12 more rebounds than UCLA, who led the conference in the category coming in.
“We got killed on the boards tonight, you have to give them a lot of credit for their effort,” said coach Steve Alford. “It’s been a long time since we’ve been hammered on the glass like that, and they hammered us.”
Arizona State’s sterling effort near the rim helped offset an uncharacteristically strong first half shooting effort on the road by UCLA – who hit 51.9 percent of its shots in the first half – and erased the Bruins’ 36-32 halftime lead.
Even more uncharacteristic for the Bruins was the play of Tony Parker, who struggled mightily against the Sun Devils front line.
In 20 minutes of play, the junior forward/center finished with just two points, a lone rebound and fouled out.
Worse still, Parker and company had no answer for Savon Goodman and the Sun Devils.
The Arizona State forward went a perfect 8-8 from the field – all of which came near the basket – and was part of an effort inside that forced UCLA into committing 23 fouls.
“We knew that they were a dribble drive team,” Powell said. “We knew that they were going to exhaust their dribbles and try to get you off balance and go right into your body and get fouls. They did a great job with that.”
They did just that to Powell, forcing UCLA’s lone senior off the court with 13:06 left in the game after he committed his fourth foul. Parker followed suit a little more than three minutes later, and suddenly a thin Bruins team was without its two most experienced players down 52-50.
“Norm does a lot for us on both ends of the court. He’s our leader. You can tell the difference when he’s not out there,” said Looney, who fouled out with 18 seconds left.“Tony and Norman are huge (for us). It messed up our rhythm on offense, Tony never got a rhythm in the game. It threw us off a little bit (not having them out there).”
Hindered, UCLA managed to keep pace as Arizona State’s lead never grew to more than six – and that was when it trailed 66-60 with 1:41 to play and Powell back on the court.
Indeed, the two team’s battled back and forth throughout the second half in a game that featured 17 lead changes.
The Bruins had a chance to make it 18 after Sun Devils’ guard Tra Holder went 1-for-2 from the free throw line, giving Arizona State a 68-66 lead with a little more than seven seconds to play.
UCLA was in an almost uncanny similar situation 11 days prior against Cal.
A blown halftime lead on the road only to have a shot at redemption in the waning seconds trailing by two.
This time, Powell took the in-bounds pass, drove the lane and was stopped by the Arizona State defense. He passed to an open Isaac Hamilton in the right wing for a shot at a game winning 3-pointer, only to have the sophomore guard’s shot clang off the rim.
This time, just as last time, the Bruins came up short on the road. And this loss, just like that loss, deals a huge blow to the Bruins’ postseason chances. Now a daunting challenge awaits UCLA as it heads south to Tuscon, Ariz. to take on No. 7 Arizona. But first it has to erase the hurt of yet another game it should have had on its stark resume.
“It’s real tough,” Looney said. “The road has been rough for us and this was a game we needed to win. We talked about it all week and we let it slip away from us.
