UCLA men’s basketball tied with Arizona 27-27 at halftime
By Matt Joye
March 13, 2015 7:16 p.m.
LAS VEGAS — Twenty minutes into a de facto play-in game to the NCAA tournament, the Bruins are hanging with a team considered to be one of the favorites to win it all.
Thanks to stout defensive effort and a 3-pointer from sophomore guard Bryce Alford in the half’s waning seconds, UCLA and No. 5 Arizona are knotted at 27-27 heading into the half.
Arizona raced out to an 8-0 lead over the first two minutes before freshman forward Kevon Looney stole the ball from Arizona’s T.J. McConnell and layed it up in for the Bruins’ first points of the day. A game-time decision Friday night, Looney wore a protective mask after suffering a facial fracture in Thursday’s win over USC.
Behind a raucous crowd, Arizona was the aggressor in the game’s opening minutes, quickly forcing the Bruins into foul trouble. Both junior forward/center Tony Parker and sophomore guard Isaac Hamilton picked up their second fouls before the first media timeout – at which point Arizona had built an 11-2 lead with 15:26 left in the period.
But then the tide began to turn. UCLA’s defense regained the form of the one that suffocated Arizona’s offense in the teams’ first meeting in Tucson, Ariz., earlier in the season. Arizona at one point missed six consecutive shots and didn’t score a point for a little more than six minutes. The Bruins took advantage of the drought by enacting an 8-0 run of their own to draw within one.
Hamilton buoyed the defensive effort, turning a steal into a layup on the other end to put UCLA up 14-13, giving the Bruins their first lead of the game with 8:58 to play.
It was short-lived, as McConnell drilled a 3-pointer a possession later and Hamilton picked up his third foul of the contest on the Wildcats’ following possession, sending the sophomore to the bench for the rest of the half.
With Hamilton on the bench and Alford struggling to get in rhythm – the sophomore point guard missed his first five shots – UCLA went inside. Parker drew shooting fouls on consecutive possessions and returned the lead to UCLA with four free throws. But like Hamilton, Parker quickly found the bench after picking up his third foul shortly after.
Arizona quickly took advantage, hitting three straight field goals to retake the lead before Parker even had time to get comfortable in his chair.
Unlike in Tucson, however – where the Wildcats turned a close game into a 32-18 halftime lead in the final five minutes of the first half – the Bruins weathered the storm. Senior guard Norman Powell split two defenders to cut Arizona’s lead to three and Alford drilled the equalizer with seconds remaining to knot the two teams going into the half.
Compiled by Jordan Lee, Bruin Sports senior staff.
