A look back: UCLA gains first No. 1 takedown since 2003

UCLA men’s basketball pulled off the improbable Thursday, knocking off top-ranked Kentucky in front of 12,202 fans at Pauley Pavilion. Students decked out in gold shirts ran onto the court as the band played a triumphant round of “Sons of Westwood” and a resurgent Bruin squad celebrated their first upset of a No. 1 team since 2003.

On March 13 of that year, UCLA faced then-No. 1 Arizona in the opening round of the Pac-10 tournament following a lackluster regular season that saw the Bruins go 9-18. Needing overtime to outlast the Wildcats, UCLA eventually knocked Arizona out of the tournament by a score of 96-89.

“We have not been able to put 40 minutes together, and today we finally did,” said then-senior guard Ray Young, whose 3-pointer with 5 seconds left forced an extra period, in an interview with ESPN.

FROM THE ARCHIVES: Relive the 2003 upset with this throwback photo gallery.

It was a different story for the Bruins on Thursday, as UCLA jumped out to an early lead and held on for the next 38 minutes, decisively defeating its opponent 87-77.

“You don’t grow in 20 minutes,” said coach Steve Alford, referring to his team’s strong first half. “You show growth by doing it for 40 minutes.”

2003’s upset snapped Arizona’s 10-game winning streak heading into the conference tournament, while Thursday’s shocker was Kentucky’s first loss of the season. Both victories were statements for their respective winners.

The UCLA of 12 years ago was trying to save its coach’s job, which he ultimately lost, and reestablish itself as a credible contender. Last night, the Bruins were looking to redeem their historic 39-point loss to the Wildcats last season as well as announce themselves as true competitors after early season struggles.

“If you go through what we had to go through in last year’s game against Kentucky, it would’ve been real easy to show up in this game and be a little tentative,” Alford said.

GALLERY: Photos from Thursday night’s triumph over Kentucky.

At the Maui Jim Maui Invitational last week, UCLA suffered a lopsided loss to No. 5 Kansas, falling 92-73 in the tournament’s second round. In their season opener, the Bruins were upset at home by the Monmouth Hawks – a loss that continues to sting.

UCLA’s win over Arizona proved too little too late in 2003, as the Bruins went on to fall to Oregon in the next round of the Pac-10 tournament. This time around, the underdog victor from Thursday night still has a chance to build on this success with the conference season opener still a month away.

“Any time you can beat a No. 1 team in the country like Kentucky … it doesn’t really get much better than that when you talk about college basketball,” said junior guard Bryce Alford. “Obviously it’s a huge win for us and it’s definitely something that we needed after some struggles early in the season. We needed to get one like this.”