Arizona comeback stops UCLA’s streak

  BRIDGET O’BRIEN/Daily Bruin Senior Staff Senior
Ryan "Moose" Bailey drives to the hoop in UCLA’s
63-88 loss against the Arizona Wildcats on Saturday. The loss
snapped the Bruins’ six-game winning streak.
ARIZONA 88 UCLA 63

By AJ Cadman
Daily Bruin Senior Staff

TUCSON, Ariz. “”mdash; The first half of Saturday’s
showdown with No. 17 Arizona put the Bruin faithful in seventh
heaven. The second half, however, showed them how quickly the
tables can turn.

Fueled by an offensive turnaround that saw the Wildcats shoot 58
percent from the field in the second half to UCLA’s meager 24
percent, the Bruins’ six-game winning streak was snapped with
an 88-63 loss before a standing-room-only crowd of 14,562 at McKale
Center.

In his second game back from a leave of absence, Arizona head
coach Lute Olsen helped orchestrate a second-half game plan that
resulted in a more active and energetic Arizona defense, forcing
UCLA (10-5, 4-1 Pac-10) out of its effectiveness. The Bruins had an
eight-point lead at the half.

For Jason Kapono, UCLA’s leading scorer, the result was
two of 14 shooting on the afternoon, including one of nine after
halftime, for a career-low of four points. After the Bruins went
six of 10 in the first half from beyond the arc, they posted a
one-of-11 mark in the game’s final 20 minutes.

“We came out in the second half and put a lot of pressure
on them,” said Olsen, whose Wildcats (12-5, 5-1) are on a
four-game winning streak. “We forced them out of areas they
wanted to go. If you defend long enough, things will work out. The
harder we worked, the better we shot, especially in the second
half.”

UCLA came into the game with a plan of containment in its
featured full-court press. The Bruins also hoped they could get an
inspired performance from senior co-captain Earl Watson, who
suffered a bruised lower back in Thursday’s game against
Arizona State. The Bruins’ iron man started his 112th
consecutive game and hit a three-pointer two minutes in, but the
injury slowed Watson down in transition on both ends of the floor.
He committed his fourth foul with 18:37 left in the second half and
sat out the remainder of the game.

“When you start every game for your entire career, nobody
knows your physical limitations,” Watson said. “I am
not exaggerating or being dramatic when I say my back really hurts.
It is a very scary situation and I hope the X-rays I get on Monday
show nothing serious.”

With one weapon sidelined, two Bruins stepped up to propel the
squad to a 41-33 halftime advantage. Junior guard Ray Young, who
was held scoreless and fouled out against Arizona State on
Thursday, emerged on Saturday, going five of seven, including three
of four from downtown for 13 of his team-high 18 points in the
first half. Young added nine rebounds in 31 minutes.

Trailing 17-11 midway through the first half, Young provided a
one-handed leaner and a three-pointer on consecutive UCLA
possessions to keep the Bruins close. With less than five minutes
to go in the opening frame, Young responded with another long-range
bomb to knot the score at 25. The pace of the game quickened,
favoring the Bruins’ transition offense and their other spark
of the afternoon: senior guard Ryan Bailey. At 4:12 in the first
half, his three-pointer from the top of the key gave UCLA its first
lead of the game at 28-27.

A seesaw battle erupted but UCLA closed out the half on an 11-2
run, capped by Young’s third three-pointer that gave Bruins
the momentum with only 40 seconds to go.

“My focus was to get back and help my teammates
win,” Young said. “Going into the second half, we knew
that (Arizona) could overcome the eight-point deficit. In the
second half, we gave their players too many open looks and they
capitalized on them.”

It wasn’t a single stretch where Arizona outplayed UCLA,
but the entire second half. What was 20 minutes of enthusiasm in
the first half turned into 20 minutes of despair in the second
half. The Bruins didn’t get their first basket after halftime
until Bailey’s three-pointer at 14:16.

After a quiet first half from the Arizona backcourt, stemmed by
sophomore point guard Jason Gardner’s zero-of-seven shooting
from behind the three-point line, sophomore offguard Gilbert Arenas
began to find a rhythm. The North Hollywood native had a
three-pointer in the right corner off an inbounds play with 12:26
remaining in the game to give the Wildcats a 48-47 lead. They would
not trail again.

“We started playing at a frantic pace and it really
disrupted the flow of our offense,” Kapono said. “As we
forced shots, it led to big (offensive) spurts for Arizona and we
were never able to recover.”

Arenas hit another three-pointer a minute and a half later to
help Arizona pull away. He hit his fourth and final trey with less
than eight minutes to go, giving the Wildcats a 64-51 lead to turn
out the lights on a game UCLA saw as a golden opportunity to keep
pace with Stanford atop the conference standings. Arenas finished
with a game-high 22 points, 18 in the second half. His team
outscored UCLA 55-22 in the second.

“We all stayed positive and together,” junior
forward Richard Jefferson said of Arizona’s first-half
deficit. “We have too many good people, good coaches and good
players to not do well. Our team defense has been key. Your team
defense leads to offense.”

Bailey was the only other Bruin in double figures with 13
points. Junior center Dan Gadzuric had nine points and nine
rebounds, but also had five of UCLA’s 21 team turnovers.

In addition to Arenas, Jefferson and senior center Loren Woods
had 12 points for Arizona. Reserve forward Luke Walton had 11
points and junior forward Michael Wright had 10 points. Gardner
finished a dismal one of 11 ““ all from three-point range
““ to finish with six points and five assists.