Men’s basketball weathers second-half Cardinal comeback to uproot Stanford 79-72
Sophomore guard Jaylen Hands scored 22 points in the first round of the Pac-12 tournament on Wednesday night. Hands also reeled in 11 rebounds and dished out three assists. (Mia Kayser/Daily Bruin staff)
Men's basketball
| No. 10 Stanford | 72 |
| No. 7 UCLA | 79 |
By Ryan Smith
March 13, 2019 8:45 p.m.
The Bruins will live to see another day.
No. 7-seeded UCLA men’s basketball (17-15, 10-9 Pac-12) defeated No. 10-seeded Stanford 79-72 in the first round of the Pac-12 tournament Wednesday night in Las Vegas.
The Bruins – who emphasized in practice this past week the importance of getting off to better starts in games – did not exactly come out firing on offense, but their defense showed out.
UCLA held Stanford to just four total points in the opening 7 minutes, 9 seconds of the contest. The Bruins also forced eight turnovers in the first half and held the Cardinal to just 23 percent shooting from the field, including 1-of-11 from beyond the arc.
Behind the strong defensive showing, UCLA jumped out to an early lead despite missing 11 of its first 14 shots overall. The Bruins then knocked down 11 of its final 19 shots in the half to take a 36-22 lead into the locker rooms.
UCLA started the second half much faster on offense, extending the lead to as much as 26 points nearly 6.5 minutes in thanks to a 3-pointer from sophomore guard Kris Wilkes. That shot would be one of few highlights of Wilkes’ night, however, as he finished the game with just 12 points on 3-of-14 shooting.
Sophomore guard Jaylen Hands did most of the heavy lifting for the Bruins, recording his fifth double-double of the season with a 22-point, 11-rebound performance. It also marked Hands’ second double-double in his last four outings after he posted a 21-point, 10-assist night against USC on Feb. 28.
Despite trailing by 26, Stanford put together one final push, scoring 41 of the game’s next 61 points to pull within five at 77-72 with 16 seconds to go. The Cardinal comeback attempt fell short, though, as the Bruins converted their free throws down the stretch to ice the game for good.
Forward Marcus Sheffield and center Josh Sharma each scored 18 points for Stanford in its loss.
With the win, UCLA will advance to face No. 2-seeded Arizona State (21-9, 12-6) in the second round of the Pac-12 tournament. The Bruins lost to the Sun Devils by 11 points at Pauley Pavilion on Jan. 24 in the schools’ only meeting this season.
Tipoff is scheduled for 6 p.m. on Thursday.
