UCLA men’s basketball walks away winless in rematch with Wildcats
Junior guard Johnny Juzang scored 12 points on 6-of-15 shooting for No. 3 UCLA men’s basketball as the blue and gold fell to No. 7 Arizona on the road Thursday. (Esther Ma/Daily Bruin staff)
Men’s Basketball
| No. 3 UCLA | 66 |
| No. 7 Arizona | 76 |
By Jon Christon
Feb. 3, 2022 7:35 p.m.
For the second straight game against the Wildcats, the Bruins’ defense tamed the top offense in the Pac-12.
This time, however, the blue and gold offense couldn’t keep up.
No. 3 UCLA men’s basketball (16-3, 8-2 Pac-12) fell 76-66 to No. 7 Arizona (18-2, 8-1) in Tucson on Thursday to fall to second place in the Pac-12. The Bruins held the Wildcats to 10 points below their season scoring average and under 50% shooting, but the blue and gold’s 38.9% shooting from the field – which included a 3-of-14 mark from the outside – wasn’t enough to capitalize on the defensive performance.
After trading leads through the first eight minutes of the game, Arizona broke off on a 12-0 run midway through the first half to give it a 12-point advantage.
The Wildcat lead would stretch all the way to 17 behind 21 combined first-half points from Arizona forward Azuolas Tubelis and guard Kerr Kriisa. Though UCLA scored the final five points of the half, the blue and gold entered the locker room down 42-30 – its second-largest halftime deficit of the season.
However, after letting the Wildcats shoot 60% from the field in the first half, the Bruins’ defense regained its form in the final frame. Arizona was held to a 36% clip in the final 20 minutes, allowing UCLA to cut the deficit to three points heading into the final media timeout after a transition layup from senior guard David Singleton.
But the Bruins made two of their final seven attempts from the field – a stretch that included three missed shots from redshirt senior forward Cody Riley – allowing the Wildcats to finish the game off on a 12-5 spurt that gave UCLA its second double-digit defeat of the season.
While four Bruins scored in double figures, only one shot 50% or better from the field, with junior guard/forward Jaime Jaquez Jr. scoring 13 points on 6-of-12 shooting. Junior guard Johnny Juzang, senior guard Jules Bernard and Riley combined for 37 points, but did so by making 15 of their 40 shot attempts.
UCLA will have the chance to get back in the win column with a game against Arizona State on Saturday.
