UCLA men’s basketball conquers Cougars in Pac-12 tournament quarterfinals

This post was updated March 10 at 9:55 p.m.

LAS VEGAS — In the first half, it was Jules Bernard. Then in the second came Jaime Jaquez Jr. 

The senior guard and junior guard/forward duo combined for 42 points in No. 2 seed UCLA men’s basketball’s (24-6, 15-5 Pac-12) 75-65 win over No. 7 Washington State (19-14, 11-9) on Thursday night at the T-Mobile Arena.

In the opening frame, Cougar forward Andrej Jakimovski helped his team erase an early six-point Bruin lead. Entering Thursday as the most prolific 3-point shooting team in the conference, Washington State started the game 0-of-5 from behind the arc, and it couldn’t cash in until Jakimovski drained two 3-pointers in a row. 

The Cougars were on a 6-0 run, out-rebounding the Bruins and on the verge of capturing momentum. 

Enter Bernard. 

Jakimovski’s second 3 was immediately answered by Bernard, who hit UCLA’s first long ball in the half. Bernard’s second basket of the night, this one also from deep, snapped the blue and gold out of a nearly five-minute dry spell from the field. 

“We were stuck in the mud a little bit, and Jules made some big shots,” said coach Mick Cronin. “(He) got us going, got our energy level up. We got out in transition, and I thought that changed the game.” 

A minute later, Bernard came up with a ball that was stripped. In transition, he ran down the court, slashing in between two crimson jerseys and laid it in, extending the Bruins’ lead to nine points.

In four games in February, the senior recorded single-digit point totals yet found his form with 19-points in UCLA’s win over USC. 

“Slumps happen,” Bernard said. “But I’ve been working diligently to try and get my rhythm back and coming in later in the night and shooting. I’m getting open looks. (I’m) just trying to play with confidence and help my team win.” 

UCLA closed the second half on a 14-5 run. Another Bernard 3 put the Bruins up by 15, and on a second-chance possession, a dish from Jaquez set Bernard up for his fifth basket. 

Washington State hit the opening two shots of the second half, closing the deficit to seven points. 

After a score in the post from redshirt senior forward Cody Riley, Bernard continued to find success from deep. He snatched a pass from Jaquez and elevated for a shot, pushing the Bruin lead back to 12. 

But then it was time for Jaquez to fill the scoring column. 

Bernard’s and Jaquez’s roles switched. This time, the former flipped a pass to the latter, setting Jaquez up for a 3-pointer that pushed the advantage to 13. 

“We don’t care who scores,” Cronin said. “We really could care less. We’ve gotten to the point where we’re passing the ball much better.”

On the next possession, it was Jaquez again, driving through the defense for his 11th and 12th points of the game. Two minutes later, another penetration into the Cougars’ interior notched him an and-1.

“(I’m) just taking my time down there and playing at my speed,” Jaquez said. “(I’m) not trying to go get sped up or anything like that, just really slow down and be able to rise up and finish.” 

With less than 10 minutes to go and the UCLA advantage still in double digits, Jaquez soared high above the rim, flushing an alley-oop pass from redshirt junior guard Tyger Campbell down with two hands. Five minutes later, he drained a 3-pointer from the left wing to give the Bruins their first 20-point lead of the contest. 

Of Jaquez’s 17 second-half points, the majority of his field goals came from down low, helping his team outscore Washington State by 18 points in the paint.

After the game, Cronin drew comparisons between the junior and former Bruin Kiki VanDeWeghe, an All-American forward who played 810 games in the NBA from 1980-1993. 

“Jaime’s come a long way,” Cronin said. “But that’s hard work, his toughness, his talent, his great attitude – just unbelievable attitude.”

In the first half, the early Bruin lead was helped by an eight-minute period in which the Cougars did not score from the field. Washington State’s leading scorer, guard Michael Flowers, shot 2-of-7 from the field and 0-of-4 from deep in the opening frame. 

After coming up empty on a jumper early in the game, he was heckled by “air ball” chants from The Den every time he touched the ball for the remainder of the half. 

Twice, UCLA forced a shot clock violation, with the defense choking off passing lanes into the post. The Bruins forced their opponents to cough up the ball seven times in the first 20 minutes. It was only after the clock on the scoreboard ticked past the final minute of the opening frame that Washington State hit its first field goal since the 9:34 mark.

With the victory, UCLA will face the winner of No. 3 seed USC and No. 6 seed Washington on Friday at 8:30 p.m.