UCLA: The year in review

UCLA’s 2014 in review:

The highs

•A third consecutive football victory over USC came by a score of 38-20 and encompassed nearly 60 game-time minutes of domination. UCLA rolled up 461 yards and limited USC to 276. Quarterback Brett Hundley threw three touchdown passes and ran for another.

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•Jordan Adams’ three-pointer broke a 68-68 tie with 45 seconds left against Arizona, allowing UCLA to win the Pac-12 men’s basketball tournament title. It vaulted the Bruins into a better spot for the NCAA tournament, where they reached a regional semifinal before losing to playoff nemesis Florida.

The lows

•Needing a win in its regular-season finale to advance to the Pac-12 Conference football championship game, UCLA fell flat against Stanford, losing 31-10. UCLA scored on its first possession, then was trampled. Ranked in the national top 10 to begin the season, the Bruins finished with a 9-3 record and a spot in the Alamo Bowl.

•UCLA’s basketball team expected to lose sophomore Kyle Anderson to the NBA. But when Adams, a sophomore, and Zach LaVine, a freshman who wasn’t even a starter, also declared for the draft, the Bruins were left with a gaping hole in the backcourt. That was exposed by top-ranked Kentucky, which ran out to a 24-0 lead in a nationally televised nonconference game this month.

•UCLA’s chances at defending its 2013 national championship in baseball ended with a 10-0 rout at the hands of USC on April 24. The Trojans got to UCLA ace James Kaprielian for four runs in the first inning. The Bruins were swept in the three-game series, part of a 3-14-1 finish to the season. The Bruins not only didn’t repeat, they didn’t make an NCAA regional.

•The UCLA women’s soccer team was top ranked in the nation and riding a 44-game unbeaten streak that dated back to last season when it ran into Virginia on Nov. 28. A 2-1 loss in an NCAA quarterfinal ended a 27-game home winning streak.

National championships

Women’s tennis: Kyle McPhillips, UCLA’s No. 3 singles player, won the team title-clinching match as the Bruins defeated North Carolina, 4-3.

Men’s tennis: Marcos Giron became the Bruins’ 11th NCAA singles champion by defeating Pepperdine’s Alex Sarkissian, 6-4, 6-1 in the final.

Men’s water polo: The Bruins won the university’s 112th NCAA championship by defeating USC, 9-8, in the final.

Chris Foster