Upsets Are Not Uncommon for Bruins

With its upset of Stanford on Saturday, UCLA has beaten the nation’s No. 1 team eight times, tying the Bruins with Duke for second on that list. Only Notre Dame has more victories over top-ranked teams, nine. Georgia Tech and Ohio State are tied for fourth on the list with seven such upsets each.

The Bruins’ victory over Stanford last season was UCLA’s first over a No. 1 team since Dec. 1, 1986, when it posted a five-point victory over North Carolina at Pauley Pavilion.

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Whereas most of the Bruins were happy to forget their 29-point loss at California, point guard Earl Watson said he used it as motivation for the Stanford game.

“What I do after losses is keep the stat sheet,” Watson said. “I just examine it and look at it. For motivation, I pin it on my wall. And then [Saturday], I just ripped it up so it was out of my system.”