UCLA Is Half Step Too Slow

After weeks of frustration, UCLA guard Ray Young broke out of his slump Saturday and relocated his jump shot. Meanwhile, the rest of the Bruins wandered the desert in search of theirs.

And while that combination made for a riveting first half, it fell short of providing UCLA with the juice it needed to topple No. 17 Arizona.

In the end, natural order was restored and the Wildcats rolled to an 88-63 victory before a raucous crowd of 14,562 that seldom bothered to sit.

UCLA, which had won six games in a row, dropped to 10-5 overall and 4-1 in Pacific 10 Conference play. The Wildcats, who have not lost to the Bruins at home in four seasons, improved to 12-5 and 5-1.

“We definitely feel like we let one get away,” UCLA guard Ryan Bailey said.

Before collapsing under the weight of Arizona’s defensive pressure and long-range sharpshooting, the Bruins actually made a game of it. They built a 41-33 halftime lead, even though four of their mainstays--Jason Kapono, Earl Watson, Dan Gadzuric and Matt Barnes--were barely blips on the radar screen.

Suddenly, Young couldn’t miss. He buried three shots from behind the three-point arc in the first half--four, if you count the one released an instant after the shot clock expired. He also made a 17-foot jumper and a one-handed leaner, scoring 13 of his 18 points in the first 20 minutes.

This was the same Young who fouled out with zero points Thursday against Arizona State. The same guy who showed all the touch of a sledgehammer in the previous 11 games, missing 35 of 39 three-pointers.

“You’ve always got to trust in yourself,” Young said. “My team did a great job in looking for me, and they told me they were. They’ve always been behind me; they know how I can play. But I’d always rather win than have a breakout game.”

It was a true virtuoso performance. With 1:44 to play in the first half, for instance, Young had 10 points and Watson, Kapono and Gadzuric had a combined four--thanks to a free throw and a three-pointer.

Kapono, who came into the game averaging a team-high 18.7 points, scored a season-low four on two-of-14 shooting. Some of that was because he had ultra-quick Richard Jefferson in his face a lot, but Kapono created his share of open looks at the basket.

“They played pretty solid on me,” he said. “But it was just more me. I was out of my rhythm and sort of hurrying my shots. I just wasn’t set. It was one of those games where you try to play too fast, rather than being patient and going slow.”

Watson didn’t have a choice; he had to go slow. Turns out, his bruised lower back was causing him far more pain than he anticipated. He picked up his fourth foul with 18:37 to play, made a beeline for the bench and never returned.

“It was basically just I knew he couldn’t go,” Coach Steve Lavin said of Watson, still smarting from a hard spill against Arizona State. “It was pretty clear.”

Also clear was the fact the Bruins were not getting much production from the usual suspects. Gadzuric had five turnovers and--despite five offensive rebounds--only nine points. He has not scored in double figures since the Pac-10 opener against Washington.

Matt Barnes had six points and four turnovers. And T.J. Cummings, the hero of Thursday’s game, scored all of his eight points in the first half.

It was a tale of two halves for the Wildcats. They made one of 12 three-pointers before halftime, and six of 12 after. They had 17 rebounds in the first half, 27 in the second. And, just as the crowd noise climbed to a crescendo, so did the defensive intensity.

“In the first half, we were playing reactively on defense instead of proactively,” Coach Lute Olson said. “We were reacting to them running their offense. We came out in the second half and put a lot of pressure on them, and we forced them out of the areas they wanted to go.”

Arizona also got the ball into the hands of guard Gilbert Arenas, who scored 18 of his game-high 22 points and buried four three-pointers in the second half.

Others scoring in double figures for Arizona were Jefferson (12), Loren Woods (12), Luke Walton (11) and Michael Wright (10).

“They’ve got weapons from all over the place,” said Bailey, one of two Bruins to score in double digits. “We know we can play with them. We just couldn’t play with them today.”

ARIZONA 88 UCLA 63

FIRST HALF

Points

UCLA 41, Arizona 33

FG %

UCLA 53.6, Arizona 44.1

FT %

UCLA 71.4, Arizona 40.0

Rebounds

UCLA 17, Arizona 17

Turnovers

UCLA 11, Arizona 8

SECOND HALF

Points

Arizona 55, UCLA 22

FG %

UCLA 24.3, Arizona 57.7

FT %

UCLA 37.5, Arizona 79.2

Rebounds

UCLA 17, Arizona 27

Turnovers

UCLA 10, Arizona 10

*

PAC-10 STANDINGS

Stanford 5-0

Arizona 5-1

UCLA 4-1

USC 3-2

California 3-2

Oregon 2-3

Oregon State 2-3

Washington 2-4

Washington St. 1-5

Arizona State 0-6

*

COVERAGE

LAST ONE STANDING: Stanford (17-0) defeated New Mexico, 75-44, and is the only unbeaten Division I team after Pittsburgh’s 70-66 victory over Georgetown (16-1). D12, D13

Spotlight: D12