Bruins Lose Uphill Battle

There was no particular reason UCLA had to lose to Michigan on Saturday, but the Bruins did.

Freshman Trevor Ariza played his best game yet, recording a double-double with 15 points and 14 rebounds and a series of flying dunks. Dijon Thompson made a career-high five three-point shots in 10 attempts and finished with 21 points.

But 20 turnovers, poor decisions and an inability to stop the Wolverines when they went inside down the stretch resulted in a 70-66 loss in front of 11,837 at Crisler Arena.

UCLA’s last best chance to come back and win came on a play with 26 seconds left and the Bruins trailing by four. Point guard Cedric Bozeman drove the lane only to have his shot blocked by 6-foot-11 freshman Courtney Sims, then was called for traveling when he recovered the ball -- one of Bozeman’s five turnovers in the game.

“Dijon was wide open in the corner,” UCLA Coach Ben Howland said.

It was only one play, but every UCLA opportunity to come back from an 11-point deficit early in the second half slipped away.

“When you’re fighting an uphill battle, always looking to come back, it’s difficult,” Howland said. “Twenty turnovers is way too many turnovers to beat anybody any good.”

Michigan (8-1) won despite the weight of grief on starting forward Bernard Robinson Jr.’s shoulders.

His father, Bernard Robinson Sr., died Christmas Day of complications from pneumonia, but Robinson chose to play and finished with 17 points.

“Certainly it was a heavy heart he played with today,” Michigan Coach Tommy Amaker said. “It was an outstanding performance, and that’s how he has handled everything at a very emotional time for the Robinson family.”

UCLA (4-3) fell behind, 8-0, at the outset, giving up a dunk and three layups. But the Bruins roared back with 12 consecutive points in a run led by Ariza, who had three dunks and an assist during that stretch.

Michigan took back the lead, turning a 25-25 tie into a 36-28 halftime lead by taking advantage of lineups that resulted partly from two fouls apiece on Michael Fey, Ryan Hollins and T.J. Cummings.

The Bruin rotation also was affected by the absence of guard Brian Morrison, who has been one of UCLA’s most reliable players but is out three weeks because of a hamstring injury. (Despite an earlier plan for him to stay with the team in order to receive treatment, Morrison was allowed to return home to Redmond, Wash., for the holiday and receive treatment there.)

With Morrison out and frontline foul trouble, UCLA had a lineup late in the half that included Ryan Walcott, Jon Crispin and Josiah Johnson -- and later, seldom-used John Hoffart, who committed a turnover that led to a three-pointer by Michigan’s Daniel Horton for an eight-point lead.

Horton, who led Michigan with 19 points, also made a three-pointer in the first minute of the second half to stretch the lead to 11.

More frustrating to UCLA was the ease with which Michigan sophomore center Graham Brown and Sims, a freshman forward, scored inside. Brown had eight of his 10 points in the second half, and Sims scored 12.

“We’ve just got to play with a lot more pride and take more pride in our defense,” Thompson said.

Cummings echoed his teammate. “As far as making stops, they were getting what they wanted,” he said. “You’ve got to have more pride.

“It’s just a thing of us not getting strong position and letting them get easy angles to the basket. It all adds up to us getting beat.”

Brown scored consecutive baskets inside to put Michigan up by seven with 1:47 left.

A backcourt call against Ariza that Howland disputed cost UCLA one opportunity to trim the lead, and although Thompson was hitting from three-point range, UCLA never got closer than three points.

Michigan freshman Dion Harris, a 94% free-throw shooter, made his second foul shot for a four-point lead with six seconds left after missing the first.

It was the sixth close game in seven outings for the Bruins, who were coming off an encouraging victory against another Big Ten team, Michigan State.

UCLA’s three losses -- to Kentucky, UC Santa Barbara and Michigan -- were by a combined seven points. But three of their four victories were by six points or fewer, with the only runaway against UC Riverside, and the Pacific 10 season opens next week.

“We’re ready. We’ve got to learn some way,” Cummings said. “Sometimes you’ve got to get bumped in the head a little to get better. When we mess up, we’re not going to put our heads down, just take it as a knock in the head and keep going.”