UCLA drops first to Texas

UCLA’s hard-fought lead over Texas disappeared so quickly.

As quickly as Connor Atchley found himself wide open for a three-pointer. As quickly as Damion James slammed home D.J. Augustin’s missed shot.

Second-ranked UCLA lost its first game of the season, 63-61, to eighth-ranked Texas on Sunday in front of 12,048 at Pauley Pavilion after leading by three points with 1 minute 24 seconds left. The loss ended a 25-game home winning streak for the Bruins.

Atchley, a 6-foot-10 center, made the three-pointer after a Texas timeout and James slammed in the game winner with 8.3 seconds left to keep the Longhorns (7-0) undefeated.

Stunned at the turn of events, UCLA point guard Darren Collison lay on his back with his hands in the air as Texas players celebrated at midcourt.

UCLA (7-1) had come back from a 16-point first-half deficit and had seemed confidently in charge when Collison made a perfect post feed to Lorenzo Mata-Real for a lay-up and a 61-58 lead.

Collison, UCLA’s junior point guard who sat out the first six games because of a sprained left knee, made his first start of the season and played 39 minutes.

He needed to pull up his knee brace before his precise pass to Mata-Real and he ripped that brace off angrily after the game.

Collison scored 12 points and had five assists, but Augustin, his Texas counterpart, finished with 19 points, four assists and a missed shot that turned into the game winner. Augustin swept past Collison with about 10 seconds left. Augustin missed the two-footer but James, who finished with 19 points and 10 rebounds, put it back.

“That was totally my fault,” Collison said. “I reached for the ball when I should have been staying in front. I think we would have had a better chance in the possession if I would have just stayed in place instead of reaching. But I did reach.”

This loss didn’t happen by one bad Collison play, though.

It happened when the Bruins didn’t score a basket for 12:17 in the first half and let Texas have a 17-0 run and a 30-14 lead.

It happened because UCLA got bamboozled by the Longhorns’ zone defense. Center Kevin Love took only six shots and had only five rebounds in 24 minutes. In the final crucial minutes of the game, Love was on the bench, sitting because Howland had faith in Lorenzo Mata-Real’s defense rather than Love’s offense.

It happened because Texas shot 53.1% in the first half and because the Longhorns outrebounded UCLA, 34-28.

It happened because, Howland said, “we buried ourselves in the first half. We were inept handling the zone in the first half; we were taking too many outside shots. We showed a lot of character coming back, but after we had that four-point lead, Darren backed off too much on Augustin and we came down and took a questionable shot.”

There were, Howland said, just too many mistakes.

Augustin, a 6-foot sophomore, had six turnovers, but he was willing to take 15 shots (he made eight) and even his misses often created opportunities for the rest of the Longhorns. And after UCLA had taken a 59-55 lead, Augustin hit a nerveless three-pointer.

Howland also said the Bruins have to become more creative in getting Love the ball.

“We’ve got to do a better job, especially in getting the ball to Kevin in the high post,” Howland said. “He’s a great passer, so we’ve got to get him more touches in the elbow areas of the high post against the zone.”

Love said that in practice he is taking 14 or 15 shots and, he said, “I’m making a great percentage. I do wish I got the ball a little more. Not just even to take shots but I feel like I’m such a good passer I can catch it and swing it around for open shots. That’s always open in the zone. It looks great in practice too but when we get into a game I don’t know what happens.”

Texas Coach Rick Barnes said the Longhorns won because they were tough.

“We knew we had to defend and not give up offensive rebounds,” he said.

Texas did both those things better than UCLA.

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diane.pucin@latimes.com

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UP NEXT FOR UCLA

UCLA vs. Davidson, 2:30 p.m. Saturday, Honda Center, Channel 9 -- The Wildcats are 3-3, and two of their losses have come by a combined 10 points to top-ranked North Carolina (72-68) and seventh-ranked Duke (79-73). The star is sophomore guard Stephen Curry, who is averaging 25 points a game. This is the second half of a Wooden Classic doubleheader. San Diego State and St. Mary’s play in the first game.