UCLA’s Afflalo completes the win

Not many people would miss the 25 points next to Arron Afflalo’s name on the stat sheet after UCLA’s 62-46 victory over California on Thursday at Haas Pavilion.

UCLA Coach Ben Howland wanted to make sure everyone made the connection between Afflalo and the zero points next to Cal guard Ayinde Ubaka’s name too.

“Not only did he get 25, he did a great job on Ubaka,” Howland said. “This could be the first and only game in his career he has zero points.”

There have been other goose eggs in Ubaka’s four seasons in Berkeley, but they are few and far between. And even though Cal Coach Ben Braun said Ubaka was weakened by an intestinal virus this week, he gave Afflalo credit too.

Credit Afflalo for a complete game on a night when UCLA needed one to pull off its latest grind-it-out victory, coming from behind once again after trailing Cal by eight points during the first half.

“Be it ugly, we’ll take it,” Howland said, then raised the issue himself. “Why do we get off to such slow starts? I don’t know.

“It’s not an effort issue. Our effort is great.”

It’s hard to argue with the results.

Third-ranked UCLA is 18-1, and 7-1 and in first place in the Pacific 10 Conference after Oregon’s loss to Washington. But the Bruins have trailed in each of their last four victories.

“It’s definitely frustrating,” forward Josh Shipp said. “We’re trying to find an answer. It’s tough. But we’re weathering it. We’re getting wins. Until we start losing, it doesn’t really matter.”

Afflalo isn’t inclined to let the Bruins lose again after failing to take the last shot in a two-point loss to the Ducks on Jan 6.

For the second season in a row, he was the Golden Bears’ undoing on their home court against UCLA.

He scored 20 of his 25 after halftime Thursday, a year after scoring 21 of his 25 in the second half in a come-from-behind overtime victory over the Bears.

“He’s an extraordinary player,” Braun said. “He’s so good at stepping back and creating space offensively, as good as anybody in the league.”

Afflalo started about as slow as his teammates, and didn’t score his first point until he made two free throws with 4:39 left in the first half.

“I missed my first layup, my first three,” he said.

“But for me, it only takes one shot, one free throw, to feel I’m going.”

Afflalo made seven of 13 shots -- six of eight after halftime -- and two of five three-pointers. And he was perfect from the line, cashing in all nine free throws.

“Once I got a few free throws, I got myself in the flow of the game,” he said.

“But defense was my primary thing, making sure he didn’t get going.

“I’m not going to block his shots. I don’t anticipate him scoring no points again.”

Cal (12-8, 4-4) looked as if it was going to give UCLA trouble early, with freshman forward Ryan Anderson and sophomore Theo Robertson slicing through the Bruins defense.

But two first-half fouls slowed Anderson, and he missed some easy shots later and finished with 13 points, below his 17.5-point average.

Ubaka, who averages 14.7 points, missed all eight of his shots.

“We missed some opportunities,” Braun said. “If you get 10 layups, you’ve got to make five or six of them.”

Robertson scored 16 points to lead Cal, which lost center DeVon Hardin to a stress fracture in his foot earlier this season and was without forward Eric Vierneisel Thursday after he sprained an ankle in Wednesday’s practice.

UCLA’s defense and rebounding -- led by Luc Richard Mbah a Moute’s 11 rebounds -- helped hold the Bears to nine baskets in each half, and 36.7% shooting in the game.

“You have to play a near-perfect game to beat a team like that,” Robertson said. “They are a great defensive team.”

Braun called UCLA “a really tough basketball team.”

“They did a good job of staying patient,” he said. “They really have a lot of poise and confidence. You lose one game by two points and the rest are Ws, you pick up a lot of confidence.”

robyn.norwood@latimes.com