Bruins win a friendly

This was a grim-faced basketball game between UCLA and Pittsburgh, full of big fouls, hard screens and just a hint of hesitation about celebration.

Bruins Coach Ben Howland has nurtured Panthers Coach Jamie Dixon from Dixon’s days as a player to his rise into the same job Howland used to have at Pitt. So the UCLA players exchanged their smiles surreptitiously and they kept their celebration subdued. But still, they won.

UCLA, seeded second in the NCAA West Regional, advanced to the Elite Eight for the second straight year Thursday night with a 64-55 win over third-seeded Pittsburgh.

The Bruins (29-5) will play top-seeded Kansas on Saturday for a trip to the Final Four. The Jayhawks (33-4) beat fourth-seeded Southern Illinois 61-58 at HP Pavilion.

UCLA is 4-0 against Kansas in NCAA tournament games, if anyone needs a trend.

It wasn’t a comfortable victory for UCLA.

“I hope we never have to play again,” Howland said afterward.

“It was a little tough,” Dixon said.

The Bruins won against the Panthers with unlikely contributions from the bench and by making 23 of 26 free throws. Luc Richard Mbah a Moute missed two, though, with 2:21 left to break the rhythm, and after his clankers Pitt’s Ronald Ramon and Levance Fields made three-point shots to bring the Panthers to within five points, 56-51, with 1:22 left.

But there was never the sense the Panthers (29-8) could muster enough offense. The Bruins never trailed in the game and were tied only once, 4-4.

So even though only one UCLA player made more than three baskets (Josh Shipp had four), as Alfred Aboya said, “We got just enough from everybody.”

Much postgame praise went to freshman James Keefe. The 6-foot-8 forward from Santa Margarita High, a highly recruited high school All-American who has averaged about six minutes a game, played 10 in the first half. His two points might not seem like much, but they came on a confidence-boosting dunk and his active defense against seven-foot Pittsburgh center Aaron Gray was welcomed by two of his foul-plagued teammates.

“It always feels good to get a dunk,” Keefe said. “It boosts your confidence.”

“James was really excellent,” said Mbah a Moute, who sat out the final 16:38 of the first half after he’d acquired two fouls.

“James gave us a huge game,” said center Lorenzo Mata, who also had two fouls in the first eight minutes.

Sophomore Ryan Wright also had an enthusiastic three-minute stretch in the first half when he had a blocked shot. Freshman Russell Westbrook did something very rare in this methodical game by scoring a fastbreak layup in the first half.

And forward Michael Roll made a three-pointer to give UCLA a 40-31 lead, what was then the biggest margin of the game, and he also made a baseline jump shot with 53 seconds left after the Panthers had gotten to within five.

“All the guys on the bench helped a lot,” said Arron Afflalo, who made only three of his 11 shots from the field but all 10 of his free throws for a game-high 17 points. “The guys off the bench were phenomenal. They brought a lot of confidence and energy to the game.

The Bruins led by six at halftime, 32-26, and by no more than 12 in the game.

The focus of UCLA’s defense was Gray, who is bigger than anyone the Bruins have.

But, as Aboya noted afterward, “While he’s a very big man, he is slow.”

Harassed almost always by two defenders and unsure with both his hands and his footwork Gray, a senior, had only 10 points and none when the game seemed in contention.

Howland particularly praised the defense played by Mata, who is three inches shorter and 30 pounds lighter than Gray.

“I thought Lorenzo was fantastic tonight,” Howland said, “just in his standing up to Gray, who is just such a big body. I thought Lorenzo did a great job of changing some shots, of hedging his screens. I’m just so proud of Lorenzo.”

Gray said UCLA’s defensive strength and quickness didn’t surprise him. “But they did a great job of forcing us out of our stuff.”

This is the first time since the 1979-80 season that UCLA has gone to consecutive Elite Eights. Last season the Bruins reached the title game.

Afflalo said this win wasn’t particularly notable for anything except the win. “We were very fortunate,” he said.

But Aboya felt more credit was due his team. “That’s some great defense we played,” Aboya said. “We didn’t give Gray any space. And defense is what wins.”

diane.pucin@latimes.com