Bruins sleepwalk in Seattle

SEATTLE -- Washington played Sunday with the pent-up energy of housebound schoolchildren let loose and handed a basketball.

Sometimes the Huskies got layups. Sometimes they got rebounds. Sometimes the missed shots caromed off the backboard. Once, in the final minute, Washington’s Tim Morris inbounded the ball off UCLA forward Alfred Aboya’s face. Every time it was a Husky diving for a loose ball and a Bruin standing still.

The on-court pandemonium perplexed UCLA, and with things not going according to plan, the No. 5-ranked Bruins were upset, 71-61, by Washington, the ninth-place team in the Pacific 10 Conference.

It was the fourth straight loss at Bank of America Arena for UCLA (21-3, 9-2), which fell into a first-place tie with Stanford in the Pac-10. Washington (13-11, 4-7) pulled to within a game of Oregon and California.

Washington’s Quincy Pondexter leapt onto the scorer’s table at the end, popping his jersey at the rowdy, purple-clad student section, a final shot of exuberance that was unmatched by the Bruins, who left the court with heads down.

UCLA freshman center Kevin Love, who is averaging 17.7 points and 11.1 rebounds, finished with 13 points and 10 rebounds and said he was “frustrated” about the number of touches he had inside the lane. Point guard Darren Collison was held scoreless in the first half and finished with only three points, four assists and eight turnovers.

And late in the game Coach Ben Howland switched Collison, his best on-ball defender, off Justin Dentmon after Dentmon beat him off the dribble for two of his game-high 20 points. Forward Jon Brockman had 12 points and 17 rebounds as the Huskies out-rebounded UCLA, 44-36.

“Darren just had a bad game today,” Howland said.

Love said he had never imagined his point guard could be so easily negated offensively and defensively. “I’ve never seen a person scoring on Darren like that or having him taken out like that by another person,” Love said.

“I was bad,” Collison said. “It was horrible. I wasn’t aggressive at all like I was before. I have no words to explain it.”

His only basket was a three-pointer -- the only three UCLA made in 16 attempts.

Collison was also given a technical foul early in the second half after UCLA’s Josh Shipp and Washington’s Venoy Overton had exchanged face-to-face words and Collison joined the conversation. Collison said he was only defending a teammate.

Howland said, “We lost our composure, and there is no reason for that.”

The technical was also Collison’s third personal foul, and he said he became tentative. “I kept my hands in my pocket, Coach said, especially on defense.”

Meanwhile, Washington’s switching defenses pushed the Bruins out of their patterns. “They were just pushing us out, making us run our plays five or six feet further from the basket,” Love said.

UCLA trailed, 35-28, at halftime and never got closer than three points in the second half.

Two sequences symbolized UCLA’s woes.

With the Bruins trailing, 54-48, Pondexter missed on a drive and Brockman rebounded, then took a step away from Love and made a fall-away baseline jumper. He gave Love a little fist pump.

After two Aboya free throws pulled UCLA to within 58-53 with 6:28 left, Washington had a series in which it kept possession for what seemed an eternity. Brockman missed a layup and Dentmon rebounded. Dentmon was fouled and missed the first of a one-and-one. Brockman rebounded, one of his nine offensive boards, and got the ball to Pondexter, who was fouled. Pondexter made his first free throw, missed the second and Brockman rebounded again. Brockman was fouled and missed two free throws.

Finally UCLA had the ball back, only one point further behind, but Dentmon harassed Collison into a turnover.

Aboya said he didn’t expect to take an inbounds pass square off his nose. “But that was a perfect example of the game right there,” he said. “They were doing everything they could to win. It’s allowed.”

Howland gave a terse “no” when asked if he thought the play was right. “He threw the ball off a kid’s face,” Howland said. “The official said there was nothing he could do.”

Shipp, who led UCLA with 19 points, said the play didn’t bother him.

“They out-toughed us and out-hustled us,” he said. “We just didn’t have it today.”

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diane.pucin@latimes.com