UCLA cruises over UC Santa Barbara, 102-62

The many shades of TJ Leaf were on display in the first half Wednesday night. All of them were to UCLA’s liking.

There was the finesse of a jumper in the lane. The precision of a three-pointer. The brawn of a put-back dunk. The resolve of a one-handed tip-in.

Leaf packed a game’s worth of highlights into a span of less than two minutes, powering the No. 2 Bruins to a big lead that only got bigger during a 102-62 victory over UC Santa Barbara at Pauley Pavilion.

The freshman power forward fueled UCLA’s game-changing 17-0 run with 14 points, including nine in a row, breaking the will of the outmanned Gauchos. When it started, Santa Barbara held a one-point lead, and by the time it was over, the Gauchos were down by 16 and essentially finished.

Leaf finished with 25 points, 10 rebounds and eight assists to help the Bruins (11-0) extend their best start to a season since the 2006-07 team won its first 14 games. UCLA guard Lonzo Ball also flirted with a triple-double, collecting 13 points, 10 rebounds and seven assists.

“It’s kind of crazy, two guys could have got it,” Ball said of the possible triple-doubles at a school that has produced only four in its storied history. “But all we care about is winning.”

Aaron Holiday added 20 points, six assists and four steals for the Bruins, who had five players scoring in double figures. UCLA had been on upset alert since coaches placed a sheet of paper listing victories by heavy underdogs on a whiteboard in the locker room earlier this season, adding Monmouth’s triumph over Memphis on Tuesday.

The Bruins could have been ripe for a letdown after emotional victories over Kentucky and Michigan but did their usual move-the-ball thing against the Gauchos, tallying 27 assists on their 39 baskets while committing only eight turnovers.

“We were just trying to play unselfish basketball and that’s what we do,” Leaf said. “We like to move the ball, every one of us and that’s what we were doing.”

Santa Barbara challenged for five minutes with its 3-2 zone and inside-out approach. Then Leaf got it going. He had 17 points, eight rebounds and six assists in the first half alone.

Leaf’s all-around play delighted a crowd of 7,484 that was slightly more than half the size of the sellout Saturday against Michigan and came in front of former Bruins great Bill Walton, who called the game for the Pac-12 Networks.

UCLA Coach Steve Alford said his favorite play came in the first half when Holiday made a steal and fed Leaf, who passed up an open shot by finding Holiday in the corner in an attempt to reward his effort. Holiday missed the shot but eventually made a jumper after an offensive rebound by Leaf.

“That’s the kind of selfless plays that this team is starting to just create that’s fun,” Alford said. “It’s fun to watch and obviously fun to coach and TJ has a lot to do with that.”

UCLA center Thomas Welsh missed a second consecutive game because of a bruised right knee, allowing extra minutes for backups Gyorgy Goloman and Ike Anigbogu.

Anigbogu showed a variety of moves with a jump hook and a dunk off an alley-oop pass from Ball. He finished with nine points, seven rebounds and four blocks in only 18 minutes.

Lakers General Manager Mitch Kupchak was seated several rows behind the Santa Barbara bench, doing double duty as the father of Gauchos sophomore forward Maxwell Kupchak (three rebounds in 12 minutes) while scouting UCLA’s NBA prospects.

Forward Ami Lakoju had 11 points and 12 rebounds for the Gauchos (1-7), whose forgettable history against the Bruins continued. Santa Barbara is now 1-19 against UCLA.

The lesson of the most recent beat-down in the series was that there are no periods in TJ Leaf, only exclamation marks.

Up next

Saturday vs. Ohio State, noon, T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas, Channel 2 — The Bruins will get their first look at the new home of the Pac-12 Conference tournament in what was supposed to be a showcase game against Ohio State (8-2) before the Buckeyes lost to Florida Atlantic at home earlier this month.

ben.bolch@latimes.com

Twitter: @latbbolch