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College Hoops: UCLA continues march toward Pac-10 crown
By Andrew Bagnato, AP Sports Writer
Friday, February 29, 2008 | No comments posted.
TEMPE, Ariz. — The UCLA Bruins like it in the desert — and they hope to come back soon.
After routing Arizona State 70-49 on Thursday night, the fourth-ranked Bruins allowed themselves to look ahead to the NCAA tournament, and a possible return to Phoenix, site of the West Regional.
“We want to be back here come tournament time,” said center Kevin Love, who led UCLA with 18 points and 12 rebounds, his 17th double-double. “We want that No. 1 seed and we want to be playing close to home.”
Darren Collison and Josh Shipp each added 17 points for the Bruins (25-3, 13-2 Pac-10), who have won nine of 10 and maintained their one-game lead over No. 8 Stanford in the conference race.
“I don’t know if we’re peaking right now,” Love said. “We want to peak come tournament time. We just want to step up our level of basketball as much as we can.”
UCLA always seems to step it up against Arizona State. This was UCLA’s eighth straight win over the Sun Devils, and the Bruins drubbed Arizona State by a combined 54 points in the two-game season series.
The Sun Devils may have been tempted to call on newly acquired Phoenix Suns center Shaquille O’Neal, who watched from the baseline near the ASU bench. Shaq no doubt would have helped on a night the Bruins outrebounded the Sun Devils 34-20, and he could have guarded the 6-foot-10 Love, who was 6-of-11 from the floor.
Early on, the Bruins were baffled by Arizona State’s zone defense. Thirteen minutes into the game, the score was tied at 11-11.
“That was one of the ugliest first halves we’ve played all season,” Love said. “We just kept grinding it out and finally hit some 3-point shots.”
Asked to explain UCLA’s struggles against the zone, coach Ben Howland shook his head and said, “Just a lot of jargon that would take me a half-hour to explain. Bottom line, we weren’t getting the ball inside.”
The Bruins eventually began picking apart the zone from beyond the arc, hitting 6-of-11 3-pointers before halftime and 10-of-20 for the game.
“They’re tough to beat already, but when they hit 50 percent from 3, it’s almost impossible,” Arizona State guard Derek Glasser said.
The Bruins’ best long-range production came from Collison, who was 5-of-6 from beyond the arc.
His biggest 3-pointer came at the end of the half. Collison stumbled as he gathered in a long outlet pass from Shipp, then launched a 3-pointer at the buzzer to send the Bruins into the locker room with a 29-18 lead.
“I was going to go up for a layup, but I tripped and fell, and time was running out quick, so I had to put it up,” Collison said with a chuckle. “It was a good shot. I got real lucky off the shot, and I thought that gave us a big push in the second half as well.”
That bucket came 70 seconds after ASU star James Harden missed a dunk and Shipp answered with a 3-pointer. Had Harden scored, Arizona State would have been within three, at 23-20, heading into the final minute of the half.
“Obviously the missed dunk by Harden was a huge play,” Howland said. “It would have been a three-point game.”
The play diminished in importance as UCLA pulled away in the second half, but the freshman still felt bad about blowing an easy opportunity.
“That was a key play,” he said. “I should have finished the bucket.”
Collison wasn’t the only Bruin who was zeroing in from afar. Shipp had missed his last 20 3-pointers coming in, but he went 4-for-8.
Shipp, Collison and Russell Westbrook each hit 3-pointers early in the second half to spark a 15-5 UCLA run that blew the game open.
The Sun Devils (17-10, 7-8) had hoped to spring an upset and solidify their bid for their first NCAA tournament berth since 2003. But they struggled against the Bruins’ defense, which allows 57.9 points per game, sixth in the nation.
Harden and Rihards Kuksiks each had 11 points for Arizona State, which has lost eight of 11.
“Obviously, their defense was excellent for 40 minutes,” ASU coach Herb Sendek said. “Very few things came easy for us offensively.”
No. 8 Stanford 82, Washington 79
Brook Lopez had 21 points and seven rebounds, and Stanford kept the Huskies winless at Maples Pavilion since 1993.
Anthony Goods added 16 points for the Cardinal (23-4, 12-3 Pac-10), who couldn’t break away from the eighth-place Huskies despite never trailing in their school-record 15th home victory of the season. Stanford has won 10 of 11 overall heading into Saturday’s home finale against Washington State.
Jon Brockman had 20 points and 14 rebounds for the Huskies (15-14, 6-10).
No. 22 Washington State 70, California 49
Taylor Rochestie scored 18 points, Kyle Weaver added 17 and defense-minded Washington State showed off its offensive skills.
The Cougars (22-6, 10-6 Pac-10) shot 54 percent, going 8-for-17 on 3-pointers to win for the fifth time in six games with one of their best offensive performances in conference play this season.
Everything came easy for Washington State at the Golden Bears (15-11, 6-9). The Cougars even scored on a rare alley-oop pass from Rochestie to Robbie Cowgill to take a 64-46 lead with less than 7 minutes to go.
The Cougars’ defense also shone as usual in a matchup between the conference’s highest-scoring and stingiest teams. Cal played from behind after missing seven of its first eight shots.
The Bears shot 37 percent overall and finished 28 points below their conference- leading scoring average of 77.8 points.
USC 70, Arizona 58
O.J. Mayo scored 20 points and USC withstood an Arizona comeback to hand the Wildcats their fifth home loss of the season, 70-58, on Thursday night.
In a matchup of two of the game’s best freshmen, Mayo got the better of Arizona’s Jerryd Bayless, who matched his season low of eight points, 13 below his season average. The Wildcats’ other top scorer, Chase Budinger, scored only seven points.
Davon Jefferson had 15 points and 14 rebounds and 14 rebounds for the Trojans (18-9, 9-6 Pac-10), who never trailed and led by as many as 16 in the first half. Taj Gibson added 14 points and Dwight Lewis 11.
The loss was a setback in the Wildcats’ (17-11, 7-8) bid for their 24th consecutive NCAA tournament berth, the longest active streak in major college basketball and second-longest ever behind North Carolina’s 27.
Jordan Hill led Arizona with 18 points. Jawann McClellan added 14.
Portland St. 96, Montana St. 68
At Bozeman, Mont., Jeremiah Dominguez scored 26 points to help lead Portland State to a 96-68 victory against Montana State on Thursday night.
Dominguez was two points shy of his career high, set against MSU in Portland on Feb. 2.
With the win, Portland State (19-9, 12-2 Big Sky) secured the Big Sky Conference title, hosting rights to the conference tournament and its first-ever NCAA Division I playoff berth.
The Vikings led the entire game, shooting 70 percent from the field compared to 38 percent shooting by the Bobcats (15-13, 7-8).
Montana State struggled to make up a 14-point deficit in the second period, but was unable to come within single digits. Portland State put the Bobcats away with a 9-0 run capped by a three-point play by Deonte Huff at 4:29 to put the Vikings ahead 89-60.
Andre Murray and Huff each had 15 points for the Vikings, while Scott Morrison picked up 11 points and eight rebounds.
Mecklen Davis led Montana State with 19 points and Divaldo Mbunga finished with 15.
The Bobcats also have secured a berth to the conference tournament with Northern Colorado’s loss to Montana.
After routing Arizona State 70-49 on Thursday night, the fourth-ranked Bruins allowed themselves to look ahead to the NCAA tournament, and a possible return to Phoenix, site of the West Regional.
“We want to be back here come tournament time,” said center Kevin Love, who led UCLA with 18 points and 12 rebounds, his 17th double-double. “We want that No. 1 seed and we want to be playing close to home.”
Darren Collison and Josh Shipp each added 17 points for the Bruins (25-3, 13-2 Pac-10), who have won nine of 10 and maintained their one-game lead over No. 8 Stanford in the conference race.
“I don’t know if we’re peaking right now,” Love said. “We want to peak come tournament time. We just want to step up our level of basketball as much as we can.”
UCLA always seems to step it up against Arizona State. This was UCLA’s eighth straight win over the Sun Devils, and the Bruins drubbed Arizona State by a combined 54 points in the two-game season series.
The Sun Devils may have been tempted to call on newly acquired Phoenix Suns center Shaquille O’Neal, who watched from the baseline near the ASU bench. Shaq no doubt would have helped on a night the Bruins outrebounded the Sun Devils 34-20, and he could have guarded the 6-foot-10 Love, who was 6-of-11 from the floor.
Early on, the Bruins were baffled by Arizona State’s zone defense. Thirteen minutes into the game, the score was tied at 11-11.
“That was one of the ugliest first halves we’ve played all season,” Love said. “We just kept grinding it out and finally hit some 3-point shots.”
Asked to explain UCLA’s struggles against the zone, coach Ben Howland shook his head and said, “Just a lot of jargon that would take me a half-hour to explain. Bottom line, we weren’t getting the ball inside.”
The Bruins eventually began picking apart the zone from beyond the arc, hitting 6-of-11 3-pointers before halftime and 10-of-20 for the game.
“They’re tough to beat already, but when they hit 50 percent from 3, it’s almost impossible,” Arizona State guard Derek Glasser said.
The Bruins’ best long-range production came from Collison, who was 5-of-6 from beyond the arc.
His biggest 3-pointer came at the end of the half. Collison stumbled as he gathered in a long outlet pass from Shipp, then launched a 3-pointer at the buzzer to send the Bruins into the locker room with a 29-18 lead.
“I was going to go up for a layup, but I tripped and fell, and time was running out quick, so I had to put it up,” Collison said with a chuckle. “It was a good shot. I got real lucky off the shot, and I thought that gave us a big push in the second half as well.”
That bucket came 70 seconds after ASU star James Harden missed a dunk and Shipp answered with a 3-pointer. Had Harden scored, Arizona State would have been within three, at 23-20, heading into the final minute of the half.
“Obviously the missed dunk by Harden was a huge play,” Howland said. “It would have been a three-point game.”
The play diminished in importance as UCLA pulled away in the second half, but the freshman still felt bad about blowing an easy opportunity.
“That was a key play,” he said. “I should have finished the bucket.”
Collison wasn’t the only Bruin who was zeroing in from afar. Shipp had missed his last 20 3-pointers coming in, but he went 4-for-8.
Shipp, Collison and Russell Westbrook each hit 3-pointers early in the second half to spark a 15-5 UCLA run that blew the game open.
The Sun Devils (17-10, 7-8) had hoped to spring an upset and solidify their bid for their first NCAA tournament berth since 2003. But they struggled against the Bruins’ defense, which allows 57.9 points per game, sixth in the nation.
Harden and Rihards Kuksiks each had 11 points for Arizona State, which has lost eight of 11.
“Obviously, their defense was excellent for 40 minutes,” ASU coach Herb Sendek said. “Very few things came easy for us offensively.”
No. 8 Stanford 82, Washington 79
Brook Lopez had 21 points and seven rebounds, and Stanford kept the Huskies winless at Maples Pavilion since 1993.
Anthony Goods added 16 points for the Cardinal (23-4, 12-3 Pac-10), who couldn’t break away from the eighth-place Huskies despite never trailing in their school-record 15th home victory of the season. Stanford has won 10 of 11 overall heading into Saturday’s home finale against Washington State.
Jon Brockman had 20 points and 14 rebounds for the Huskies (15-14, 6-10).
No. 22 Washington State 70, California 49
Taylor Rochestie scored 18 points, Kyle Weaver added 17 and defense-minded Washington State showed off its offensive skills.
The Cougars (22-6, 10-6 Pac-10) shot 54 percent, going 8-for-17 on 3-pointers to win for the fifth time in six games with one of their best offensive performances in conference play this season.
Everything came easy for Washington State at the Golden Bears (15-11, 6-9). The Cougars even scored on a rare alley-oop pass from Rochestie to Robbie Cowgill to take a 64-46 lead with less than 7 minutes to go.
The Cougars’ defense also shone as usual in a matchup between the conference’s highest-scoring and stingiest teams. Cal played from behind after missing seven of its first eight shots.
The Bears shot 37 percent overall and finished 28 points below their conference- leading scoring average of 77.8 points.
USC 70, Arizona 58
O.J. Mayo scored 20 points and USC withstood an Arizona comeback to hand the Wildcats their fifth home loss of the season, 70-58, on Thursday night.
In a matchup of two of the game’s best freshmen, Mayo got the better of Arizona’s Jerryd Bayless, who matched his season low of eight points, 13 below his season average. The Wildcats’ other top scorer, Chase Budinger, scored only seven points.
Davon Jefferson had 15 points and 14 rebounds and 14 rebounds for the Trojans (18-9, 9-6 Pac-10), who never trailed and led by as many as 16 in the first half. Taj Gibson added 14 points and Dwight Lewis 11.
The loss was a setback in the Wildcats’ (17-11, 7-8) bid for their 24th consecutive NCAA tournament berth, the longest active streak in major college basketball and second-longest ever behind North Carolina’s 27.
Jordan Hill led Arizona with 18 points. Jawann McClellan added 14.
Portland St. 96, Montana St. 68
At Bozeman, Mont., Jeremiah Dominguez scored 26 points to help lead Portland State to a 96-68 victory against Montana State on Thursday night.
Dominguez was two points shy of his career high, set against MSU in Portland on Feb. 2.
With the win, Portland State (19-9, 12-2 Big Sky) secured the Big Sky Conference title, hosting rights to the conference tournament and its first-ever NCAA Division I playoff berth.
The Vikings led the entire game, shooting 70 percent from the field compared to 38 percent shooting by the Bobcats (15-13, 7-8).
Montana State struggled to make up a 14-point deficit in the second period, but was unable to come within single digits. Portland State put the Bobcats away with a 9-0 run capped by a three-point play by Deonte Huff at 4:29 to put the Vikings ahead 89-60.
Andre Murray and Huff each had 15 points for the Vikings, while Scott Morrison picked up 11 points and eight rebounds.
Mecklen Davis led Montana State with 19 points and Divaldo Mbunga finished with 15.
The Bobcats also have secured a berth to the conference tournament with Northern Colorado’s loss to Montana.
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