Arizona Flips Script, Beats UCLA Men's Basketball For First Time Since 2018
Thursday's contest between the Bruins and Wildcats felt similar to last week's top-10 showdown, but with a twist.
No. 3 UCLA men's basketball (16-3, 8-2 Pac-12) and No. 7 Arizona (18-2, 8-1 Pac-12) swapped spots in the latest AP Poll following the Bruins' one-sided home win over the Wildcats last Tuesday. For the rematch nine days later, the location where the teams faced off flipped too, but as they were last time out, Arizona remained the odds-on favorites to pick up the win.
Instead of getting upset like they did a week ago, the Wildcats actually held on to win, running away at the end to secure the 76-66 victory over the Bruins. UCLA's six-game head-to-head winning streak against Arizona and six-game winning streak in conference play were thus snapped, and they lost in the McKale Center for the first time in nearly six years and the first time under coach Mick Cronin.
The game started off much like it did last time – it was a tight, back-and-forth, energetic affair, and Arizona led 16-14 at the under-12 media timeout. But instead of the Bruins being the team to surge ahead like they did at Pauley Pavilion, it was the Wildcats who strung together a 12-0 run, feeding off the sold-out crowd at the McKale Center to go up by 14.
Instead of guard Kerr Kriisa tossing up air balls and getting heckled by the crowd, it was guard Johnny Juzang. Even though Juzang put up a few points early, the Wildcat were just as unforgiving to him as the Bruin fans were to Kriisa, chanting "F**k you, Johnny" throughout the first half.
UCLA had eight blocks in the first matchup, but it was Arizona turning shots away in Thursday's rematch. And instead of going 0-of-12 from the field and 0-of-9 from deep, Kriisa drilled a couple of early 3-pointers and blew kisses to the crowd.
Guard Jules Bernard slowed the bleeding for a moment, finally getting a triple of his own to fall after the Bruins missed their first seven. Bernard followed that up with a strip under the basket leading to an and-1, cutting the deficit to nine for a moment, but he missed the free throw and things slipped away once again when Kriisa answered with another triple.
Bernard was UCLA's entire offense for long stretches of the first half, at one point scoring 12 points in a seven-minute span while the rest of his teammates combined for two. Arizona kept its distance, though, going up by as many 17, and then caught Bernard on a mirror version of one of the biggest highlights to come out of the showdown in Westwood.
In that game, it was guard/forward Peyton Watson recovering from losing a loose ball to stuff guard Justin Kier at the rim and stare him down in celebration. This time around, Bernard got a steal and tried to push the ball, only to get rejected by guard Bennedict Mathurin when he tried to go up for a dunk.
A pair of free throws by forward Cody Riley and a string of three consecutive defensive stops helped the Bruins close the gap to 42-30 by halftime. UCLA was shooting 33.3% from the field to that point, while Arizona was shooting 60% with 12 points on their 15 made field goals.
Although Riley got a post layup to go to open the scoring in the second half, he missed both of his free throw tires a minute later when just one would cut the gap to single digits. Juzang scored the Bruins' next six to make it an eight-point game, but a 3-pointer by guard Dalen Terry tipped the scales back in the Wildcats' favor.
Campbell answered with a deep jumper that was initially called a 3, and even though it got changed to a 2, he converted on a fast break layup through contact to make it 51-44 a minute later. Jaquez received a fast break feed from Campbell a few possessions later, converting it with an and-1 that made it a six-point game.
That's when Cronin made the move to a more aggressive man press defense, only for Juzang to get caught biting on a pump fake down low that led to a layup for guard Pelle Larsson. Juzang got called for an offensive foul on the other end to get the home crowd rocking again, then he watched Larsson drill a 3-pointer to get the Wildcats lead back to 11.
Juzang got his next shot to fall, though, and Campbell followed that up by stepping into a 3-pointer. Campbell had a chance to get the lead down to five when he went to the line for a 1-and-1, but he missed the front end as the Arizona crowd serenaded him with a not-so-creative chant in the same vein as the one directed at Juzang earlier in the night.
Jaquez had a chance to make up those lost points when he got a steal and led a fast break, only for Kriisa's possible flop to get him tabbed with an offensive foul on what could have otherwise been an and-1. Mathurin nearly killed UCLA's momentum by drilling a 3-pointer, but guard David Singleton got one to go from deep then hit a fast break layup.
Finally within two possessions, the Bruins forced a bad 3 out of Kriisa at the end of the shot clock then cut the lead to three on a layup by Jaquez.
The whistles kept getting blown, though, and back-to-back-to-back fouls on Campbell, Jaquez and Riley led to three made free throws for the Wildcats. Riley couldn't get his signature elbow jumper to fall, so forcing six straight misses out of Arizona wasn't helping UCLA close the gap at all.
Another empty possession for the Bruins gave the Wildcats the ball back up six, and then it was – who else – Kriisa who drilled the dagger from 3-point range to all but end things with less than two minutes to go. The guard who got heckled by the UCLA crowd for nearly two-straight hours last Tuesday ended Thursday night pumping up his home fans having buried his biggest rival for the first time in years.
The Wildcats had five double-digit scorers to the Bruins' four, and the blue and gold also lost the battles on the boards and from deep. Their 3-of-14 performance from long range was nearly their worst 3-point outing on the year, just narrowly trailing the loss to Gonzaga in November.
UCLA will get back on the court for a game against Arizona State on Saturday, with that contest set to tip off at 7 p.m. in Tempe.
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