UCLA Basketball: Colorado Impressed By Bruins' Stifling Defense
Despite Colorado shooting pretty accurately against UCLA on Thursday night, the Bruins defense was able to muster out a win.
UCLA secured another narrow win against the Buffaloes, with a 64-60 victory. This was the second game in a row in which the Bruins limited their opponent to just 60 points, with UCLA earning a 61-60 win over Cal the game prior.
This defense has been critical for UCLA over their six-game winning streak, especially when their shooters aren't putting up a ton of points.
In particular, the Bruins secured lots of turnovers against Colorado that proved costly for the Buffaloes. The Buffaloes turned the ball over 14 times — compared to just five Bruin turnovers — which allowed UCLA to capitalize.
Colorado head coach Tad Boyle reflected on these mistakes after the game.
“The turnovers really got us tonight," Boyle said. "UCLA’s really good at being physical. We didn’t do a good job in the first half handling that. We did a much better job in the second half. They had nineteen points off of turnovers. If we could have cut that in half, that’s the ball game. We just have to be capable of making plays when it counts. It has nothing to do with our effort. We had a chance down the stretch. Like any other conference, it’s hard to win in February, especially on the road.”
These points and turnovers proved critical for both sides. With this win, UCLA stays ahead of Colorado in the Pac-12 standings and improves to a 9-5 conference record. Meanwhile, Colorado falls short of a chance to leap ahead of the Bruins in the standings and instead will stay in fifth.
