TUCSON, Ariz. — A week after looking practically unbeatable, winning three games comfortably with lockdown defense and sustained intensity to move up near the top of the national rankings, UCLA was back in a spot where players had said they were more comfortable.
The Bruins were once again underdogs.
It didn’t matter that they were playing the same Arizona team they had hammered just nine days earlier. The Wildcats were playing at home and were favored by seven points. Basketball analyst Ken Pomeroy gave UCLA just a 33% chance to win.
The Bruins might have felt lost in the desert every time they jogged past the Arizona students lining the tunnel that led to their locker room, a cascade of boos washing over the players dressed in blue.
Even with a few spirited second-half runs shaving what had been a massive deficit to something more manageable Thursday evening, UCLA never could quiet those fans. The celebrating belonged to the seventh-ranked Wildcats after they emerged with a 76-66 triumph over the third-ranked Bruins at the McKale Center.
It was Arizona’s first triumph over UCLA on its home court since 2016, snapping a four-game losing streak here while moving the Wildcats (18-2 overall, 8-1 Pac-12) into sole possession of first place in the conference standings.
It wasn’t easy.
Just when it looked like the Wildcats might win in a runaway that was a reversal of last week’s meeting, UCLA’s Jaime Jaquez Jr. rattled in a layup to pull the Bruins (16-3, 8-2) within 64-61 with 3:41 left. Fans who had been wildly cheering only moments earlier produced murmurs of unease.
But a rough stretch for UCLA forward Cody Riley in which he had a shot blocked, missed another shot in the lane and then missed one of his nearly automatic midrange jumpers left the Bruins with too many empty possessions at a time when they needed production.
The Bruins shot just 38.9%, making only three of 14 three-pointers, while failing to replicate the defensive intensity that triggered their 15-point victory over Arizona last week.
Jules Bernard scored 12 of his 15 points in the first half for UCLA and Jaquez added 13 points in his return from a sprained right ankle that had sidelined him since the first half of the team’s game against Stanford last weekend.
Arizona’s Kerr Kriisa, who missed all 12 of his shots against the Bruins last week, suffered no such indignity this time, leading his team with 16 points even if he did make only four of 14 shots. As the final seconds ran off the clock, Kriisa wiggled his fingers to entice fans to get louder before hurling the ball into the student section.
In his return from a two-game absence with COVID-19, UCLA’s Johnny Juzang tugged on his arm sleeve in the moments before the opening jump ball and nodded at teammate Tyger Campbell. In a sign of things to come, Juzang threw a pass that was stolen on the Bruins’ first possession.
UCLA was as flat in the first half as it had been inspired when these teams met last week at Pauley Pavilion. Failing to replicate its smothering defense, the Bruins allowed Arizona to make seven of its first 10 shots. Wildcats forward Azuolas Tubelis continually punished the Bruins on the low block after taking passes over the top of the defense for layups.
Meanwhile, UCLA missed its first seven three-pointers before Bernard broke through as part of a key sequence in which he prevented the Wildcats from making it an early runaway. Bernard followed his three-pointer with a steal and layup in which he was fouled. His 12 points by the game’s midpoint were twice as many as any of his teammates.
Kriisa missed his first shot in a continuation of his cold shooting from last week before getting on the board with a driving layup that he punctuated by pointing at the students behind the basket. He notched a team-leading 11 points by halftime for the Wildcats, who shot 60% to UCLA’s 33.3%. The Bruins made just one of nine three-pointers to that point.
