By Chris Umpierre
Daily Bruin Staff
TUCSON, Ariz. “”mdash; It was a meltdown of cataclysmic
proportions.
UCLA had begun the game in impressive fashion, leading No. 17
Arizona 41-33 at halftime in the Wildcats’ very crib. They
were 20 minutes from a remarkable road sweep of the Arizona
schools. Twenty minutes away from a stunning victory in the McKale
Center, a place they hadn’t won since 1997.
And then came the second-half collapse.
The Bruins started missing countless easy layups. They began to
throw the ball all over the court. They started leaving players
like Gilbert Arenas wide open for three-point attempts, and UCLA
forward Jason Kapono continued to throw up bricks.
Before you knew it, an eight-point halftime lead had turned into
an 88-63 Wildcat rout.
“They killed us, but I don’t think it was any one
thing they did. I just think we self-destructed as a team,”
said forward Matt Barnes.
Here’s UCLA’s second-half post-mortem: they shot 24
percent (9-of-37) from the field, an atrocious one-of-
11 from three-point land, gave up
10 turnovers, and got pounded on
the boards 27-17.
According to Bruin guard Earl Watson, who was only able to play
one minute in the second half because of his bruised back and right
hip, Arizona didn’t win on Saturday; UCLA lost.
“Arizona didn’t do anything different in the second
half,” he said. “We just didn’t focus and we
didn’t play with a sense of urgency, determination or a will
to win. We just played (through the motions).”
The meltdown didn’t begin immediately. Both teams began
the second half shooting terribly. It was a whole three minutes
into the half until a basket was scored.
UCLA and Arizona then traded some baskets when the Wildcats
began the run that everybody in the arena knew they would make.
The run started with an exchange that tells the story of
UCLA’s second-half woes. After catching the ball in the post,
Bruin center Dan Gadzuric found Barnes wide open under the basket,
with UCLA up 45-41 and 13:54 left in the game.
Barnes missed the layup and on Arizona’s next possession,
Richard Jefferson drilled a three-pointer.
Using increased defensive pressure, the Wildcats went on a 20-4
run in the next six minutes to grab a commanding 61-49 lead. The
game, for all intents and purposes, was over.
“Early in the second half they picked up their defensive
intensity and got some easy steals,” Bruin Ryan Bailey said.
“When a team like that gets easy steals and the crowd starts
going wild, it just snowballs. It’s all downhill.”
Giving up uncontested looks at the basket was a problem for UCLA
throughout the second frame. Arizona guard Arenas benefited from
the second-half matador defense. He had 18 second-half points,
including four three-pointers.
“We gave them wide-open, stand-still jump shots,”
UCLA guard Ray Young said. “They didn’t do anything
special. We gave them those type of shots to get their confidence
up.”
One reason the Bruins played so poorly in the second half was
their leading scorer, Kapono, had his worst game as a Bruin, and
team leader Watson was only able to play one minute in the second
half.
Kapono, who entered the game averaging 18.7 points per game,
finished with a career-low four points on two-of-14 shooting. He
was one-of-nine in the second half, including five misses from
three-point range.
Arizona head coach Lute Olson put defensive specialist Luke
Walton on Kapono, and Walton had Kapono hurrying his shots.
“The whole day I was rushing my shots and not getting my
body squared for good looks,” Kapono said. “I was just
never able to get into a good rhythm. The bottom line was that I
played poorly.”
UCLA would have been a different team in the second half if
Watson, who averages 16 points and six assists a game, were
healthy. Two days earlier against Arizona State, the Bruin guard
took a vicious spill when he ran into ASU forward Tommy Smith on
his way up for a fast-break shot.
Watson landed on his right hip and was barely able to walk on
Thursday. He tried to play on Saturday but it was clear he
wasn’t the same player.
After limping his way through 13 first-half minutes, Watson
picked up his fourth foul with 18:37 left in the second and
didn’t return to the floor.
“Watson is their guy that can break defenses down,”
Olson said. “Our intent was to force him as far out as we
could force him. (After he left the game) they really didn’t
have anybody that could break us down. They missed him a whole
lot.”
If the blowout loss wasn’t bad enough, Arizona fans added
insult to injury to UCLA coach Steve Lavin in the waning moments of
the game.
With Arizona cruising 86-61 the fans started chanting,
“Rick Pitino, Rick Pitino.”