By halftime Monday night time, UCLA did not look completely ready for March. Additional like a crew in need of a time reboot.
In a exhibiting as dreary as the cold, soaked weather outside Alaska Airlines Arena, the Bruins couldn’t make a shot and their typically durable defense was not providing much resistance.
The twin disappointment remaining UCLA in will need of a comeback from Washington to avoid a further bad highway loss and fueling more question about no matter whether the Bruins could make it to the NCAA tournament’s 2nd weekend, substantially considerably less yet another excursion to the Remaining 4.
It was then that an outdated good friend reemerged to give a reminder of what this team can do.
Looking as spry as he has all time, Jaime Jaquez Jr. blistered the Huskies with a wide variety of moves. He scored on layups, turnaround jumpers, putbacks and a a few-pointer when powering the No.17 Bruins to a badly essential 77-66 victory.
All those ankles that have hindered Jaquez for most of the year did not appear to be to trouble him on the way to a job-substantial 30 details even though earning 11 of 17 photographs. Jules Bernard extra 12 details for the Bruins (22-6, 14-5 Pac-12 Meeting), who outscored the Huskies 52-37 in the second fifty percent though shooting 59.3%.
Badly in will need of a spark immediately after trailing by four details at halftime, the Bruins observed it with their protection. They held Washington (14-14, 9-9) scoreless in excess of the very first four minutes of the second half though rolling off 9 straight points to acquire a 34-29 lead on a Jaylen Clark steal and layup.
Bernard included a 3-pointer, and the Bruins finally surged into a 45-33 lead on a Tyger Campbell floater to tranquil the group.
UCLA’s David Singleton supplied the knockout blow when he took a pass from Cody Riley right after Riley’s offensive rebound and buried a straightaway three-pointer to increase their benefit to 60-46.
UCLA arrived listed here having participated in the fish toss at Pike’s Position Marketplace a working day earlier, hoping for a significantly even larger capture.
UCLA guard Tyger Campbell drives close to Washington guard Terrell Brown Jr. through the very first 50 % Monday in Seattle.
(Ted S. Warren / Associated Press)
The Bruins essential to beat Washington and USC this week — and get some assistance from Arizona, which plays the Trojans on Tuesday night time — to overtake their crosstown rivals for the No.2 seed in the Pac-12 match.
Piling up wins would also assistance the Bruins enhance their NCAA match seeding with Range Sunday considerably less than two months absent. Most bracket projections outlined UCLA as a No.4 seed, although CBS Sports’ Jerry Palm outlined the Bruins as a No. 5 seed, opening the match in Buffalo.
A sturdy near to the normal period and a couple of victories in the Pac-12 tournament could assistance the Bruins stay clear of a cross-state excursion and keep on being on the West Coastline, opening the NCAA event in possibly San Diego or Portland, Ore.
For the Bruins, this was the close of a frantic stretch in which they played 6 game titles in 12 days. They unquestionably looked weary in the to start with half, making 34.5% of their pictures and only two of eight 3-point tries in the to start with fifty percent.
A supporter provided a fitting tribute when he tried out to make a 50 percent-court docket shot for $50,000 through a timeout and the ball landed all around the a few-point arc.
UCLA coach Mick Cronin juggled his setting up lineup, reinserting Myles Johnson immediately after a just one-sport absence in which Riley received the nod as the team’s commencing major person, and heading with Singleton about Clark. Johnson acquired yanked only a few minutes into the video game following acquiring conquer for a rebound, with Cronin likely again to Riley.
Clark endured an uneasy sequence in which he experienced a 3-stage endeavor blocked, fully commited a stress foul and then received immediately taken off from the match only to be waved out of Cronin’s seat, acquiring to choose a different location farther down the bench.
For a 2nd consecutive game, the Bruins have been devoid of main scorer Johnny Juzang simply because of the sprained suitable ankle that pressured him out of the team’s activity at Oregon last week. Juzang also skipped UCLA’s 1st sport against Washington this season since of a sore hip following slipping off a scooter.
Even amid a third consecutive disappointing time, Washington has remained a force at house. The Huskies had won six of seven Pac-12 games on their residence court coming into Monday, slipping only to conference chief Arizona.
The Huskies ended up in place for an upset following UCLA made only 3 of its very first 16 pictures ahead of Jaquez lifted his team’s percentage with a layup.
He was just finding commenced, propping up a workforce that needed every little thing he could provide.
