UCLA-Arizona State: first half

It's over! Josh Shipp hit his first three-pointer in February with 17:26 to go in the first half to give the Bruins a 3-0 lead. He had missed 20 in a row in the last six games since the ASU game at Pauley Pavilion; he was 5-8 from long distance against the Sun Devils there Jan. 31.

>> Russell Westbrook came up gimpy in the second minute of the game, hopping off his left foot, which he rolled against Oregon last Saturday. He has stayed in the game, however, but picked up his second personal foul on an offensive charge with 13:52 to play.

>> We have a grinder. With 7:43 to play in the half, the Bruins have an 11-9 lead. UCLA has only 12 shots (made 4) and Arizona State only 13 (made 4); both sides are playing very tightly on the defensive end. For the Bruins, some nice offensive movement has been negated by two offensive fouls called against James Keefe on bad screens. Has Keefe picked up Alfred Aboya's disease?

>> A long three-pointer by Darren Collison and then a trap led to a turnover and a Westbrook two-hand dunk; in 27 seconds, a tense 11-11 game was 16-11 for the Bruins. Now, after an offensive rebound by Aboya, the Bruins have it out of bounds with 3:59 to play.

>> The difference between two teams whose statistics are similar: the zone sags in and Collison makes a three-pointer; Jeff Pendergraph (a 79.8% foul shooter) missed the front end of a one-and-one and Kevin Love makes both ends of a one-and-one. It puts the Bruins up — suddenly —  by eight, 21-13.

>> Same thing with a minute to go: James Harden misses a dunk for ASU and Shipp drills a three-pointer for a 26-18 lead. Small things means a lot.

Then Collison nails a long three-pointer after nearly falling down as the half ends. It's his fourth three-pointer of the game and the Bruins end the half up, 29-18.