Stanford-UCLA: postgame

In what has to be one of the most satisfying conference wins for UCLA in a long time, the Bruins struggled back from a 56-45 deficit to Stanford in the final five minutes of regulation to win, 77-67, and clinch the Pac-10 regular season championship for the third year in a row.

>> The Bruins led for a total of 19 seconds in regulation, at 2-0 to 2-2. That was it. But an 18-7 run at the end of regulation got the Bruins even, including four free throws in the final 18 seconds to tie the game at 63-63. UCLA shot 50% in the second half and made 11-13 foul shots, outrebounded Stanford, 17-13, and had only two turnovers.

>> In overtime —  UCLA's first of the season —  the Stanford bubble burst after the teams missed the first five shots combined until a Luc Richard Mbah A Moute dunk gave UCLA a 65-63 lead with 2:48 to go. Then after a Brook Lopez basket tied it, a Darren Collison follow after rebounding his own miss, a Mbah A Moute steal and Russell Westbrook's lay-in gave the Bruins a 69-65 lead with 1:13 to go and they were never headed. Westbrook had seven of UCLA's 14 points in the extra period.

>> For the game, Collison ended up with 24 on 9-16 shooting, followed by Westbrook with 19, Kevin Love with 17 (and 10 rebounds) and Mbah A Moute, who had a crucial 10 points and led the team with 11 rebounds. The Bruins shot 45.2% for the game from the field and were an ordinary 16-24 from the foul line. UCLA held Stanford to 45.3% from the floor and closed the rebound gap to 38-36 by game's end after being -7 at the half.

>> UCLA continues its streak of winning every game in which it has scored 70 or more points, now 20-0, and remains undefeated on weekdays at 18-0.

>> Most important, the Bruins will be the top seed in the Pac-10 Tournament next week at Staples Center and have an opportunity to stay in the West for up to four rounds of the NCAA Tournament.

Comments

[daniel]

horrible call to send that game into overtime, UCLA is too lucky, too often.....at the same time, Stanford obviously has no mental toughness, as they played terribly in the OT, and the Bruins stepped up to the plate....just don't like how it got there, seemed like ref went out of his way to make the call....Bruins will make the final four through a preferred western bracket, but they are not a great team, and will lose again to the best team in the country in the semis or championsip game-this year, North Carolina.

[Matt]

The 70 point streak is actually 52 games long going all the way back to November 23rd, 2005, a loss to Memphis in the pre-season NIT in Madison Square Garden, 88-80.

[Buffy]

Unbelieveable comeback. That last call seemed pretty bad to me but it also looked like a horrible no-call on an obvious charge over Love for Stanford's potential conference winning basket five seconds earlier. So I'll call it a good make-up call. What else? I'm a Bruin fan! Where was Shipp? I wouldn't be surprised if,at the end of the season, he revealed he has been playing with some kind of injury because nobody that skilled can be that ineffective without something wrong. At least the chances are slim we will be losing him to the draft. Stanford is a great team and it was a breath of fresh air to see the great sportsmanship displayed by Brooke Lopez. I want to hate him but it is impossible. Just think the Bruins might have to play them again in a week.

[bc]

Team needs Michael Roll and his outside shooting...any time frame on when he will be back?

[Brian]

Please Josh Shipp, watch the video of the UCLA vs FLorida final. Look at the arch on your shots. You are shooting the ball really flat except for the one 3 pointer made vs Stanford.

[Rich1996UCLA]

Daniel,

Stanford benefited from a no-call just the play prior when Love clearly took a charge. This about evens up the so-called bad call. If we lose, we'll lose to someone other than NC. NC isn't even in most experts' top four list.

[Blueblood in VA]

North Carolina has the best offense in the country, but history tells us those types of high-flying, fast-paced teams are always fallible against scrappy, defensive-minded teams who are able to slow the game down and turn it into a half-court affair. I am really hoping that Stanford gets the #2 seed in UNC's bracket, because I think they would give the 'heels a run for their money.

[chex]

Daniel, you don't think North Carolina will make it through to the Final Four on a preferred eastern bracket? They'll probably start out in Raleigh, which is the capital of North Carolina, as will Duke, most likely. It's not just UCLA that's playing the first round in their own state, you know...

And anybody who follows the Pac-10 knows that the only consistent thing about the officiating this year is that they miss big calls and call phantom fouls. The officials were just being consistent to what they've been doing all year.

[Chris]

How can you call this "one of the most satisfying conference wins for UCLA in a long time when a TERRIBLE call decided the outcome. Its satisfying to win, but not when you don't deserve it.

[Nookie Farley]

OK, all of you who think that the closing slam-dunk on the fast break w/ 1.2 secs left in OT -- to make it 77-67 -- was to cover the spread, STAND UP!!

[Ty]

The only team that didn't deserve to win last night was Stanford. Getting shellacked 14-4 in overtime? They folded like a cheap tent. Get over it, Chris.

[Rich1996UCLA]

Reply to Chris:

Chris, to answer your question: because we came back from an 11 pt. deficit w/ 5 min. left in regulation; b/c we too were on the wrong end of bad calls/no calls; b/c we were clutch w/ our FT's (when you weren't); b/c we out hustled you (e.g., Westbrook rebound and put back after Mbah A Moute's missed FT); b/c we kicked your [anatomical reference deleted] in OT.

Answer your question? If not, there's lots left.

[mike86]

I hate to even talk about "that call", but some perspective: there are dozen of calls and no-calls made during any game that people are going to disagree with. Like it or not, it's a big part of basketball. With five minutes left in the game, Stanford was in the position to make the refs irrelevant. They didn't finish out the game the way they played the first 35 minutes, exposing themselves to the risk that a judgement call by a ref would hurt them.

The lesson here isn't "the refs suck", the lesson is "bury your opponent when you have the chance". The players and coaches all get it - Johnson and Howland both said essentially this same thing since the game.