Xavier-UCLA: postgame

UCLA's 76-57 win over Xavier sends the Bruins to their third straight Final Four for the first time since 1974-75-76 under John Wooden and Gene Bartow, the last three in a run of 10 straight Final Fours. For current Bruin Coach Ben Howland, he is only the third coach in the nation to take a team to three straight Final Fours since the tournament expanded to 64 teams in 1985. Mike Krzyzewski of Duke and Tom Izzo of Michigan State are the other two. More:

>> The Bruins shot 52.3% from the field on 28-53 and were 15-28 (53.6%) in the second half, when they extended a nine-point halftime lead to 20 and won by 19. Xavier didn't win a game all season (0-3) when its opponent shot 50% or better.

>> UCLA won the rebounding battle, 37-28; the fifth straight game in which it has been even or better. The Bruins lost the turnover battle, 12-8, but maybe that's not such a bad thing: They are 12-0 this season when committing more turnovers than the opposition.

>> Xavier shot 36.2% from the field for the game, the third time in four NCAA Tournament games that the Bruins have held their opponent to less than 40% from the field. Only Texas A&M (43.1%) shot better than 40% from the floor against UCLA. In four NCAA games, opponents are shooting only 81-247 (32.8%) from the field and just 16-67 (23.9%) from three-point range.

>> Kevin Love and Darren Collison each had 19 points; Russell Westbrook scored 17; Luc Richard Mbah A Moute had 13; and Josh Shipp had five as only the four Bruin starters scored. Love had 10 rebounds, but Mbah A Moute had 13 to lead the team.

>> Westbrook broke out of his shooting slump with 7-11 from the field, and had his best all-around game since the California game at the end of the regular season, when he had 18 points (6-12 from the field). He had 17 today, plus three rebounds, three steals and three assists.

>> Love had his 23rd double-double of the season and scored in double figures again as he has in every game this season.

>> Collison scored in double figures for the 26th time this season and came back strongly from the four points he had against Western Kentucky. He had five assists, four turnovers and only one personal foul. He led (or co-led) the Bruins in scoring for the eighth time in the last 16 games this season,.

>> Howland now has a 13-3 record in the NCAA Tournament at UCLA (81.3%) and a 17-6 lifetime record in the NCAAs (73.9%).

>> The Bruins are on the way to the Final Four for the 18th time in school history. They have won the championship 11 times, lost in the championship game twice and lost in the semis four times. So they are 13-4 in national semifinals.

>> Let's talk about momentum: The Bruins have won 14 in a row and 19 of their last 20. They haven't lost since Feb. 10 at Washington.

Comments

[Biff]

Doubt if we'll hear from anyone about help from the refs today and, as I was saying, keep Mbah a Moute in the line-up, he is extremely valuable and isn't hurting the team at all. Bruins looked as good as they have in a month and are right where they want to be. Go get 'em, Bruins!!!

[Dean Venture]

Biff- I thought the refereeing was brutal. Maybe it got into the refs heads a bit that everyone was talking about how UCLA was getting all the calls? Well, the last two games should have made up for that. Now we can get back to just letting the kids play the games.