UCLA finally breaks through against Cal

It can be embarrassing to admit, but UCLA was suffering from a dysfunction.

It just couldn't penetrate.

Particularly stymied by the zone, the Bruins have had issues getting into the paint. It was a point of emphasis all week, and they finally broke through in the second half against Cal.

After the 81-66 victory, Coach Ben Howland said that UCLA tried more motion after halftime.

One of the most obvious results was an increase in foul shots. The Bruins attempted four before halftime. They attempted 19 after.

"Getting to the line is very important, and something we talk about all the time," Howland said. "We wanna' get it inside."

"I think I definitely tried," said Jrue Holiday. "Everybody else tried. You saw Darren [Collison] and Josh [Shipp] get in there too.

"All the great teams go to the free-throw line, I don't know, probably 15 or 20 times a game. You saw against Washington — they went to the free-throw line like 50 times or something like that. Just getting to the free throw line was really on my mind today."

Senior Darren Collison said that the breakthrough against Cal had everything to do with spacing. "I thought the spacing was a better on the motion end. We've just got to continue to attack the basket. Every time we do those things, we should be fine."

—Adam Rose

Photo: Kevork Djansezian / Getty Images