UCLA Bruins Basketball Gets In Pac-12 Race, Sweeps Bay Area Schools
By Derek Hart
January 26, 2014; Los Angeles, CA, USA; UCLA Bruins guard Jordan Adams (3), guard Norman Powell (4) and guard/forward Kyle Anderson (5) during a stoppage in play against the California Golden Bears during the second half at Pauley Pavilion. Mandatory Credit: Gary A. Vasquez-USA TODAY Sports
CURRENT RECORD:
16-4 overall
5-2 and tied for second place in the Pac-12 Conference
They did what they had to do this weekend.
They needed to sweep their Bay Area rivals, Stanford and California, at home in Pauley Pavilion, and were successful in doing just that.
With two-thirds of the season gone, these UCLA Bruins firmly established themselves in the Pac-12 race with two solid wins, 91-74 over the Cardinal on Thursday night and 76-64 over the Golden Bears on Sunday night.
Which put them in a tie with Cal (though they win the tiebreaker by beating them) in the conference, two games behind undefeated and top-ranked Arizona.
Coach Steve Alford has got to be pleased with his team’s overall performance, particularly the way they responded on Sunday after Cal pulled to within three points midway through the second half, Kyle Anderson scoring eight of his 17 points during the final six minutes.
Bryce Alford added nine points during that span, and David Wear led the team with 18.
This was after Tony Parker scored a career-high 22 points to lead the Bruins over Stanford on Thursday.
In a sign of their determination, the UCLA coach and players, rather than patting themselves on the back after their sweep, talked about their upcoming road trip to the Oregon schools this coming weekend and how tough the next few games are going to be.
“We’re going to have to mature as a basketball team,” coach Alford said. “We have to keep getting better.”
“We definitely don’t want a split,” Wear added, referring to the Bruins’ dates against Oregon in Eugene on Thursday, January 30 and against Oregon State in Corvallis on Sunday, February 2. “This trip, to get two wins, would be huge for us.”
And with the Ducks sitting at 2-5 in the conference and the Beavers – coached by Craig Robinson, who as the brother of First Lady Michelle Obama is officially the First Brother-In-Law – languishing at 3-4, these next two games are winnable.
On a personal note…
Jan 23, 2014; Los Angeles, CA, USA; UCLA Bruins forward/center Tony Parker (23) dunks the ball in the second half against the Stanford Cardinal at Pauley Pavilion. UCLA won 91-74. Mandatory Credit: Jayne Kamin-Oncea-USA TODAY Sports
To be brutally honest, I haven’t been convinced that this Bruin hoops squad could reach the glorified heights of a Pac-12 title and a deep run in the NCAA tournament all season long to date; there hasn’t been any overwhelming explosion that has caused me to say, “This is a great team that could make a long run!”
However, this past weekend has encouraged me as outside of Arizona, who has set a school record by winning their first 20 games (and counting), the Pac-12 really doesn’t have any teams that people say “Wow!” over.
This means that five or six squads can emerge as someone to be reckoned with in March.
And that includes UCLA.
With a third of the regular season to go, it will all come down to who plays the best basketball over the next few weeks.
We’ll certainly see if the Bruins will be one of those teams, starting in the state of Oregon.
In the meantime, here’s a highlight clip of UCLA’s win over Cal: