Arizona saw too much of this from Reeves Nelson and UCLA. Photo by Jayne Kamin-Oncea, US PRESSWIRE
Arizona comes up empty on its road trip to the Los Angeles schools, as UCLA finishes off the Wildcats 71-49 on Saturday afternoon.
Good thing Arizona had that two-game lead in the Pac-10 heading into this week’s games.
That advantage is now gone.
The Wildcats and Bruins are tied for the conference lead at 12-4 — and with young teams, these traditional powerhouses are poised to lead the Pac-10 … well, Pac-12 … back to prominence in the near future.
In the meantime, the problem for the Wildcats has been the inability to defend the interior. Some of that is size-related, but coach Sean Miller will also point to effort and discipline.
UCLA’s Reeves Nelson had a career-high 27 points against Arizona, as well as 16 rebounds. That follows games in which big men Matthew Bryan-Amaning and USC’s Nikola Vucevic exposed the Wildcats’ ineffectiveness in the post.
Arizona returns home next week to play the Oregon schools. UCLA has to go to the Washington schools.
Given the schedule, the Wildcats have the edge over the Bruins. If Arizona takes care of business at home, it will have no worse than a share of the Pac-10 title and will get to celebrate in Tucson.
That’s not so bad, is it?
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Tweets Jody Oehler of 1490-AM: “If Jimmer Fredette and Reeves Nelson ever played on the same team, they’d beat Arizona by 70.”
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No comeback here. UCLA is up 66-48. This was going to be a tough game for Arizona — with UCLA’s final home game at Pauley Pavilion before a renovation and first place in the Pac-10 on the line — but getting blown out will not serve the Wildcats well when it comes time for NCAA seeding.
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Arizona got within single digits at 57-48, but big Josh Smith tips in a rebound for UCLA with 4:01 to play to push the lead back to 11. Time is ticking away, and the Wildcats haven’t yet shown the offensive punch to rally late.
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Arizona has seven assists after having only two at USC. The Cats will just barely get over double-digits in assists (probably) for the weekend.
After Arizona’s loss at USC, the Sporting News’ Mike DeCourcy wrote about UA’s lack of a true point guard.
MoMo Jones can score at times, and he’s usually fearless at the end of games. He’s hit some big shots in his two season at Arizona. So, credit for that. But he’s really only a point guard in the sense that he brings the ball up court. When Arizona gets into its half-court offense, Kyle Fogg is as much the point guard, if not more.
Point guard by-committee usually isn’t the best way to win in March.
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Sean Miller is trying Kyryl Natyazhko and Derrick Williams together at the same time to give the Wildcats more size to combat UCLA’s talented frontcourt players. This, I think, is the configuration Miller wanted to use a lot more this season, but Natyazhko hasn’t been up to the task.
Arizona is still hanging around, needs a couple more 3-pointers. UCLA leads 57-44 with 6:50 to play.
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UCLA has nine blocked shots — another reason why Arizona might want to bomb away from the outside. The Bruins lead 53-40 with 11:05 to go.
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Arizona showing some fight with a 10-0 run to make it 51-40 with about 13 minutes to go. Too little, too late? At least, it’s a start.
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Like I wrote below, Arizona is trying to shoot its way back into the game. Kyle Fogg and Jamelle Horne hit back-to-back 3-pointers to get within 51-36.
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Bruins still hot, are on an 18-2 run as there is a timeout with 18:28 to play. UCLA leads 45-30 and Arizona is having almost no success inside. Sean Miller might not want his team to fall in love with jump shots, but perhaps a 3-point barrage is the team’s best bet at this point.
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UCLA leads 40-30 at halftime, its largest lead of the half. The Bruins are dominating Arizona inside. Yeah, you better hope the Wildcats don’t have to face a quality and sizable front line in the NCAA Tournament.
Here are the past three games:
Washington’s Matthew Bryan-Amaning — 24 points, eight rebounds, seven blocks.
USC’s Nikola Vucevic — 25 points, 12 rebounds.
UCLA’s Reeves Nelson — 16 points, 10 rebounds at halftime.
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UCLA leads 36-28 at the final media timeout of the first half, with 3:32 remaining — and Reeves Nelson will be going to the line (again) to shoot an and-one free throw. This looks like a 15-point loss for Arizona, which has no answer for UCLA’s inside game.
Worth repeating: It’s a shame that Kyryl Natyazhko can’t be a defensive force for eight to 10 minutes per game — never mind that he has disappeared on offense during Pac-10 play.
The Bruins are shooting nearly 60 percent from the field.
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Just not enough size for Arizona to give the Wildcats an effective interior defense. Sean Miller would suit up recruit Angelo Chol right now if he could.
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Derrick Williams hits first 3-pointer of road trip to give Arizona a 26-25 lead with 6:45 to go in the half. Now, he’s 1 of 5 from behind the arc in L.A.
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Arizona is getting to the line and knocking down its freebies — 8 of 10 — but UCLA getting a fair amount of nearly free stuff, as Reeves Nelson and Tyler Honeycutt are a combined 8 of 13 from the field. UCLA up 22-21 with 7:49 to play, and Nelson going to the line to try to finish off a three-point play.
Biggest disappointment of season: Kyryl Natyazhko hasn’t provided useful big man minutes off the bench.
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UCLA point guard Lazeric Jones scores with 10:54 to play in the first half. Why mention it? He was scoreless against Arizona in Tucson, so those were his first points against the Cats in nearly 50 minutes of game time.
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None of UCLA’s big men can stay with Derrick Williams when he gets the ball in position to attack from the outside. He gives Arizona a 14-12 lead with two free throws 12:23 to play in the half. He has eight points — the same number he had at USC on Thursday.
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Derrick Williams is 0 for 4 from 3-point range on the L.A. road trip.
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UCLA big man Josh Smith with two fouls with 15:27 to go in the first half.
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High school game ends. Fox Sports Arizona goes to commercial. Comes back for trophy presentation. Goes to commercial. More than SIX minutes after high school game ends late, FSA finally gets to Arizona-UCLA after the first media timeout.
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With help from a Kyle Fogg 3-pointer, Arizona ties the game at 6.
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Bruins up 6-1. Will it be a game by the time the TV coverage begins? The one thing Arizona can’t do is let this game slip away by letting the crowd getting into early. Momentum could really be a bear today.
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And now Fox Sports Arizona says it is coming back for trophy presentation of Amphi-Tempe state title game. Congrats to the Panthers … but switch to Arizona-UCLA already.
By the way, the Bruins lead 2-0. Arizona has missed its first three shots.
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And this, your honor, is why the Pac-10 needs a new and better TV deal. High school basketball eating into telecast of Arizona-UCLA on Fox Sports Arizona.
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Arizona-UCLA not biggest game in the West today. That honor belongs to BYU’s game at San Diego State. As was the care earlier this season in Provo, the Aztecs get Jimmered — Jimmer Fredette has 25 points and nine assists as seventh-ranked BYU beats No. 4 SDSU 80-67.
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Today is the “Blue Out” at Pauley Pavilion. Tweets Jon Gold of the L.A. Daily News: “Pauley Pavilion starting to fill up. Haven’t seen this many different shades of blue since my Smurfs VHS went haywire.”
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Arizona tries to clinch a share of the Pac-10 title today with a win at UCLA. On the flip side, the Bruins can tie the Wildcats at 12-4 in the league with a victory.
The Wildcats, who fell in love with their jump shots in the loss at USC on Thursday night, will be looking to be more aggressive against UCLA. The Bruins, though, have a big front line that can be matchup problems for Arizona on the other end.
We’ll have updates and commentary throughout the game, so keep checking back, and have your say in the comments section.
Javier Morales of TucsonCitizen.com projects a UCLA victory. Write Morales as part of his game preview:
UCLA wins this game in a low-scoring affair 66-61 to keep its regular-season title hopes alive. But the Wildcats will clinch the championship the following week in Tucson by sweeping the Oregon schools and Washington doing them a favor by beating UCLA at home. What’s wrong with celebrating in Tucson?