February 23rd, 2017

It was easy to look ahead to the big showdown Saturday at Arizona.  The Arizona State Sun Devils nearly took advantage of that, but UCLA held on to beat ASU 87-75.

TJ Leaf lead the way with 25 points and 8 rebounds in the Bruins sixth straight win.  UCLA also got 17 points from Aaron Holiday, and 15 from Bryce Alford.

The Bruins are known for their up-tempo offense, but on this night it was their size that wore down Arizona State.  They won the rebounding battle 49-30, and outscored ASU 50-22 in the paint.  UCLA also held the Sun Devils to 38% shooting despite the Sun Devils connecting on 14 three-pointers.

Shannon Evans II had a slam dunk that put Arizona State up 50-49 with 15:22 left in the 2nd half.  However, UCLA went on a 14-5 run from there, which was capped by an Aaron Holiday three-pointer.

Holiday had what felt like a dagger with 7:29 left, nailing another three-pointer.  That put UCLA up 74-60, and Arizona State went quietly after that.

Torian Graham led Arizona State with 28 points and Kodi Justice added 19, but it wasn’t enough.  The Bruins kept their win streak alive on a quiet offensive night from Lonzo Ball, who scored just 4 points, but did contribute 5 assists and 11 rebounds.

The Bruins can still finish in 2nd place in the Pac-12, and possibly even improve upon their #5 ranking with a win at Arizona on Saturday.  They’ll need Oregon to lose a game or two as well, but a win against the Wildcats would do wonders for their confidence in their chase for a National Championship.