The Return of the King
The UCLA Bruins suffocate the Kansas Jayhawks, 68-55, in the Western Regional Final in San Jose. Despite playing an amped up, ultra-talented Kansas team that at times threatened to take over the game with their athleticism, UCLA was ahead at the half and then absolutely dominated Kansas for the rest of the game. Just like UCLA's previous tournament victims, the Jayhawks began to cave under the defensive pressure, missing short jumpers and layups and scoring only 24 total points in the second half. Offensively, UCLA kept things alive with hot three-point shooting from Afflalo, Collison, and Shipp, and the crowd made sure this felt like a home game for the Bruins.
The big story here was the offensive re-mergence of Arron Afflalo, UCLA's best defensive player and emotional leader. Shaking off a five game shooting slump, he exploded tonight for 24 big points, many at critical junctures as the clock was winding down. He also had a fabulous assist to Josh Shipp for a three pointer as time expired in the first half, putting the Bruins up 35-31. This was a good time for him to find his shooting touch, although in previous games he still made big contributions on defense, driving to the basket and getting fouled, and so on. Not surprisingly, he was all smiles afterwards.
Despite far too many turnovers (to give you an idea of how wild this game was, UCLA had 15 steals, committing 24 turnovers and Kansas had 17 steals, committing 21), UCLA kept their cool, established a small but solid lead, and did not even let Kansas make a run. Mbah a Moute had some key blocks and a steal, and ended the game with an emphatic dunk against Kansas' desperation full court press. UCLA also got big contributions from Westbrook, Aboya, and Roll on the bench.
To be honest, I did not expect a win here, and in the early going, I feared the final score might not even be close. But apparently you should never underestimate them Bruins!
All in all, the best win of the season against the best team UCLA has faced this season. Onto the Final Four next Saturday -- bring on Florida, Oregon, whatever. (A rematch of last year's championship game, of course, would be especially satisfying.) Hell yeah!