#5 UCLA Shows No Love to Wildcats

  Jerryd Bayless, the sensational freshman point guard, against the equally great freshman sensastion Kevin Love.

Whose team would pull through?

The better team of course.  The Bruins smashed the Wildcats 82-60 Saturday night.

Prior to tonight's game, Arizona F Jordan Hill was quoted as saying ''I will take down any big man that stands in my way''. Kevin Love made him eat his words. Love tied a season high (in points) with 26 and 11 rebounds on 9-12 shooting. Love also went 7-8 from the free throw line. Highflier Russell Westbrook scored 21 points on 10-13 shooting to help the effort. Jordan Hill accounted for only 8 points and 4 rebounds.

This game got ugly in a hurry, as the Bruins opened the gate on a 19-6 start. UCLA set the tone with aggressive, in-your-face style defense and a steady offense. Bayless was frustrated early on by tight defense from Darren Collison and as a result forced tough shot after tough shot.

Jerryd's lack of maturity showed when he picked up a tacky foul by tripping Westbrook after missing a jumper. Bayless began the game 0-3 and did not score until 3:24 left in the first half and finished with 13 points (good enough to lead his team in scoring) on 4-9 shooting.

Kevin Love was just too strong for any Arizona defender to prevent him from getting to the hole, as he swatted off defender after defender like flies. Love was also instrumental in the Bruins outrebounding the Wildcats by a significant 34-18 margin.

Plain and simple?  Arizona was outplayed at every aspect of the game tonight and that's just putting it the nice way. Arizona was held to a seson low 22 points at halftime (previous season low 24 against #1 Memphis) and trailed by 20 (42-22 UCLA).

The game didn't get much better for Zona, as the Bruins went on a late 14-6 run to cap a dreadful night for the Wildcats. The Bruins shot a scorching 16-20 from the free throw line (80%), while Kevin O'Neill's squad shot 10-17 from the free throw line (58.8%).