"Who is the most physical team in the Pac-10? UCLA has got to be it, hands-down," Washington Head
Coach Lorenzo Romar said. "It was a street-fight for 40 minutes, but that's the way UCLA makes it.
That's why they've won so much. But we came right back at them, I give our guys a lot of credit."
"Credit the University of Washington," added UCLA Head Coach Ben Howland. "They applied a lot of
pressure. That was a very good team we played today. I think they'll do some damage in the NCAA
tournament."
The Huskies (18-5, 7-5) also beat USC on Thursday, sweeping the four-game series with the LA
schools for the first time since 1987. The win over UCLA also marked Washington's third-straight
win over the Bruins, the first time that has happened in nearly 55 years.
Getting the sweep also helped put a band-aid on their NCAA tournament aspirations, especially after
losing three-straight on the road. "They are a quality team, they deserve to be in the NCAA
tournament," said UCLA guard Jordan Farmar after the game.
Brandon Roy once again led the charge with 20 points, but nearly as important were the seven
assists he dished out at key times to open teammates. Bobby Jones and Jamaal Williams also added
ten points each, and frosh Justin Dentmon - hampered by an ankle injury late in the game, came up
with 16 points, his final two with just 8.1 seconds left to give Washington their final margin of
victory.
"People were very critical of Justin after the Stanford game, but he's bounced back with three
very, very good performances. He has great character. And you have to let them play through their
mistakes.
But it wasn't Dentmon that made a key mistake this game, it was the other frosh - Brockman. With
the Huskies breaking UCLA's press, the ball ended up in Brockman's hands at the corner of UW's
offensive end. Instead of just holding onto the ball and waiting for a sure Bruin foul, he tried
to get it back to a more-reliable free-throw shooter - Roy. Instead, the Bruins stole the pass and
were able to get true frosh guard Darren Collison in a situation where a layin would tie the game
with only 9.2 seconds left. Instead Dentmon fouled Collison, and Collison was only able to make
one of two shots to give Washington life.
After Dentmon's two free-throws put the Huskies up three and UCLA with the ball going down the
court, it appeared that there might be a chance for a Stanford-redux. But a Farmar three attempt
was partially blocked by Roy, and Brockman was able to clear up the mess, passing to Ryan Appleby
to close out the clock. Farmar was clearly not on his game at all Saturday, due mostly to two sore
ankles that forced him to miss his fair share of practice during the week.
"When we needed him (Roy) to defend and put the clamps down on the best playmaker in the league
(Farmar) - he stepped up. For Farmar to go 2-13 and have seven turnovers, you have to give Brandon
a lot of credit," Romar said of Roy's all-around performance.
"Jordan had some open looks, but you're going to have games like that," added Howland.
UCLA (20-5, 10-3) was led by the 15 points of Alfred Aboya, an inside force that the Huskies just
could not contain in the second half. Farmar added 13 and Luc Richard Mbah a Moute came up with 11
points and nine rebounds for the Bruins in a losing effort. Ryan Hollins finished with seven
points and also had nine boards.
The game was a bruiser right from the start, as a call was made every thirty seconds for basically
the entire first half. 54 total fouls were tallied, and three players ended up fouling out; Cedric Bozeman and Ryan Hollins for UCLA and Jamaal Williams for Washington. "It's tough," Farmar said
after the game about the number of fouls called. "It's hard to get into a rhythm. That's just the
road in the Pac-10, playing a school as good as the Huskies. We were trying to be physical all
game long, but it's hard to do that when they are at the free-throw line all the time."
Washington shot 82.4 percent from the line (28-34), out-scoring UCLA on the stripe by 9.
Williams may have been asked to leave the game by the referees, but he still was able to leave an
imprint on the final result. He put up a tough shot off the glass to give Washington a four-point
lead and then came up from behind Farmar and stymied him in the paint, blocking the ball from up
top as the UCLA point guard was trying desperately to draw contact and go to the line.
Hollins' exit was a very damaging one for UCLA, as he fouled out with nearly 12 minutes to go in
the game. Up to that point, the Bruins had dominated Washington inside, and had their way all game
long. Overall, UCLA out-rebounded Washington 34-26. "We haven't got out-rebounded like that for a
long time. They had their way with us."
And when Hollins left, the Bruins immediately went on a 6-0 run and took their first lead of the
game since the five-minute mark of the first-half on a Michael Roll layin. From there on out, it
was a see-saw battle, with neither team able to widen a lead larger than four points.
At one point in the first half, UCLA Head Coach Ben Howland walked onto the court and down on
UCLA's offensive end, asking for a timeout to get Hollins out of the game because he started to go
after the Huskies' Appleby as a number of players crashed to the floor. The UW-partisan crowd
wanted a technical foul to be assessed on Howland, but the referees decided against it. In
hindsight, it was a timeout Howland would have wanted back. Howland decided to call his last one
with 3:56 left in the game, rather than wait until the mandatory under-four minute television
timeout.
"Ryan lost his control and started to go after Appleby and that hurt us right there. I was so
irate with him because he's a senior who is playing his best game ever and still fouls out after
playing only 17 minutes because he was going after guys. And the refs showed a lot of restraint in not
t'ing me up and also showed great restraint in not t'ing him (Rollins)."
Statistics:
Points: Roy 20, Dentmon 16, Jones 10, Williams 10, Brockman 7, Burmeister 3, Appleby 3,
Jensen 1
Rebounds: Brockman 5, Roy 4, Dentmon 4, TEAM 4, Jones 3, Williams 3, Appleby 2, Jensen 1
Assists: Roy 7, Jones 2, Dentmon 2, Williams 1
Steals: Jones 4, Roy 1, Dentmon 1, Appleby 1
Blocks: Roy 2, Williams 1
|