Fragmented Effort Is UCLA’s Undoing

As an honored invitee to a splendid event, UCLA displayed appalling manners Saturday. The Bruins knocked over the furniture, shattered the china and, in general, created a horrifying spectacle.

No apologies were forthcoming, though, only the remorse that accompanied the missed opportunity in a 52-50 loss to No. 9 Kentucky in the Wooden Classic that could as easily have been a one-point victory.

Or a 30-point defeat.

The ruckus the Bruins created was entirely appropriate and wholly necessary. This, apparently, is how a Ben Howland-coached team chases a superior opponent, one that jumped out to a 23-6 lead and threatened to administer thorough humiliation in front of 17,816 at the Arrowhead Pond.

He gets his players to fight back, without regard to appearances. The Bruins ignored pervasive foul problems and banged under the boards, clamped down on defense and occasionally even made a basket.

That was more than Kentucky could say for a stretch of more than 10 minutes when the Wildcats missed 15 consecutive field-goal attempts in the last 4:18 of the first half and the first 6:03 of the second.

UCLA was cold too, and made up only 11 points during that stretch, which ended with a tip-in by Wildcat forward Chuck Hayes that made the score 32-22. The Bruins never led, in fact, coming closest in the final seconds on a dunk by Ryan Hollins with six seconds left.

Three times in the last two minutes the Bruins trailed by three, but the Wildcats made their own hustle plays. Kentucky’s Antwain Barbour knocked the ball from Bruin center Michael Fey’s hands on a rebound after a missed free throw with 29.7 seconds left and the score, 49-46, and was quicker to the loose ball than Hollins and Dijon Thompson.

“We showed heart, but there were plays we didn’t make,” Howland said. “We’ve just got to get a lot better.”

UCLA (2-1) shot 34%, and only Hollins, who made all three of his attempts, was close to 50%.

Thompson scored 14 points, but it took him 16 shots to make five and he missed several open looks after UCLA got close enough to believe victory was possible -- open looks he will remember until the Bruins play again in a week.

“That’s natural,” he said. “Everybody thinks of plays they should have made, you just learn from it.”

Guard Brian Morrison, who scored a career-high 28 points against UC Riverside on Wednesday, had only nine, all in the second half. His biggest play came with 10 minutes left, stealing the ball from Wildcat guard Gerald Fitch and taking it for a layup and three-point play to pull UCLA within 36-30.

Fitch came in averaging 24 points and was held to five by the defensive efforts of Morrison and point guard Cedric Bozeman.

“We did a good job of guarding Gerald Fitch,” Howland said. “He’s an outstanding player.”

No one shot well for Kentucky (4-0), which made only eight of its last 40 shots and 16 of 59 overall.

The Bruins had difficulty handling the Wildcat press early, and Bozeman had five turnovers in the first half. He had plenty of time to figure out the problem, playing every minute, and had no turnovers in the second half.

“Coach told us we had to be ready for the first five minutes of the game, and if we got through that we’d be fine,” Bozeman said.

In no way were the Bruins ready early. They committed six fouls in the first 3:40, falling behind, 7-0. Kentucky shot eight free throws in the first 2:38, mercifully making only four.

Only Thompson, Bozeman and Hollins scored in the half and the Bruins trailed, 27-17, their lowest halftime total since a 1982 game against Oregon.

The bench was of little help. Among reserves, only guard Janou Rubin and forward Josiah Johnson played, and neither scored. Fey, Bozeman and Morrison played down the stretch with four fouls and Hollins had three.

Meanwhile, Kentucky went 11 deep, getting significant contributions from reserves Barbour and Lukasz Obrzut.

“UCLA was taller at every position, but we had some depth,” Kentucky Coach Tubby Smith said. “Our aggressiveness around the glass was good. Our offense was awful, very stagnant.”

Stagnant does not appropriately describe UCLA. Timid early, tenacious late, sloppy throughout, the Bruins’ painful growth over the course of the game was visible to anyone who could stomach watching from start to finish.

Eventually, the players say, UCLA will win a game like this, warts and all.

“We learned we can accomplish big goals the rest of the season,” Thompson said. “We learned we never quit and that any game can be won.”