UCLA had a chance to take sweep Arizona and take hold of a potentially significant tiebreaker on the Wildcats in the Pac-12 standings on Thursday night, but the the Wildcats took first place for themselves and evened up the season series between the Pac-12 powers with a 76-66 win at the McKale Center. The No. 7 Wildcats (18-2, 8-1 Pac-12) led by 12 at halftime and withstood several surges from the No. 3 Bruins (16-3, 8-2) to avenge last Tuesday's 75-59 road loss.
A 10-2 run following the game's final media timeout helped Arizona pull away after the Bruins closed within 64-61 with 3:52 remaining. The victory snapped the Wildcats' four-game home losing streak against UCLA and a six-game skid overall vs. the Bruins for Arizona, which was led by 16 points from Kerr Kriisa after he was held scoreless in the first meeting last week. Kriisa was among five Arizona players in double figures and knocked down a massive 3-pointer with 1:50 left that put the Wildcats ahead by nine.
Jules Bernard led UCLA in scoring with 15 points, but the Bruins hit just 3 of 14 attempts from 3-point range as a team. Leading scorer Johnny Juzang added 12 for the Bruins in his first game back after missing two contests due to COVID-19 protocols.
Redemption for Kriisa and Terry
When these teams met last week, Terry and Kriisa combined to go 0 for 17 from the floor and were held scoreless in Arizona's loss. This time around, the duo contributed a combined 26 points. The two also combined for 12 assists, as Terry finished three assists and one rebound shy of a triple-double.
There was also a distinct difference in the play of Azuolas Tubelis this time around. The 6-foot-11 Arizona sophomore came off the bench in last week's meeting while dealing with an ankle injury and was clearly limited while playing 15 minutes and contributing eight points. He appeared more nimble this time around and provided a big lift early in the game. Tubelis scored eight of Arizona's first 10 points and finished with 14 while looking more like his normal self after suffering the injury in a win at Stanford on Jan. 20.
Foul trouble hurts Juzang
Juzang sat the final 9:55 of the first half after picking up his second foul while UCLA trailed 20-14. Without him on the floor, the Bruins' deficit doubled heading into halftime. Once he was back in the court on the second half, UCLA began to chip away.
In the end, Juzang finished with just three fouls in 29 minutes of action, and it's fair to question whether UCLA coach Mick Cronin was too conservative in the handling of his leading scorer during the first half. If Juzang had been playing instead of watching late in the first half, perhaps the Bruins could have kept the deficit in a more manageable range. UCLA's other four starters each logged 30 or more minutes, and unless Juzang was on a minutes restriction following his two-game absence, the approach to his foul trouble was misguided.
Juzang also wasn't the only UCLA play in foul trouble. Tyger Campbell fouled out late in the game for the Bruins, who were called for 23 fouls compared to just 16 for Arizona. The Wildcats shot 30 free throws and made 20, whereas the Bruins shot only 12, making seven of them.
Pac-12 implications
The result leaves Arizona in sole possession of first-place in the conference standings. Even though the league's front-runners split their two meetings with each other, UCLA's surprising home loss against Oregon on Jan. 13 means the Bruins now have two conference losses.
Both teams still have to play third-place USC twice, and the Trojans could join the mix if they play well enough in those games. Oregon could also play its way into the mix. But don't be surprised if we look up in a few weeks and the Wildcats are on track for at least a share of the league title because they took care of business at home against the Bruins.