Bruins Get Outworked In Seattle

By KS Wong
Bruin Basketball Report

Box Score

The Huskies didn't care whether they were riding a four game losing streak into Sunday afternoon's contest with the Bruins, nor did they take notice of UCLA's five game winning streak and No.4/5 ranking.  All the Huskies knew was they were at home and it was time to take the Bruins down again.

For the fourth consecutive time in Seattle, Washington downed UCLA, 71-61, before 10,000 at Bank of America Arena.

With all the success Coach Ben Howland has had at UCLA the past four seasons, he has never won in Seattle with his Bruins.

Washington came out from the start with more intensity and energy on both ends of the court and simply outworked UCLA in the game. 

On the defensive end, the Huskies took a page out of the Bruin play book by applying heavy pressure on the ball and forcing UCLA to set up their offense further away from the basket than they're used to, in addition, they doubled Kevin Love whenever he got close to the ball.

As a result,  Love finished with just 13 points on 3 of 8 shooting as he was never given any room to operate down low.  Love appeared satisfied with banging away inside with the bulky Artem Wallace and Jon Brockman rather than move to an open spot midrange or the short corner as he had in previous games for better offensive opportunities.

Point-guard Darren had one of his worst games as a Bruin.  Collison finished a meager 1 of 8 for 3 points and committed 8 turnovers - half of the team's 16 turnovers in the game.   

But perhaps the worst part of his performance was on the defensive end where he could not stop Husky guard Justin Dentmon from scoring.  Dentmon, who has been struggling all season, played up to his potential scoring 20 points on 7 of 12 shooting as he effortlessly went around Collison throughout the game, especially down the stretch.  It wasn't until Coach Howland switched Russell Westbrook onto Dentmon with a little over a minute remaining that he was stopped, but it was too late and the damage was done.

Washington (13-11, 4-7) shot 44.1% in the game but they were quicker to the loose ball, got the offensive rebounds, and seemingly wanted the game more than the Bruins. 

The Huskies outrebounded the Bruins 44-36 and got a stunning 18 offensive boards.  Jon Brockman dominated inside grabbing 17 rebounds, 9 on the offensive end, and scored 12 points.  When Dentmon wasn't scoring in the lane, it was Brockman hitting the key turnaround baseline jumper over Kevin Love.  No doubt UCLA missed junior forward Luc Richard Mbah a Moute's defense and rebounding.  In the previous game at Pauley Pavilion, the Bruins with Mbah a Moute, easily ouboarded the Huskies 32-26.

As mentioned in BBR's preview, Washington's sophomores, Dentmon and Quincy Pondexter, have been a disappointment and have not lived up to expectations, but in this game they showed their potential.  Aside from Dentmon's stellar play, Pondexter had 11 points and did a good job of disrupting the Bruin defense with his athleticism.

Josh Shipp led the Bruins in scoring with 19 points but even many of his shot attempts were usually with a Husky's hand in his face.  Westbrook added 18 points but he was just 5 of 16 from the field. 

The Bruins finished shooting just 34.4% from the field and were 1 of 16 on three-pointers as the Huskies did a good job taking UCLA out of their rhythm with strong defensive pressure.

With the loss, UCLA falls into a first place tie in the Pac-10 conference with Stanford.  The team travels home and will have a week to prepare for USC at the Galen Center next Sunday  Luc Richard Mbah a Moute has made good progress with his ankle injury and is probable for the game against the Trojans.

(photo credit: AP)