If you’re a USC fan, this has to be very annoying: UCLA isn’t playing great basketball, but the Bruins just keep winning and winning and winning.
UCLA looked ordinary for the first 30 to 32 minutes of Thursday night’s game against Arizona State in Tempe. Several days earlier, UCLA looked very ordinary for the first 30 minutes of its game against Colorado on January 14. One week before that, on January 5, UCLA looked ordinary through 39 minutes against USC. One week before that, UCLA looked ordinary for 35 minutes against Washington State in a game it trailed most of the way.
Game after game, UCLA has put itself in trouble in the last five to 10 minutes of regulation. Each time the Bruins get into trouble, however, they rescue themselves. It’s something which has happened a lot in the Mick Cronin era. UCLA is at its best in the most important moments of a game. That capacity to make very few — if any — mistakes in endgame situations emerged again on Thursday night in Tempe.
UCLA trailed by six points with 11 minutes left and by five with 9:20 left. Then the Bruins — as they know how to do — kicked into high gear when it mattered most. They limited Arizona State to seven points in the final nine minutes, surging past the Sun Devils for a 74-62 win which was far more difficult than the final 12-point margin suggested. UCLA led by only three points with 2:35 left but was flawless in crunch time, remaining unbeaten in Pac-12 play. Arizona State lost its second conference game and failed to create a tie for first in the conference standings.
UCLA heads to Tucson for a big showdown with Arizona on Saturday afternoon. Arizona State prepares to host USC Saturday night in Tempe.
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