UCLA again pulls a great escape, this time against Texas A&M
Robert Kuwada, The Orange County Register
Published On: 03/24/2008
ANAHEIM, Calif. - The shortcomings were hanging out, holding them back. The lack of a third scoring option and the poor perimeter shooting appeared to be the end of UCLA, well short of its stated goal in this NCAA Tournament.
But Darren Collison and Kevin Love kept the Bruins on track and eventually put them into the Sweet 16, combining for 40 of their points in a 53-49, comeback victory over Texas A&M on Saturday night at the Honda Center.
Collison had 21 points including the game-winner with 9.5 seconds to play, the Bruins' point guard driving to the basket with an escort down the right side of the lane from the freshman center and banking the ball high off the glass. He chuckled when asked if Love might have acted as a blocking back into the lane, providing a moving screen.
"He's so big, he rode my guy down with him," he said. "I put my head down and went hard to the glass."
And after the Aggies' Donald Sloan had his last-gasp shot attempt with four seconds remaining partially blocked by Josh Shipp, who clearly fouled the Aggies' point guard on the play, UCLA was onto Phoenix in a West Regional that has seen the higher seeds decimated in a slew of upsets.
No. 2 Duke lost on Saturday to No. 7 seed West Virginia. No. 4 Connecticut was taken down by San Diego, the No. 13 seed. No. 5 Drake lost in overtime on a last second shot by Western Kentucky, the No. 12 seed.
When the Bruins get to Phoenix, they will play the winner of the game on Sunday between the Hilltoppers and Toreros for a berth in the Elite Eight – that's Western Kentucky and San Diego, by the way.
They might be living a charmed life since the end of the Pac-10 regular season and controversial victories over Stanford and Cal, but they are well aware that they will need better play than they did against Texas A&M if they are going to advance.
"Obviously, if we play like that we're not going to be able to survive very long," James Keefe said.
Against the Aggies, Collison and Love combined to hit 14 of 25 shots (56 percent). The rest of the Bruins combined to make only 6 of 20 (30 percent). Josh Shipp, who came in having hit only 13 of his last 66 shots (19.7 percent) at the 3-point line, missed all four of his shots, including three behind the arc. He was scoreless in a game for the first time since a UCLA victory at McArthur Court at Oregon on Jan. 2, 2005.
Westbrook made only 3 of 10 shots – all of them off steals or turnovers bolting to the basket. Luc Richard Mbah a Moute was 1 of 4 and turned over the ball six times.
It was all Collison and Love at the offensive end, making plays. The Bruins' center even pulled out a shot he hasn't used much if at all at UCLA – a fall away jumper. He hit one from the right to pull UCLA into a tie, 45-45, with 2:09 remaining, another from the left baseline to tie the score at 47 with 1:31 to go.
