UCLA Basketball: Bruins earn third straight Pac 12 victory

UCLA basketball used their unselfishness and balance to blow out Stanford.

Since UCLA’s loss to Oregon on the road in their first game of Pac 12 play, the Bruins have cruised to three straight wins over Oregon State, Cal and now Stanford.

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On Sunday, the Bruins took it to the Cardinal, defeating Jerod Haase’s team 89-75 at Pauley Pavilion. UCLA dominated the game from start to finish, as they used their normal balanced and unselfish attack to stymie the Cardinal.

The Bruins had four players finish in double figures, including Lonzo Ball, who recorded a team high 21 points on 7-of-10 shooting, eight assists, six rebounds, three steals and two blocks. Bryce Alford added 17 points on 4-of-5 from three, while T.J. Leaf had an absurd stat line consisting of 15 points, 10 rebounds and six assists. Isaac Hamilton was the last double figure scorer for Bruins, as he put up 15 points on 6-of-15 shooting.

UCLA Bruins

UCLA shot 50 percent from the field overall and 55 percent from beyond the arc. They dished out 22 assists on 31 field goals and got out in transition on a consist basis in the first half.

Stanford actually cut the lead down to 11 at one point in the second half thanks to the play of Michael Humphrey. The junior forward had an outstanding game, recording 27 points and 14 rebounds.

However, UCLA turned up their offensive production when things got tight.

And that’s the most promising development to come out of this game. The Bruins sometimes get a bit complacent because of how great they are on the offensive end of the floor. They know they can score in bunches, and when they put their foot on the gas, they can blow a team out of the building.

That’s what makes them so difficult to beat though.

You may be able to catch them “sleeping” occasionally (and cut their leads like Stanford did), but unless you can score with them from the opening tip to the final buzzer (aka Oregon or Kentucky), you’re not going to actually knock them off their pedestal or even have a legit shot down the stretch.

Once they build a lead, there is almost no way for you to make up ground.

There were also other developments that were positive on Sunday, including Hamilton’s play. Sure, he needed 15 shots to score 15 points and he only hit 1-of-7 from beyond the arc, but over the last three games, Hamilton has scored seven total points (!). It was just good to see him score in double figures and get his floater back to perfection.

Thomas Welsh struggled to the tune of just six points, but Ike Anigbogu, once again, was terrific protecting the rim and Aaron Holiday played a solid game off the pine after struggling against Oregon.

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UCLA is the clear favorite to win the Pac 12. I don’t see them falling into any “trap games” and their offense, unselfishness and composure travels on the road.

I also don’t see them losing a single game at Pauley Pavilion. They control the pace of the game in their own building and it’s almost impossible to gain momentum against a team that can flip the switch in two seconds.