Leon Powe was named the Tournament’s Most Valuable Player, and Ayinde Ubaka was
placed on the All-Tournament Team, joining Arron Afflalo and Jordan Farmar from UCLA,
Oregon's Chamberlain Oguchi and Washington's Brandon Roy.
Saturday’s loss brings Cal’s overall record to 20-10, the sixth time in
Braun’s tenure that Cal has achieved a 20-win season, an accomplishment shared by
just three other Bear coaches.
This game against the Bruins paralleled the Oregon game the night before. UCLA pushed
out to an 11-point lead in the first 10 minutes of play, then to a 16-point lead with 5
minutes left. On Friday, Oregon achieved a 10-point lead at 10 minutes, and a 16-point
lead with 3 minutes left.
During this period, shots were simply falling for the talented Bruins. A quick kick-out
pass, a quick look, and a drained three seemed to typify that stage of the game, though in
fact the Bruins scored on just 4 of 11 three-point attempts. The Bruins used a defense
that involved a lot of hand and body checking – rarely did the Bears find easy
passing lanes or open looks.
Nevertheless, as they did against Oregon, the Bears put on a major push that got them
back into the game.
A 13-0 run pulled the Bears to within three points at the half, and gave discouraged
Bear fans hope that Cal could compete with the Bruins. The Bears built that run with a
lay-up and a three-pointer by Ubaka and two jumpers and four free throws from Leon Powe.
The Bruins assisted in this run, of course, missing all six shots they took – three
of them by Farmar, who led UCLA with 19 points.
Twice in the early second half the Bears pulled to within one point, but the Bruins
never surrendered the lead. In fact the score was tied only once at 3-3 early in the game
– and the Bears never led.
The second one-point margin came at the 16-minute mark, but then the game tide shifted,
and the Bruins slowly but steadily built their lead until the margin grew to 19 points at
game’s end.
Ayinde Ubaka attributed UCLA’s ability to build the lead in the second half to Cal
easing up on defense, of losing intensity and focus. While that may be true, observers
will also ask if mental and physical exhaustion from the late-night double overtime
victory over the Oregon Ducks the night before might not have taken its toll.
Neither Ubaka nor Powe would buy that, of course.
"That’s life," said Powe, who finished with 17 points and 8 rebounds.
"You have to live with it."
Ubaka, who led Cal with 18 points and scored 51 points during Cal's three games, added,
"That’s tournament basketball, that’s just the way it is. The other teams
were tired too."
(Subscribers can view the video interview with Ubaka to see his exact comments on this
issue.)
The game was ultimately won by UCLA’s 7 of 16 shooting (44%) from beyond the arc,
and by UCLA’s ability to move quickly to an open spot, catch a pass, and score. By
contrast, Cal rarely found those opportunities, scoring a decent but unrewarding 3 of 9
from deep. Once source of this difference can be found in the assists total, UCLA had 16
cases compared to Cal's four.
Braun acknowledged the difficulty, and specifically pointed out the number of cases
where passes were made to potential scorers, only to have the pass be mishandled or
dropped. Without a careful review of game video, this type of error can’t be well
quantified, but it may have occurred eight to ten times in the course of the game.
While Ubaka and Powe scored in double figures, DeVon Hardin had 8 (and just one
personal foul in 20 minutes – a great improvement), and no other Bear had more that 3
points. Theo Robertson did not achieve numbers anywhere close to his effort against
Oregon. Against UCLA he scored just two points and had no assists in 25 minutes on the
floor. He attempted just one three-point shot in a game where Cal probably required good
long distance shooting to win. This lack of balance contrasted sharply with Cal's
December win against the Bruins where despite Powe being limited to five points, four
other Bears ended up scoring in double figures.
The Bears and their coaches focus on what they could have done better, the stops they
could have made, the scoring opportunities they could have capitalized on, but those are
probably not the lessons of this game. The Bruins simply have more weapons, more big
bodies with the quickness needed to defend the hoop, and more talent on the perimeter that
can realize on a scoring opportunity. The Howland style of defense, too, played its part
as Cal players were constantly confronted with in-your-face defenders who constantly
interfered with every thing the Bears tried to do – even the basics like dribbling
and passing.
Now on to the Tournament, NCAA gods willing.
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