UCLA continues its survive-and-dance routine with breathless win over Colorado
Survive and dance.
Winning every game is just about the only way UCLA can make the NCAA tournament, and the Bruins keep persevering as part of a stunning late-season push.
Their latest breathless escape made Mick Cronin joke that his internist was concerned because the coach was agitated about his team giving up too many backdoor layups.
So Dr. Benjamin Ansell could give thanks for the game’s final sequence Thursday night at Pauley Pavilion. UCLA got the stop it needed to pull out a 64-60 victory over Colorado and sustain a joyride that has entered a second month.
Can UCLA overcome a brutal start to the season and earned an NCAA tournament at-large bid? There are two scenarios that could punch UCLA’s ticket.
“At the end of the day,” Cronin said, “we got the job done.”
The dramatic ending came after the Bruins lost a double-digit lead only to surge ahead by seven points with two minutes left. They nearly squandered every bit of that advantage as well.
Down by three points, the Buffaloes had the ball coming out of a timeout with 17 seconds left. Cronin didn’t want his team to immediately foul because there was too much time left on the clock. But he didn’t want to give up a quick layup either.
The Bruins did neither.
Colorado’s Tristan da Silva drove for a contested layup that was off the mark with six seconds left. A heap of bodies dove onto the court to fight for the rebound, leading to a held ball with three seconds left.
The possession arrow pointed toward UCLA.
Colorado fouled Lazar Stefanovic on the inbounds pass and he swished the second free throw after missing the first to put the game out of reach, giving the Bruins (14-11 overall, 9-5 Pac-12) their sixth consecutive victory and eighth in their last nine games.
Owner of a losing record as recently as two weeks ago, UCLA moved into sole possession of third place in the conference standings, only 1½ games behind first-place Arizona.
“Just playing with grit and toughness,” Bruins guard Dylan Andrews said of his team’s get-it-done mentality, “and just being a dog on the court and just knowing that we have to get one stop at a time.”
They also needed freshman guard Sebastian Mack to make some baskets after their offense went into an extended stall, allowing Colorado to pull into a 54-54 tie.
Mack banked in a layup to spark a 9-2 run that he completed with a driving layup, pounding his chest and pumping his arm as the crowd roared in appreciation of the Bruins’ seven-point lead with a little more than two minutes left.
“I was just feeling, you know, the excitement,” Mack said after finishing with a game-high 19 points on seven-for-11 shooting.
An even bigger storyline might have been Andrews’ lockdown defense on Colorado’s K.J. Simpson, whose four points on one-for-seven shooting were far below his average of 19.4 points.
“I feel like our team was just locked in mentally,” Andrews said, “just knowing we’ve got to stop this guy.”
Center Adem Bona added 14 points and Andrews had 13 for the Bruins, who committed nine fewer turnovers than the Buffaloes (16-9, 7-7) and held them without a single fast-break point.
It was a completely different story in the early going. Listless defense led to a quick benching for Stefanovic and Bona, not to mention a rapid heart rate for Cronin.
“We were not ready to play defensively the first three minutes of this game and I lost it,” Cronin said. “I mean, I went after a few guys, pulled a few guys. They start the game with two point-blank layups. It’s a concern.”
Then the Bruins started getting deflections and forcing turnovers as part of their latest winning formula. They’ll get a chance for significant payback Sunday against Utah, whose 46-point bludgeoning of UCLA last month in Salt Lake City could be considered the season’s low point.
They have won all but one game since, slowly building confidence while trying to prop up their bid to play in the only postseason college basketball tournament that matters. Along the way, a team that was once four games below .500 and lost to Cal State Northridge at home may have found a new blueprint for success.
“Keep letting the momentum carry us, man,” Andrews said.
Go beyond the scoreboard
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