UCLA controlled Arizona from the start, as it defeated the Wildcats 84-73 at McKale on Thursday night.
Brandon Ashley started the game with a free-throw, but Shabazz Muhammad hit a three-pointer and Kyle Anderson hit a layup before a Travis Wear bucket gave the Bruins the 7-1 lead. Mark Lyons tried to get the Wildcats going, but consecutive baskets by Jordan Adams and Wear put the Bruins up 11-3 with 15:25 left in the first half.
Muhammad came out of the timeout with two consecutive baskets and a layup by Adams forced Sean Miller to call timeout down 17-3 with 13:57 left. A David Wear basket gave UCLA the 16-point lead before Grant Jerrett scored off an offensive rebound. However, Travis Wear got the points right back with a jumper to give UCLA the 21-5 lead with 11:47 left.
Out of the timeout, Johnson was able to come up with a dunk and made a layup off a turnover to force Ben Howland to call timeout with the UCLA lead down to 21-9. Ashley got to the line and made both of his attempts, but Norman Powell scored off a turnover. Johnson then got to the line and made three free-throws to bring Arizona to within nine before Powell made another layup to put it right back to 11.
After a score off an offensive rebound by UCLA, Hill was able to get in the lane and make a layup to cut the Bruins’ lead to 27-16 with 7:13 left. A layup by Hill out of a timeout cut the lead to nine before a dunk by Ashley brought Arizona within seven. Muhammad made a jumper out of a UCLA timeout to bring the lead back to nine and Adams made a layup to put it at double digits with 4:52 left.
Ashley made a layup the next time down court and Lyons scored a three off a Bruin turnover to bring Arizona to within 31-25. Muhammad and Johnson then exchanged baskets before a Lyons turnover led to an easy layup for Adams. Jerrett was able to make a three-pointer the next time down court to bring the Wildcats within five with two minutes left, but Larry Drew made a layup the next trip down court to put UCLA up 37-30 with 1:27 left in the half.
Anderson came up with a three-point play with a minute left in the half to put the Bruins up 40-30 going into halftime.
The second half started with Anderson making one of two free-throws and a three-pointer by David Wear extended the UCLA lead to 14. Ashley made a layup the next time down court, but Muhammad drew a foul and made one of two free-throws. Johnson was able to make a layup to bring Arizona to within 45-34 with 16:39 left.
A basket by Adams extended the lead to 13 and he then made a layup to put the Bruins up 15 shortly after. Hill was able to score the next time down court and then made a three soon after to bring Arizona to within ten points. Tony Parker scored out of a timeout, but Kevin Parrom answered with a basket of his own.
Drew hit a layup and Muhammad followed with another to put the Bruins up 14 with 12:56 left and force Sean Miller to call timeout. Nick Johnson picked up a three-point play and Lyons hit two free-throws to bring the Wildcats within nine.
Lyons hit a three-pointer out of a timeout to make it a six-point game and a dunk by Johnson brought the Wildcats within 55-51 with 11:12 left. David Wear scored off a rebound to bring the lead back to six before Parker got to the line and made one of two free-throws. Muhammad then hit a basket in the lane to put the bruins up 60-51 with less than eight minutes left before Hill scored in the paint.
Johnson then scored off a turnover to bring Arizona to within 60-55, but Parker came up with a three-point play to put the Bruins right back up eight with 6:48 left. Parrom scored the following time down court and was then able to make one of two free-throws to put the Wildcats within five. However, Muhammad made a three from the corner to answer.
Muhammad followed his three with two free-throws and UCLA was back up 10 points with 5:25 left. A jumper by Hill made it an eight-point game, but once again UCLA had an answer. Arizona forced a turnover that left to a Lyons layup and the Wildcats got within eight with 3:55 left. A UCLA turnover led to a layup by Johnson, but Adams got to the free-throw line and made both.
Parrom matched those two free-throws with two of his own, but Adams went to the line again and made one of two.
The next time down court, Ashley got to the free-throw line, but was unable to convert the one and one.
David Wear proceeded to make two free-throws to put UCLA up nine with 2:53 left, but a Lyons layup brought it down to seven. Wear scored the next trip down court to put UCLA up nine and basically seal the game.