Another Look: UCLA/Arizona

Player Of The Game
While Shabazz Muhammad had an amazing scoring night, but it was really Larry Drew II who had the offense clicking for the Bruins. Drew had nine assists and probably had four or five more passes that led directly to UCLA foul shots. He had just two turnovers and ran the two-man game thanks to great middle ball screens by UCLA in the second half.

With 23 points and five boards, Nick Johnson had a very good night.

Play Of The Game
Nick Johnson dunks on one of the Wear twins early in the first half, giving the struggling Arizona offense a boost.

Turning Point
Obviously a 21-5 start was key, but later in the game Arizona has a chance to cut the UCLA lead down to five, but Brandon Ashley misses the front end of a 1-for-1. David Wear then makes both of his free throws on the other end and UCLA scores five of the next seven points to go back up by 10.

Slow Start
UCLA opened the game on a 19-3 run, including 12 in a row at one point. The Wildcats shot just 1-13 during that stretch.

Counter Punch
Arizona got back into the game with a 9-2 run fueled by seven points from Nick Johnson, who had two lay-ups, two steals and three made free throws after being fouled behind the arc.

White Out
The fans were not the only ones in white for the "white out." The player came out in white shooting shirts, the cheerleaders and baton twirlers wore white and even Wilbur donned a white hat. .

I Wonder
Arizona missed four or five early good looks and got down big early. You have to wonder how the game goes if Arizona converts some of those looks. After that they got out of any kind of offensive rhythm and struggled for most of the half.

Gurus Got It Right
UCLA’s freshman class ranked ahead of Arizona’s by the national recruiting gurus. On Thursday night the Bruin’s four freshmen outscored Arizona’s three freshmen 52-14.

Assists
UCLA won the assist battle 18-10. Even worse, Arizona’s three true guards combined for just three assists and seven turnovers. Mark Lyons had zero assists and five turnovers. Even worse, according to the Tucson Citizen’s Anthony Gimino, each of Lyons’ five turnovers not only led to UCLA points, but all five scores came in seven seconds or less.

Silver Lining
Brandon Ashley and Grant Jerrett did combine for 14 points and 18 rebounds. Jerrett had 10 rebounds, a career high, on the night.

White Out Pt. 2
Arizona is now 1-2 in “White Out” games.

You Have To Be Eff-ing Kidding Me
At halftime fans competed in a CPR relay, where teams had to "transport" and perform CPR on three CPR dummies. No, it's actually worse than it sounds.

At least after that they trotted out the gymnastics team.