With 11:04 left in Saturday’s game, UCLA’s Josh Smith found himself in the middle of the key with no defenders in sight. Not used to having such an open look, the jumbo-sized center looked around and awkwardly dunked, unsure of what to do with himself.
It would prove to be the first and last time that Smith would get a decent look at the basket.
Riding its staunch interior defense, the Cal men’s basketball team managed to hold on to a 73-63 win over UCLA at the L.A. Sports Arena despite a late run from the Bruins. The win gave the Bears (20-6, 10-3 in the Pac-12) their first season sweep of the L.A. schools since 1959 and its first season sweep of UCLA in 18 years.
“Our defensive intensity went down (when UCLA made its second-half run), and they also got some hype from the crowd,” said junior Robert Thurman. “We kept our cool and we knew we had it under control.”
A week removed from a career-high 24 points against Washington, Smith failed to exploit his dramatic size advantage over the thin Cal frontline, finishing with just 10 points on 3-for-7 shooting.
The Bears were committed to clogging up the paint, using double teams to turn the Bruins into a jump shooting team. UCLA (14-11, 7-6) failed to make them pay for it, hitting just 35 percent of its shots in the first half with zero assists.
“We have to really slow down and be more confident,” said UCLA guard Lazeric Jones. “I took some bad shots. It happens.”
Midway through the first half, Thurman completed a three-point play to put the Bears up 17-15, a lead they would not relinquish.
UCLA had a chance to put itself back in the game, as two fouls each on Cal’s David Kravish and Harper Kamp forced Thurman and Bak Bak to close out the final eight minutes of the half against a much bigger UCLA front court. But the Bears’ defense remained staunch, keeping the ball out of the paint and taking a 32-26 lead into the break.
“Our design was to get Josh Smith into foul trouble, not us. But it kind of worked in reverse,” said coach Mike Montgomery. “We were fortunate to buy some time that way.”
The second half proved to be more of the same for Cal. The Bruins had no answer for point guard Justin Cobbs, who notched 12 of his game-high 18 points in the second half. Cobbs followed a layup by Jones with a run-out of his own, igniting a 19-5 run for the Bears to blow the game open at 56-39 with 13 minutes left.
The Bruins then managed to cut the lead to seven with over three minutes left, capitalizing on a stagnant Cal offense. But two minutes later, Cobbs found a lane into the paint and dished to a wide open Allen Crabbe for three, putting Cal up by 11 and putting the final dagger into the Bruins.
“(Cobbs) was the key for them, especially in the second half,” said UCLA coach Ben Howland. “He really hurt us.”
Kamp also finished with 10 points, his first two making him the 40th player in Cal history with 1000 career points.
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I bought my first season ticket when Montgomery was hired. I regret pulling out all my hair watching a Ben Braun team. How refreshing to see good team basketball – discipline and execution.