Despite being on upset alert for much of the night, the Bruins pulled away from the Cardinal to hold onto their lead atop the Pac-12.
The Bruins just couldn’t seem to pull away.
In a game where they trailed for long stretches and took brief leads only to hand them right back, the blue and gold were finally in the driver’s seat heading into the final minutes. But possession after possession, they couldn’t put a dagger in the Cardinal – until an unlikely freshman rose to the occasion.
Will McClendon entered Thursday night just 1-for-14 from beyond the arc on the season, and he had already missed his first two of the contest. But with the Bruins up one with 3:39 left on the clock, the inexperienced guard pulled the trigger and finally got one to fall.
Holding onto that insurance until the final buzzer sounded, No. 4 UCLA men’s basketball (22-4, 13-2 Pac-12) fended off Stanford (11-15, 5-10) for the 73-64 win at Pauley Pavilion. The victory helped the Bruins extend their home winning streak to 22 games – the longest by any team in the country – and it also stretched their overall winning streak to five, bolstering their resume and lead atop the Pac-12 in the process.
UCLA was on the verge of seeing those positives disappear before their eyes, however, with Stanford holding control for almost all of the first half and even parts of the second.
The Cardinal hit six of their first seven shots of the night, all while the Bruins opened 2-for-7 from the field. UCLA finally got some momentum when center Adem Bona poked the ball free and ran to the other end for a dunk, but he got caught jumping and immediately allowed a basket in response.
Bona kept up the intensity with blocks, passes out of the post and sharp cuts to the hole for easy layups. Stanford hit just one of its next six shots, and an open 2-pointer by Bona finally gave UCLA its first lead of the game at 16-15 with 11:35 left in the half.
The Cardinal then rattled off a 9-0 run – capitalizing on their first offensive rebounds and forced turnovers of the night to get open shots down low and from beyond the arc. Throughout the entire first half, all of Stanford’s points either came from in the paint or from 3-point land.
Bona and guard Jaylen Clark were shooting 5-for-6 from the field with 11 points, while the rest of their teammates were a lackluster 1-for-12. Even when guard/forward Jaime Jaquez Jr. ended Stanford’s run with a triple, the Cardinal came right back down and got a corner 3 to answer.
A couple swing passes got big man Kenny Nwuba open under the hoop for a dunk, and he immediately followed that up by taking a charge on the other end. Stanford’s top-two players – Spencer Jones and Harrison Ingram – had two fouls with less than six minutes to go in the opening period.
Jaquez hit a couple of jumpers in the final minute of the half to make it 31-27 Stanford at the break. Still, UCLA was getting outrebounded, outscored in the paint and outshot from deep. Although the Cardinal missed their lone free throw attempt of the half, the Bruins were 2-for-7, missing their last five attempts of the frame.
Coach Mick Cronin sent Dylan Andrews and David Singleton out to start the second half instead of Tyger Campbel and Amari Bailey, and the move immediately paid dividends. Andrews converted on an and-1, and after he hit Singleton for an open 3-pointer, Clark got a steal in the backcourt and flushed it home for a dunk that got the crowd rocking.
In just 38 seconds, UCLA had gone on an 8-0 run, and they weren’t done yet.
A 3-pointer from Clark got the Bruins back on track after a Cronin technical and a Cardinal bucket, and then Jaquez came through with a second-chance and-1.
Jaquez’s up-and-under layup on the other end of the media timeout boosted UCLA’s lead to seven, but Stanford wiped it out in a matter of minutes when Campbell couldn’t get his jumpers to fall and when big man Mac Etienne came up empty from the line and committed a turnover.
The Cardinal’s 12-0 run came to an end when Campbell got subbed out and Jaquez got three buckets and two free throws to go. The Bruins’ defense wasn’t getting much better, though, and they kept giving up baskets whenever the offense cut the gap down to one.
Cronin was forced to go small when Bona picked up his fourth foul, since Nwuba was banged up. McClendon could have given UCLA the lead despite the size disadvantage when he went to the line for two, but he missed both and Stanford got a triple to fall at the other end.
Campbell answered with a 3-pointer of his own, and Clark finally put the Bruins back ahead with a coast-to-coast dunk that had him swinging from the rim.
UCLA never trailed from then on out, even if Stanford wasn’t going down without a fight. The Bruins went over three minutes before they hit another field goal, and Ingram pounced by making it a one-point game with 4:59 to go.
That’s when McClendon hit his clutch 3-pointer, and a handful of free throws allowed UCLA to finally create some real separation. Even Campbell got another shot to fall, helping the Bruins to extend their lead to 10.
Six straight free throw makes – a departure from their early struggles from the line – officially buried the Cardinal and kept them from pulling off a second-straight top-five upset in Pac-12 play.
Powered by another massive second half, Jaquez led UCLA with 26 points and nine rebounds. Clark was the only other Bruin to score in double figures with 16. The trio of Jaquez, Clark and Bona shot 18-for-30 from the field, compared to the 7-for-27 mark by the rest of their teammates.
Campbell and Bailey combined for seven points on 2-for-12 shooting, although the former did manage to put his slow start behind him by closing things out in crunch time.
UCLA will round out the weekend against Cal on Saturday. That game will tip off from Pauley Pavilion at 7:30 p.m. and will be televised on Pac-12 Networks.
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