UCLA gets its revenge, stunning top-ranked Kentucky
LOS ANGELES — Almost a year after Kentucky reduced UCLA to dust in front of a national TV audience, the Bruins got the most cathartic possible revenge.
They stunned the top-ranked Wildcats 87-77 in front of a late-arriving but enthusiastic Pauley Pavilion crowd.
The best player on the floor Thursday night was a skilled center who had just one basket in 16 minutes when these two teams met last year. UCLA sophomore Thomas Welsh dominated a foul-plagued, shorthanded Kentucky frontcourt, grabbing 11 rebounds and scoring 21 points on an array of deft post moves and smooth mid-range jump shots.
Guard Isaiah Briscoe tried to rally the lethargic Wildcats, but his efforts were undone by the poor shooting of backcourt mates Tyler Ulis and Jamal Murray and the disappearing act of highly touted center Skal Labissiere.
Ulis and Murray went a combined 7-for-27 from the field, continuing a disturbing early-season trend of Kentucky shooting ice-cold from the perimeter. Labissiere got out-muscled by UCLA’s big men for position in the post so frequently that Calipari repeatedly yanked him off the floor even with Marcus Lee out with a head injury and Alex Poythress plagued by foul trouble.
The result was a game that could not have been more different than last year’s. Whereas Kentucky humiliated the Bruins last December by opening up leads of 24-0 midway through the first half and 41-7 at halftime, UCLA led by eight at halftime Thursday night and by double figures for much of the second half.
UCLA’s upset would have been difficult to predict given the way both teams had started the season. The previously undefeated Wildcats had won every game by double figures prior to Thursday night and had outclassed Duke in their lone true test of the season. The Bruins had already suffered three losses this season including a season-opening upset against Monmouth and a humbling 19-point rout at the hands of Kansas.
Had UCLA displayed this precision on offense or attention to detail on defense, the Bruins might not have lost some of those games. UCLA shot over 50 percent from the field against a vaunted Kentucky defense and held the Wildcats to 38 percent shooting.
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Jeff Eisenberg is the editor of The Dagger on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at [email protected] or follow him on Twitter!
